I'd skip the soak part - at least until after you till and mix all the rest in. Trying to till soaked soil just makes a mess of hard clay clods that take forever to break up again. As for the additive - composted manure (never fresh) and as much compost as you can. I'd also add some peat if you can get it and save the alfalfa pellets till spring when the N is needed.

Dave

Well, I do appreciate all the above advice. It is necessary to soak heavy clay soil...here where it never rains. Dry heavy clay soil is like working with an asphalt driveway...no go. How do you age the manure (bagged)?

How do you age age manure ?

You don't . It is sold as aged in bags. But if you find horse barns, farm, ... that you can haul away by the truck load, then you have to make sure that it is composted (aged).

Also don't expect to get a perfect mix the first time around. You will continue amending for the next couple of seasons as the material settles down.

Another amendment that I have come to like is pine/fir bark products, either labeled as "Mulch" or " small nuggets". They don't offer much of any nutrients value but are excellent amendment for clay soil. and in containers.

Shredded fall leaves is yet another excellent additive if/when available.

Sey

Worked on the groundwork and lumber today....expanding my bed to 5'x16'. Wow, I sure got old all of a sudden! haha. After 2 1/2 hours I was gassed. Why do we do this to ourselves??? We are twisted....that's why. haha. Anyway, I will go out tomorrow AM when it is cool and work for an hour tomorrow. Next week I will add the topsoil and amendments. My plan is to add mostly bagged compost and manure to the somewhat sandy topsoil.

Good luck Ed and take it easy !

I am against any sand mix in the soil. Unless the percentage of approaching 35% ++, it has no positive role in providing better drainage. In small percentages it might actually have a negative effect if mixed with clay soil.

I would use 50% loamy topsoil and 50% compost, then addend with ally kinds of manures

I was curious to know how long manure should age before being "safe" to use.

We buy it from a farm where they take it from a pile which has sat around for 2 or 3 years.

Cornell says that 6 months is a good age to aim for....

Linda

If it has sat for two to three years, you're a lucky one. If there's no trace whatsoever of ammonia smell in the wet parts and it rinses brown to tan with a hose (not any hint of green), and you can bust open any remaining road apples (ones that just dried out and didn't rot down) and sense no trace of manure, then you can probably believe them and use it right away, and definitely if it's going to overwinter on or in the ground.

Fireduck, beware of using lots of bagged manure if it says "steer" on it. It's a salt thing. Other than that, "compost" and "manure" are interchangeable and no different in the long run. Use as much as you can and don't worry.

Is your area arid with bone dry clay? With 11 and a half inches of wall you just might be able to ignore the clay entirely.

Steer seems to be the only kind of manure around here in the stores. Although, I did buy some chicken manure also...now that I think about it. Yes, it does not rain much here in SoCal.

Most bagged manures are mostly non-manure compost and are week in nutrients. I use them as soil amendment/conditioner not as a source of nutrients. You can actually plant things in some of them w/out mixing with anything. You can be assured that nothing serious will happen if you dump a lot of them in the fall/ mix in and let stand over the winter.

Sey

Thanks sey...I was just thinking about the salt issue that had been mentioned. I bought ten bags of steer, 5 bags of chicken manure, and 5 bags of compost to add to my 2 cu yds of topsoil.

Sounds good, Ed. And good luck with the new beds .

I would also sprinkle couple of pounds of granular all purpose fertilizer, to soak in during the winter months.

Sey

Will do.