clay sucks when it comes to drainage, but don't worry about nutrients, clayey soils can frequently be among the most rich in nutrients.

Start a compost pile. Collect all the leaves your generous neighbors bag up and drag out front for you to pick up. mow the bags of leaves, pile them around your perennials and then in the fall or next spring, cover the decomposing leaves with mulch. The organic matter will be gradually incorporated by worms and insects. No digging necessary.

2-3 years of saving the garbage men from taking all the organic matter your neighbors throw away each fall and you'll have soil gardeners would fight over.

~Chills

Hi! The forum you want is the Soil, Compost and Mulch forum. I don't post there too often, but I read almost everything! Lots of good ideas and info there.

I don't really know about clay soil, but I agree with Chills - start a compost pile, (or two!). After your beds are all done for the season, spread a nice layer of shredded leaves down for the winter. You can add a fresh layer in the spring, or mulch with grass clippings.

Also look into lasagna beds. I start all my news beds this way now, and the soil in them is much better than the soil in the beds that I dug.

Good luck!
:)
Dee

Personally, if I had the money and a strong back, I would dig out the clay some and build up with good quality top soil. Otherwise, to amend the clay, till in organic matter and perhaps a product such as permatill. To get the clay soil to have the proper tilth for perennials, it'll take some time and alot of amendments. I've taken both approaches in the past.

I've provided a link to a good article on soil prep. The latter half of the article addresses how to amend clay soils.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil article

I had the same problem in my backyard a few years ago. Kept planting things back there and they kept dying. So one year I "bit the bullet". I got estimates from a couple of different companies, and found one that would rototill the whole back border and amend with mushroom compost for about $350 if I remember correctly. I dug up about 150 perennials (better to disturb the roots than to leave them there where they'd die), put them in plastic pots on the patio, and had it done. Had to wait about a month for it to settle before putting the plants back in the ground, but when I finally did, it was a pleasure - that soil was like "budda". Over 20 years of gardening, that was the best thing I ever did for my garden. Composting and mulch will help, but it will take a few years to get there.

Thanks for all the great ideas! I think I'll try piling leaves around my perennials and see how that works. I won't have to ask my neighbors for their leaves because I always have tons of my own! I'm going to look into starting a compost pile as well. Can I just pile things up outside, or does it have to have protection of some sort?

I agree with everyone about the shredded leaves - great stuff!! I go a bit further and mix in some used coffee grounds which attracts the worms and does a wonderful job. Even though I have just over 2/3 acre, I never know if I'm going to be dealing with sandy soil or clay in new areas, but mulching with this combo has done wonders for the soil. It's not an instant thing, but it does work.

In regards to composting, no protection is required. There's no mention of what zone you are in so if you have a winter, undoubtedly your compost will freeze at one point in time.

You can also build compost bins cheaply out of pallets, wire fence material, etc. if you wish. I have four pallet bins and several open piles. The open piles are hidden by huge boulders and are not managed as is the compost in the bins, yet the end product is very nice!

Along with Dee, I would also encourage you to visit the S&C Forum and read, read, read. All sorts of great ideas, debates, and differing points of view, but as Ryanzone over there says, IALBTC!! (It all leads back to compost.) :O)

Any organic matter will improve your soil - leaves, sawdust, manure, compost, etc. And keep applying it every year, since plants get hungry.

I started making a pile of organic matter from my yard, plus I threw a few scraps of food on top (come to think of it, I better bury the food tomorrow because I don't want the critters to eat it), along with some newspaper on the bottom....this is the beginning of my compost pile. I'll try to get out the mower to mulch up some leaves tomorrow. I can't wait for spring to see if it all breaks down! I've been creating a huge pile of leaves and other yard waste every summer behind my yard, and oddly enough it has never turned to compost....the pile goes down, but there is no dirt in sight....do you think it all just sort of 'melts' into the ground? Will my new little compost heap do the same thing do you think?

I've got piles of layered greens/browns/soil started in a few places.

I've been wondering a simple-minded thing...I assume I have to pull back the hardwood mulch that's been on all the beds since late spring BEFORE I layer shredded leaves around plants. Had hardwood mulch in beds for usual reasons of weed suppression and moisture retention as well as to keep amended clay from drying into cement as I started with.

Also assuming I should put bark mulch back over shredded leaves before it snows.

I know this is a truly simplistic question but it's been on my mind as I work around gardens and doing fall chores but I'm running out of time to make a decision.

I have lot of experience with clay soil :( ... sorry, to say, but those that recommend digging the stuff out are correct ... yes, it's alot of work, though you'll not regret the results. Yes, composting will definitely help, though you'll still have that sticky clay underneath there ... earthworms will not be able change hard almost impenetrable clay into fertile loam, believe me I had composted and amended my soil and had tons of earthworms and STILL the worst most awful sticky clay! Another way is deeply spade the area and break up the clay as much as possible (if that's doable), then incorporate compost, leaves, peat etc ... and then also raise the depth of the bed ... ideally, most plants would love to have a good 15 inches of fertile soil below them.

Terry

Not sure of where your garden is located in proximity to your house but if you have space for another garden, build a lasagne bed elsewhere--no digging and just lots of layering to about 12-18 inches. Let it sit six months and in Spring move your perennials out of the clay garden into the new lasagne garden (which is now a "holding" area for your plants). Put in lasagne layers in the clay area in the Spring, and by Autumn, that area will be ready for your perennials to be moved back in.

I think you will be really pleased with the results and it is a lot less work than rototilling and will take less time than working in compost.

Teresa

Thanks Teresa, that sounds like a great idea...but I know I won't be permitted to do it. I wanted to add another bed (or a few beds!) to my garden for next spring, and I want to do it by lasagna layering. However, this technique involves making almost compost-like heaps near the house and the owner won't allow it because she fears it will attract snakes. I started a small compost heap in the back of the property, and she is worried about that attracting snakes, so who knows how long that heap will be allowed to remain there. Plus, the thought of any more beds (even without lasagna layering) makes her nervous and she doesn't want them. Oh, what to do....I purchased a zillion seeds with high hopes of planting them next season (not to mention I have leftover plants from this year that still haven't made it into the ground because there is no more room!). Anyone want some free purple coneflowers? How about some roses (those poor, poor roses).

Newbie...I would pull back the bark mulch and lay down your materials and then cover it all back up with the bark mulch. No sense in wasting good bark mulch.