Sugarhill, I dig out a foot of the builders clay or native clay (get rid of it) and add manure and then some builders sand. Quite a bit of builders sand. This works great and I have several beds which drain very well and have gorgeous soil!

GGG

Just curious, but why can you not have raised beds?

I wouldn't advocate replacing the clay soil completly. Simply amend it with compost. Clay's positive properties are that it retains moisture well, it binds minerals and nutrients and is slow to leech them. Simple 25-40% amendment with compost, well rotted manure, etc. will do the trick. Plan on building it up over time via frequent annual amending.

Sugarhill,

I find that adding my ammendments on the top and then double digging with a pitchfork is the easiest method. I am also curious as to what others add. So far I ahve been adding soil conditioner and mushroom compost, or is some cases to save money I use composted cow instead of the the mushroom. I have recently been adding some organic humus since several paople have suggested this to me, but to be honest I feel like I am just guessing. I put in a little sand in spots where I feel drainage is a big issue either due to location or plant preferences. The last bed I created around my deck I didn't even dig in the ammendments, I just layered on top, dug to plant and in the process the planting holes got the ammendments incorporated, but the rest I just mulched over the top of and we are gonna see if the earthworms will take care of mixing it up for me. After all the new beds I made this year I was just too tired, so I decided to try this as an experiment. So far everything is doing fine.

I'm still using the dig-and-replace method. I have a baby tiller that I run over the area to loosen the grass and weeds. Scrape that layer off and discard (you could start a compost pile or build a berm). Dig down as deep as I can stand it, usually the depth of the shovel. Remove that soil. Run the tiller on the bottom of the pit to break up the subsoil. Dump in manure, a little lime, and any other goodies you care to add. Mix up with the tiller. Add back enough clay soil to fill up the hole and mix it up some more.

It's hard work. The tiller really helps, but I've done it before with just a shovel. A digging fork is great when a shovel can't get through the clay.

The stuff sold as compost (topsoil, humus, whatever) in the 40-lb bags for $1 is a good, cheap filler type of soil amendment. It's got a lot of sand and composted bark in it.

McCrean, I can't have a raised be in that area. It's up against the foundation where the crawl space is the most shallow. A raised bed will raise the soil level above the crawl-space vents and let water drain into the crawl space. I can't do a berm there without directing water toward the foundation. So I have to amend the existing soil and not let the level come up more that 2 inches.

Kathy, I have experimented with several methods too. Except for raised beds I haven't been satisfied with any of them. And I HATE, HATE, HATE amending soil, It's sweaty, hard , miserable work to do all that digging. Last fall I tried Ruth Stout's method of putting several inches of leaves and a few other amendments on top of the soil for my woodland garden. It worked much better than I thought it would to improve the soil. I was like you - just too tired to dig up another bed - especially around tree roots.

Sugarhill, I have a similar project I have to do. Actually I was hoping it would be DONE by now but my hubby isn't so wild about the job.
On that shallow side of the house we have to remove cement, dig down MANY feet, add gravel, drainage tunnels etc. but we can't let the grade away from the house be higher than the grade next to the house (which it is now). What a pain, huh? A series of raised beds also needs to go in (away from the house). I was thinking of putting large containers near the areas of the house that don't have the air vents. Maybe some sort of trough or something as it's under the eaves.

GGG

The troughs are not a bad idea, GGG. I feel for you having to dig so deep and put in all that drainage. I can see why your husband is putting that off. I can also see why you need to get it done. Definitely a fall project. Can't imagine it in this heat. Not enough beer in the world to get through that in summer. I have also thought about using perennials that like clay and just not amending the soil in that bed. What could I plant besides rudbeckia and coneflowers?

It's not that I'm not willing to amend this bed. It's just that if I'm going to do it I want to end up with friable soil, not just clay that's a little better than it used to be. Lasagna beds have spoiled me.

Anise hyssop and native helianthus (sunflowers) would probably do fine with rudbeckia and conflowers in unamended clay. Coreopsis is pretty tough as well. Except for the hyssop, we find these natives growing in the worst looking soils! Two others are liatris and bird's foot violets.

Sugarhill, I'd recommend going ahead and ammending the soil. I think it will eventually create better drainage around your foundation area anyway...deeper perculation of water, so why not do it? Plus, you'll just end up feeling restricted and frustrated 3 years from now when you want to plant more around that area and can't in the clay, lol.
I'd just rent a tiller if I were you, till up the top level and remove that soil and then till in ammendments to the correct soil level, then plant. The rental will be well worth the $$$

GGG

I actually borrowed a small tiller from a neighbor a couple years ago to do one of my first big beds here. I have never bothred since. There were so many rocks in the area that I found it wasn't worth it. I had to keep stopping to pull rocks out. I really like using a garden fork to turn the soil and pull out the rocks that have then been losened. (I know I am going to regret that layered bed when I still needs to dig out rocks when I go to add or move plants in the future.)