I have clay soil in my yard (not red clay though) and have opted to do container gardening instead. From what I've read, and from talking to a guy at the garden center, it takes years and years to break down clay soil to make it workable and you have to add all sorts of amendments to try and accomplish this. If I'm wrong, I'd love someone to tell me what I need to do in order to get rid of the clay (besides digging it out).

Eventually I will hire someone to put in a raised bed garden for me, but in the interim I'm opting for containers to grow tomatoes, cukes, zucchini and potatoes.

I have one spot on the side of the house in the landscaping where I actually dug out the clay (talk about hard work) and put in nice top soil. I'll pop a few things in there too.

Not much help I know, but just thought I'd share what I've been told and have read online.

Sue

I think just adding compost is ok, depending how much.
I have conditioned my native GA red clay soil just with
mostly compost without buying a bag of topsoil.I have close to 600 sq,ft.
You will do this for a few years to get a good soil.
To help the matter, you have to prevent flooding and drying.Mulching can help.
Another thing is that the compost has to be mixed well, as evenly as possible.

I am sure you will get more advice.

We have grey clay soil here in Northern CA. I double-dig, adding compost. A few years ago, I also added something that was made specifically to break up clay soil, but I don't recall what it was. It looked like gravel. There's still a lot of clay, but I can grow things in it just fine. I have grown tomatoes, okra, garlic, onions (they didn't do so well), strawberries, cucumbers, chard, spinach and peppers, and all did fine, even the first year. My soil started out solid clay with some rocks in between. The digging gets a little easier every year. I also use mulch, and I add master start and sometimes various other additives to the planting holes. It can be done. I also have flowers (roses, lavendar, bulbs, salvia, milkweed, lots of stuff) in other parts of my yard where the soil is also clay.

susiqqq,

Why to get rid of clay soil? Clay to a certain propotion is actually very good.
Where does the clay come from? The answer is: it is rock and stone dust or particles. Therefore, it has alot of minerals.
By amending a clay soil you can have the best garden soil.
Clay can help bond the elements together, retain moisture and nutrients.
The opposite of clay structure is sandy soil, which can deplete water and nutrients AND DRY UP FAST.

Of course, amending clay soil require time and resources but in the end it will reward.
What is topsoil? it is actually amended natural inorganic soil.

You are absolutely not doomed to failure! I live in Santa Clara County (California) which is known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" because ...thanks to our clay soil...it is a great place to garden. The key is to "grow" your soil by mixing in compost every fall and spring. It took many truckloads of compost to loosen up the clay soil that had been compaacted under decorative lava rock for many years in my garden, but now (three years later) vegetables and flowers (and weeds) are thriving.

Good luck!

kept under severI've been gardening three years here - my first year was a struggle (I removed several truckloads of decorative lava rock that was used I have clay soil as well (Northern California). I started gardening in this spot three years ago and every fall/spring I've mixed in compost. The first year, plants struggled - but now, they are thriving.

I've got red clay too. When I started my garden a few years ago, I dug out a bunch of clay and added garden soil. That's been my method each time I expand too, including this week with the latest. This time, I found that it had finally started amending thanks to the grass that had been in that spot over the last 4 years. Now I have a thin layer of what looks like an ashy soil over the clay. I'm keeping as much of that as I can, and getting rid of a bunch of the red stuff. I find that my veggies can get their roots into the clay and seem to do ok, but the roots are definitely happier starting off in better soil up above the clay. I add more soil every year and work it into the clay, and I'm hopefully going to start composting soon, so that should help too. I like to keep a little clay mixed in with the soil on top since it does hold water well, and I guess it's kind of like having a special moisture control soil without the price!

I absolutely don't see any reason to complain about clay soils unless it's been messed up by others trying to amend it. I have heavy red clay soil

{{gwi:40314}}

that is rich and wonderful for growing all kinds of crops. I have raised beds in addition since I cannot stand walking on or working in red clay -- it does a number on shoes and clothes.

