With clay, don't add sand. You will end up with something akin to concrete! Add gypsum and organic matter. I need to get more gypsum, but adding compost works really well. You have to do it every year though. Can you stand to wait until next year? Lasagne gardening totally transformed one of my beds. Now, I need to do the same in several other areas. I have a yard here in Virginia with nothing but arell (marine) clay. Clay is not awful, but much better when amended.

Thanks Cyn....unfortunately this clay is not usable at all. It;s already like concrete! It would take years to amend it and I'd have to amend a huge area to allow drainage for my small raspberry bed----it's not worth it.

My plan is to put much better soil (with compost, peat, etc) in the trench. However, it won't drain unless there is some sort of outlet. I would do a raised bed but I'm told raspberries don't like to be fussed over that much....but I'm sure they don't want to drown either.

So far my only realistic idea is a french drain. Any other thoughts?

Even with a French drain installed, you don't want to create a trench. All that will do is create an elongated "bathtub" full of moisture retentive soil in the poorly draining clay. The drain just won't work fast enough or efficiently enough to move excess groundwater away before it saturates the improved soil you used as fill. The way to work with a poorly draining, heavy clay soil is to plant high.....a raised bed is exactly what you need!! It is the simplest, easiest and least expensive solution.

I am not sure why you think this would not be appropriate for growing raspberries......many gardeners grow them in raised beds. They can tolerate anything except for poor drainage, which I guarantee is what you will get with digging a trench in clay and filling with a better soil.

If you have further questions, suggest you post this in the Soils forum. This is not a Landscape Design question and the Soils forum participants are well-versed in all manner of soil problem issues and solutions

Thanks! It was a consultant at a local nursery that told me to plant raspberries in the ground. I took her at her word-----and have already put in a ton of effort on this. But I'll keep researching!