poor soil but want to garden

**skybluepink79** · 03-26-2011, 06:40 PM

i would love to have a garden but but our land is all clay. i have one spot that drains fairly well but is still all clay but gets plenty of sun. i could use any sugestions on what would grow well if anything.

**Russ** · 03-26-2011, 07:08 PM

You need to amend the soil with compost or top soil from your local garden center.

**shoiji** · 03-26-2011, 07:11 PM

The area I live in is pretty much clay. I mixed hummis with the clay soil to help the water get through the clay. Seemed to work since the flowers I planted grew well and came back every year. Also used a lot of miracle grow. The complex would come around and put peat moss down to keep the weeds down. So each year I would mix that in. A woman near me planted tomatos plants that really took off.

**craftypam** · 03-26-2011, 07:51 PM

You might want to look up the book Square Foot Gardening. There is a mix that you make up and you do not use your own dirt at all. I am going to do this for my garden this year. Even if you don't do the square foot gardening. It has some really good ideas

**Spirit Deer** · 03-26-2011, 07:58 PM

Container gardening is also an option. That's what we're getting into because our soil is so poor and rocky.

**Russ** · 03-26-2011, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by craftypam

You might want to look up the book Square Foot Gardening. There is a mix that you make up and you do not use your own dirt at all. I am going to do this for my garden this year. Even if you don't do the square foot gardening. It has some really good ideas

You know I expect a detailed report,right?

**Contrary Housewife** · 03-26-2011, 08:48 PM

I have clay soil, too. You need to add organic material, composted vegetable matter, like grass clippings and kitchen waste, or cow or chicken manure (composted, not raw) or similar material. Do not add sand.

Meanwhile you can grow things like lettuce, greens, herbs, and other things that do not need planted deeply, and which are not root crops. You can also grow wildflowers for your area, which should do well in poor soil.

You can probably grow tomatoes and peppers which have been started at a nursery. It will be tough to start them from seed until you have amended your soil.

Square foot gardens and container gardens are very nice, but will cost you a lot of $$$$ buying the soil for it.

**craftypam** · 03-26-2011, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by Russ

You know I expect a detailed report,right?

AND you will get one; anything will be better than the last few years.

I FINALLY found the coarse vermiculite. YEAH!!!

**MsMarieH** · 03-27-2011, 12:20 AM

How large of a garden would you like to have?

It's really not very expensive to make a few 4' x 8x raised beds, using corner brackets and 2" x 8" boards. Then follow the above mentioned square foot gardening.

You can certainly amend your existing soil (and I highly recommend it), however, that takes time.

As an additional alternative, you should check out lasagna gardening. Great way to build beds in place using the materials like top soil, leaves, grass clippings, newspaper, etc.

**craftypam** · 03-27-2011, 10:19 AM

Square foot gardens and container gardens are very nice, but will cost you a lot of $$$$ buying the soil for it.
__________________
There are 3 parts for the soil for square foot gardening Compost which you can make yourself and peat moss which isn't too costly. The expensive part is the coarse vermiculite. Good news is once you buy it you don't have to buy it again. You only need to add compost every year (free if you make it yourself) I've been adding soil to my garden every year costing dollars. As for the container gardening my sister bought that soil that holds the moisture and grew tomato plants that were the size of small trees. If you were to only grow a few pots it wouldn't be too bad. I think the very large bags were $10-12 at Costco.
I'm not saying the cheapest way to go, but next year sq ft gardening (for me) should be relatively free. Just thought I'd point out the expense because I'm doing this and my sister did the pots.

**MsMarieH** · 03-27-2011, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by craftypam

Square foot gardens and container gardens are very nice, but will cost you a lot of $$$$ buying the soil for it.

The gardens don't necessarily have to be very deep. Even 4" of soil will make a big difference (though 8" is better).

There's lots of ways to get the material free.

The greater challenge to my mind is timing. If you weren't growing until next year, you'd have plenty of time to build up a stock of grass clippings, fall leaves, shredded newspaper etc. But wanting to plant this year doesn't give much time for assembling enough material for a low cost, in which case, yes, the soil could cost money.

The thing is, there's clay, and then there's CLAY. Could be a good tilling with a few inches of compost (here a yard of it goes for about $30) will be sufficient for planting. A lot of clay is excellent for growing in - heck most of our midwest agriculture is planted in clay. So being clay in and of itself doesn't necessarily indicate it is problem soil.

**frugalfranny** · 03-27-2011, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by skybluepink79

i would love to have a garden but but our land is all clay. i have one spot that drains fairly well but is still all clay but gets plenty of sun. i could use any sugestions on what would grow well if anything.

Not familiar with clay soil but when you are making changes don't
overlook the 'freebies' on Craig's list..........they are just starting to come on the one here.

Everything there from wood, old fencing, to soil and manure if you have something to haul it in. Even cheap/free plants show up on mine.