But I never complain about the growth potential of vegetables in this clay. If you continue to add compost each year (and this year I'm adding spoiled hay as you can see), your soil will be excellent. I'm growing 20 tomatoes, limas, green beans, and roma beans, all poles, winter and summer squash, cantaloupe, watermelon maybe, corn maybe, and herbs out in the garden, and more on the deck in containers, cowpeas, swiss chard, lots of lettuce, and spinach.

Too much work.
Find a cheap source of material - sawdust or straw bedding or AGED manure.
No need to work it in, just put it on top, give it.3 seasons and the worms will turn that clay into great soil.
Do it today.

We moved into our new house a couple years ago and had both grey and reddish clay soil. The first year i removed an area of sod for a garden and hardly broke up the soil and all and still managed to produce some vegetables. Last fall i mixed in a lot of dead leaves, grass clippings and some small wood chips and dug the soil around 12 inches deap throughout the garden while mixing it all in. This Spring the soil is much better already and when i turned it over I noticed that I have a ton of earthworms now. I think if you take small, cheap steps like this you'll see improvements gradually. I'm anxious to see how it turns out this summer.

I second what halhancock said above. When I first moved in this house last year, the "garden" was solid clay, no worms, very hard to even put a shovel into. I double dug it, adding in whatever I could scrounge (mainly leaves lawnmowered into bits, dried lawn clippings, food scraps etc). Early in the spring I added 4 bags of cotton burr compost (3 cu ft each, $7 a bag) plus about 10 bags of cheapie composted steer manure ($1.45 a bag at Lowe's) and the rest of my kitchen scrap compost. Plus, I mounded my garden up into three distinct raised beds (for the sides I actually used old fence pickets from our fence that fell down)...The garden grew some amazing veggies last summer when it was all compacted clay, now the plants are springing forth and I'm eating chard, peas, radishes, etc...
Lots of worms now and the soil is friable, although I'd still like it to be looser deeper down..

I tend to ramble...but the bottom line is that you can fix it slowly and still grow stuff in it, and do it economically. Good luck!

Far from doomed. I have grey clay that holds the water very well. Last year I tilled in some bagged "compost" that seemed more like good composting material than compost. I also tilled in about an equal quantity of cocoa shell mulch finished with some grass clippings (before any weed n feed of course). All told if I spread the amendments out first it would have been about 1-1.5 inch depth. I tilled in as deeply as I could till. My garden did very well (so did the weeds but that battle is going to be different this year). I almost forgot I also used some epsom salts. I did not do any fertilization of any kind after planting. My tomatoes went wild as did my cukes. This year I did a lot of leaves done lawnmower style, grass clippings and a few bales of sphagnum peat moss. Clay soil is just another soil to work with. You learn how to deal and then go for it. Less water use and more spread with clay than with sand where the water goes straight down and right on through.

I'm another one gardening in clay soil with great success, and I don;t have raided beds or anything fancy because I'm renting.

I'll never understand why clay is looked upon as a disaster by so many people. As others have pointed out, it resists drying out, has a higher mineral content that more sandy soils, and also holds onto soluble nutrients better. And if you amend it every time you pull the plants out at season's end, it will quickly get better and better.

Digging the clay and adding compost/composted manure/leaf mold etc is *exactly* what you need to do. Or you could grow a green manure and turn it in. I've also had success, when I've run out of compost and had a spot free in the garden, with trench composting (basically burying kitchen waste and leafy prunings in the garden bed and letting the worms have at them in situ. I add a little bit of unfinished stuff from the compost bin to make sure there are worms and microbes. In two years the texture and worm content of my soil has improved considerably and apart from the initial digging (the whole garden was originally lawn) it hasn't been a lot of work.

So good luck, I think you'll be fine.

I think you have some sage advice here in this thread. I did the same as everyone else here and this is my first year gardening *ever* and the soil out there is not half bad. I am tearing up another bed this weekend (about 4 x 10) and I spent 2.88 on wood mulch from walmart, 1.78 on manure (scotts brand) and I plan on spending about another 3.00 I think on some more manure (due to the size of the garden) and some free grass clipping from me letting my lawn go for a couple weeks then mowing it. I don't know if this will work but judging from everyone else's post it will...

