Is your soil sticking to your shoes? Is water sitting on top and not draining through? It could be that you have clay soil. But that doesn't mean the end of your gardening dreams.
With these easy ways to amend your soil and knowing what to avoid, you can create fertile soil that’s just right for your garden.
Heavy clay soil is excellent for making pottery! It’s smooth, holds lots of water, and can be shaped into usable objects. But clay soil is not ideal when you’re trying to grow vegetables. Sure, you want your soil to hold water, but not in a way that smoothers roots. And although you want small particles for growing root vegetables, the ultra-fine clay particles are too smooth and don’t allow air pockets.
To know why gardeners complain about clay soil, it’s important to understand what creates the ideal garden soil. Healthy, loamy soil will have a mix of inorganic materials, air, water, and organic materials. Organic material is a crucial part of healthy soil but isn’t the largest component. Clay, silt, and sand are found in larger quantities. So clay in your garden soil only becomes problematic when there is too much clay in proportion to the other components.
Plants don’t grow well in clay because it's hard, compacted soil that’s often too acidic, holds too much water, and not enough oxygen.
The particles in clay are so fine that the soil holds onto water and doesn’t allow oxygen for roots. Without oxygen, the water is inaccessible to roots, and they will be smothered. In addition, the microorganisms can’t grow in the soil with too much water and no air.
Organic matter is the best thing you can add to clay soil. This is crucial for turning heavy clay into loamy fertile garden soil.
Organic matter is anything from nature, and it should be partially broken down. You can start with what you have. Use your compost , ground-up leaves, wood chips, and aged manure. All of these will help. Add 2 or 3 inches on top of your soil.
Fall is a great time to add organic material to your garden. Over the winter, these will break down and contribute microorganisms to the soil.
Planting something in clay soil is a great way to start improving the soil, and cover crops are excellent. They will begin the growing process, introducing good bacteria and organic matter and building better soil. Daikon driller radish is one of the best cover crops for breaking up clay soil. You can read more about Daikon Radish on our blog. Any cover crop can be a start for changing the makeup of your soil. You can plant cover crops in the fall and early spring or any time you don't have another crop growing.
