Clay Soil Observations

[Durgan]

Clay Soil Observations
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?FOHEI 6 September 2009 Clay soil Observations.

The garden bed is composed of good clay soil. To make the clay more useful for my requirement, it has been modified utilizing much compost over the last five years.Compost alone as a clay modifier still allows the soil to coagulate or lump. The addition of sand to the clay/compost appears to reduce the lumping problem. The thrust of my note is to suggest that compost alone is insufficient to adequately condition clay. Picture of the soils are presented to substantiate my views on the matter.

It should be noted that the clay alone or with compost is still an excellent growing medium. The area is relatively small so modifying is practicable and feasible.

Initially sand, screenings, peat moss each alone was tried as a mixing agent for making the clay more friable. These efforts were all failures. I am of the opinion that compost in large quantities is best for breaking up clay, then to make the mixture more friable sand should be added. It appears to be working well in my garden. My growing area is about 2000 square feet or 186 square meters.

[Contrary Housewife]

Have you been digging in my yard? I have exactly the same kind of soil. I wanted to add sand to it, but was told that under no circumstances should I ever consider it.

How much are you using per square yard?

[Durgan]

Have you been digging in my yard? I have exactly the same kind of soil. I wanted to add sand to it, but was told that under no circumstances should I ever consider it.

How much are you using per square yard?

Adding just sand to clay is a recipe for a disaster. You will end up with cement. My clay is highly modified utilizing compost.

Here are the figures.
One thousand square feet of clay soil has about 50 yards of compost added over five years. This means half a yard of compost for each 10 square feet of garden.

After mixing in the compost then mix 0.03 yards of sand for 10 square feet of garden. This means a yard of sand will suffice for about 330 square feet of garden space. A little goes a long way.

I see no reason why this cannot be done at one go.

The clay garden should be dry before commencing and thoroughly rototilled. I used 10 square feet for simplicity.

A half a yard of sand can be safely carried in a box in the back of a minivan. Sand is heavy.

For compost a yard can be carried in a minivan. I have a yard box which I use if getting small quantities. It is expensive buying delivered garden soil about 40 dollars per load, so it is not economical to purchase less than say four to nine yards.

I ordered four yards delivered of sand, since it is heavy and a bit of hard work to load and unload a half of a yard at one time.

Don't even contemplate buying the products in bags. It is too expensive, unless only a few square feet of soil has to be modified.

The soil figures are approximate and seem effective in my case. Adding more is probably acceptable, particularly on the compost, since it is hard to use too much.

The clay breaker is the compost. The sand is too make the broken up clay/compost more friable.