Alot depends on the condition of your clay soil. If it has been a part of a recent construction project it's alot harder to work with than clay that has not. The biggest issue is drainage. Raised beds, with, our without, edging will help that tremendously.

As stated above, you can still garden in it. Break it up as best as you can, mix in as much compost as you have, and plant. Then mulch it as heavily as possible with newspaper, leaves, grass clippings, etc. DON'T walk on it ever, and especially when it's wet! Come fall, dig in the mulch and the soil will be even better next year. (Be sure to add a fresh layer of mulch to it too.)

If you can get your hands on manures, that's one of the best conditioners for clay that I have found. (Don't put fresh manure in your garden. Let it compost for a season.)

Food for thought: Gardening is a long term proposition. Sure, your first year may not be your best year, but if you want a garden, there has to be a first year. Patience is a virtue. Gardening will help you acquire it.

I have clay soil, and after 3 years of amending, it is wonderful!!!!!

I also have a large raised bed/lasagna type that I am cooking this year, and buying topsoil to put in specific areas to plant seeds in, ao I can use it this year (because I am so impatient)! The reason I mention this is because most of the material in the lasagna bed was free (my own leaves, kitchen compost, old sand from my son's sandbox, and a ton of aged horse manure/bedding). I also created borders using old cinder blocks, also free, from mr stepdad. Gardening can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. Where I got the manure--If you live in or near a farming community, they are always ever so eager to be rid of some of the poop pile. I usually bring along some homemade bread or jam/chili sauce as a "thank you" when I am removing stuff they don't want. Its a win/win for all concerned.!

Happy gardening.

You CAN walk on clay soil - I do it all the time.
You CANNOT work it when it is wet. It will become harder.
You CAN dig out a small hole where you want to transplant seedlings or drop a seed and add potting mix around the roots.

Mike

Our house was new construction. The clay around the house was compacted. For this area, when we dig a hole, we add a little gypsum in the bottom to break up the clay. We mix peat and compost around all plants and mulch with compost as well.

If you are planning a large garden, spots that you are not able to get to right now can be planted in a green manure to prepare them for next year.

thanks for all the advice!
I feel much more hopeful. I'm impatient, but I'm excited to build my soil, and eventually have the garden i want.

I don't know if all clay soil is the same. Our clay soil has lots of nutrients (we're on the edge of the Great Palouse) but it's hard to work with. It's slimy in the spring and cracks like hard cement in the summer heat. You can't work it too early, or it's ruined for the year (balls up in little pellets). All that being said, if you add a LOT of aged horse manure, it's wonderful! Everything I've tried growing does really well and the roses love it...but it's 1/2 aged horse manure to 1/2 clay when I plant them. Also dig a little deeper than you need, so you'll have better drainage :)

Just got done REMOVING huge amounts of compost from a garden bed and shoveling in CLAY.

Just a fyi warning. Last year I got a few truckloads of free city compost and just dumped it on top of the ground (clay soil) to make raised beds. And I dug some 2feet diameter 2 feet deep holes and filled them with the compost to plant tomatoes in.

It was the worst garden results in a long time. The compost was a heavy compost, but even so, when I watered it, it would drain relatively fast down to the clay. The result was the compost was usually dryish, while the clay beneath was totally saturated. My plants were only 1/2 their normal size. Did get an ok harvest, but it was actually like growing in container because the plant roots couldn't grow into the saturated clay. If I didn't water a lot, the compost would completely dry out.

So out when most of the compost and I double dug down adding some/not much compost and leaves.
The plan is to not double dig again, and go with no-till. Just have overwintering cover crops to help break up the soil.

In a previous house, I double dug for the first 2 years, added a couple inches of compost on top and had very productive garden for years.

Clay is great.

All the farms in California grow great vegetables in pure clay, no amendments.

I guess I am lucky living 5 miles from a transfer station. It is interesting because when I cut down a tree or have any clippings I have to drive them over there and they charge me for that. Which surprises me because they just turn right around and shread it let it sit for some time then they sell it right back to us as compost. It is great for our clay soil but I can't plant right into it as it is too hot. But if you buy it and let it sit for a year then you can plant right into it. Wow the plants and vegetables grow well after that.