What has been done with the leaves and grass clippings that have been generated around you?

Do you make compost?

Wood chips are not a good addition to the soil, they do make a good mulch however. For the garden bed at daughters in Granville I found a product that was a mixture of animal manure and compost that worked quite well in that clay but it took 3 years after working that in to see real results. Even after piling some leaves up out back and showing son-in-law the difference in the soil after one winter I still could not get through to him that the tree leaves were not a waste product that should be thrown away.

kimmq is kimmsr

as kim says. If you pile leaves and earthworms take them in, this will loosen the first few inches over time. A large worm population looses much deeper soil over time as they have to retreat deeper when the top soil freezes in winter. If you want a large population, give them large amounts of food (any matter except wood chips).

A faster way, IMHO, is to bury matter, including wood (a technique known as hugelkultur). can you rent and operate a trencher? I do it manually, it works as Fall exercise. This Fall I have about 20 spent mushroom logs to dispose of, I will be digging for sure.

Fastest way: Dig or till in loads of compost. If the soil is too hard to dig, water and wait a couple days for it to soak in evenly, then try sticking a shovel in. Water more if necessary. Never dig clay when very wet and muddy, it makes the problem worse.

Medium way: Layer compost on the soil (1-4"), then several inches of fall leaves, grass clippings, shredded yard waste mulch (sometimes free from municipalites) on top, and finally wood chips on top of that if you prefer to look at wood chips rather than the other stuff. Do this annually. Worms and your digging to plant each year will incorporate it into the soil eventually. This is a good followup after digging in compost too, as a 1-2 punch.

Slowest Way: What you are doing now with wood mulch alone.

Thick mulches and compost layers on top, and keep it moist. Plant whatever will grow there. It takes several years to make a difference.

Plant some deep-rooted annuals - okra if it can grow there - and cut them off at ground level at the end of the season. leave the roots to decay.

I concur with LG, but it is even better if you plant biennial plants, or even perennial like horse radish, since it will get down to 15 ft over time. Biennials have two years to go deep as opposed to one year. Look at the root development books on soilandhealth.org. Now killing horseradish is another problem, but chicory and red clover as biennials/perennials, with sorghum as a summer crop, are best for in depth soil breaking without having to dig a shovelful.

My favorite tool for breaking up hard ground is the broadfork. I'll go one direction, then add 4 inches of organic matter and fertilizer. Then I will go in the perpendicular direction. This time of year, I'll plant a cover crop and wait til next year.

It is a tremendous workout, but I wind up with loose soil 17 inches below ground level (length of broadfork tines) and raised 6 inches above ground level due to decompacton and addition of organic matter.

Then I can set up no till beds or disc/plow it. Before broadforking it, I struggled to pull a plow through it.

What exactly is a broadfork, and where exactly do you get one? It sounds a lot like the garden forks I used to be able to get at garage sales. Anything new just isn't up to the task of breaking ground. As a medium sized female, I'm not used to the idea of breaking tools. New forks, no matter how indestructible they are advertised, last less than a day. 'Antique' ones usually last a couple of years, but the supply has dried up.

Check out meadowcreature dot com. That's where I ordered mine. A bit spendy, but indestructible. They have a couple sizes-I have the.17 inch.

Plant cover crops. Radish have really improved my clay soil. I planted LOTS of Buckwheat this summer. I order seeds from Johnny's in ME.

We have 3 stores that sell cover crop seeds, Tractor Supply, Family Farm and Home, and a locally owned garden supply store, no need to order seeds on line and the prices are lower as well.

A broad fork is simply a very large fork used to till soil without turning it over.
There are proponents of using them and there are those that oppose the use of them, much like double digging. Adding adequate amounts of organic material to soils will eliminate the need to do either.

kimmq is kimmsr

Thank You for info on where to get CC seeds. I'll write them down. I'm in Pittsburgh, PA, Since I've already ordered so many different seeds from Johnny's I can harvest my seeds since I let my CC go to seed. Well I'm off to compost:)