How to prep my soil

15 years ago

Hello, I am planning this spring to create a garden for perrenial fruits and veggies mostly. I already have a nice regular garden for all the annual veggies and that garden has been around long before we moved in and is good soil.

I built a barn last year and its on a little of a hill and the slope was knocked off nearer the bottom and added to nearer the top to make it all one angle leading up to the barn if that makes any sense. Its mostly bare, probably not much 'topsoil' left, and is mostly heavy clay. But I want to terrace the slope into several rows - the area is 40x40 and has about a 7' rise. I was going to do 6 rows with a little over a foot drop for each one, a little under 7' wide each.

I would like to plant lots of berry bushes, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, grapes, and some dwarf fruit trees. I'll have some other perennial veggies like asparagus and rhubarb, and maybe a spot for additional annual stuff and flowers too. My question mostly pertains to the soil. How do I go from hard clay to something I can grow in? Add in sand or peat? How demanding are berry bushes and dwarf fruit trees for good soil?

I might have to just buy more topsoil to fill in my rows, so thats probably the easiest solution. Initially I was going to cut into the hillside so that the average height of the rows was unchanged, I would just take the taller part and fill in the lower part if that makes any sense. I do have access to an unlimited supply of horse manure, some of which has been in a big hill for years and already composted. I also have a few compost piles myself, but only on the 3x3' scale.

I also have a single bottom plow for my garden tractor and rear tiller attachment so I could work the soil however much needed. How long will it take? If I built the retaining walls and had it terraced in the next month or two could I just amend and till it and be ready to plant? Or should I work the soil all year and plant it next year?

Thanks for any suggestions!

p.s. also does anyone know how long landscape timbers will last if I use them for the retaining walls of my terraced garden?

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Comments (5)

Embothrium
15 years ago
Adding topsoil is a better bet than mixing in soil amendments. Treated landscape timbers and edible crops incompatible, unless roofing paper or other barrier used to separate plants from treatment.
oiho
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, I think adding topsoil in would be a lot easier, but of course a lot more money to have to buy it all.

I'm not too worried about treated wood, even the old treated stuff was debatable whether any increased levels of arsenic would actually be absorbed into the fruits/veggies you would eat. And for the last decade the EPA has banned the sale of it for residential use, the stuff now is pretty harmless and I have used it for many years.

If your suggesting to use stone (just guessing, you gave no recommendation for alternatives) I would love to do it all out of stone or blocks, but I think the cost would be out of my budget. And I think for a wall on a slope of clay I'd have to trench it a few feet deep, gravel, and pour a concrete footer. I'd have to rent some heavy equipment and just the footer would probably cost more than my budget.

I am however thinking this project is getting too big for me to pull off.
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athenainwi
15 years ago
I had a similar situation on a smaller scale, and my solution was not to terrace it. Clay plus hill equals soil that holds water but still drains. My trees have all been quite happy although it can be a bit of a walk to get to the top of the hill.
alexander3_gw
15 years ago
I've had good luck using cover crops to prep clay soil. Last summer I used the "Soil Builder Mix" from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. Planted in August, and by October it was about 3 feet high. It's remarkable how big a difference it made. If I stand on a garden fork in the middle of the lawn, I mean stand with both feet so all my weight (~210 pounds) is on the fork, it goes in maybe 2 inches. Where I planted the cover crop I can easily plunge the fork in to full depth with one foot.

The right cover crop will send aggressive roots deep into clay soil, breaking it up. When the plants die, the roots decompose to add organic matter throughout the soil to a depth of several inches.

It takes some time, but it's easy and effective

Alex
oiho
Original Author
15 years ago
Alexander - thats interesting I never thought of a 'cover crop'. I wonder if it would be thick enough to choke out weeds and grass, I would hate to get weeds set in this year but that would be an excellent way to somewhat naturally develop the soil especially if I dont get around to using it this year anyway. The whole terracing project is starting to seem way to much of an undertaking for me, spreading it out over two years just might be the ticket.