Good morning! If you, like me, are gardening
in clay soil you know that clay can be.. uh challenging is probably putting it lightly.
Clay soil can be very difficult to work with- it's heavy, it's dense, it's difficult for delicate
plant roots to penetrate. The saving grace of clay soil is that it typically is fairly high
in nutrients and does hold moisture. The key is unlocking those nutrients so that they're
accessible to your plants and loosening up that soil texture. So today I wanted to share with
you my top methods for improving clay soil in the garden. Now you will know you have clay soil
because when you dig down into it and grab a clump when you go to try and crumble
it it typically does not crumble but rather will form into a sticky
ball reminiscent of potter's clay. Now compare that to clay soil that's been
amended and when I grab a chunk of this it crumbles apart in my hands rather than forming
a sticky ball. Now one of the most common tidbits of advice given for dealing with clay soil is
to add organic matter. And this is great advice don't get me wrong, but it may not be entirely
clear what exactly is meant by organic matter and there are so many options how do you know
where to start? Organic matter basically refers to anything from nature, so plant or animal material
and these materials are ideally used after they've partially rotted down or in a composted state.
And as far as what the best option for you is, that's going to depend it's going to depend on
where you live and what your resources are. So my advice is to use what you have. I've got
leaves galore- you may have pine needles. We use leaf mold, grass clippings, straw or hay from
local farmers, or green manure from chopped down cover crop residues. Other great options include
biochar, earthworm castings, composted wood chips and good old compost. And you might be asking
'okay so I add organic matter... how exactly do I do that?' Well the best and easiest way that I've
found is just to add a layer of organic matter, at a minimum two to three inches thick you can go
up to six to eight inches, to the top of your beds and then dig or fork that in to incorporate it
into the top soil. Now if you're using compost or composted animal manure, I will typically add
that to my beds in the spring before planting and with that you really don't even have to work
it into the soil. Just dump a layer on top and it will act as mulch and add nutrients and organic
matter to the soil eventually working its way down into the top soil. Now adding organic matter
to the soil helps improve the structure of clay soil in a couple different key ways. First the
addition of organic matter creates aggregates of the soil particles, physically separating them and
allowing for better drainage and tilth, which is kind of why you get this crumbly effect versus
the sticking together effect of the clay soil. Secondly the addition of organic matter serves
as food for earthworms and other beneficial soil microorganisms and through this feeding
process the worms and other beneficial organisms are converting that organic matter into nutrients
essentially fertilizer for the plants in your garden. Worms in particular also improve soil
structure and aeration by way of the holes that they dig while they're tunneling through the
soil. And please ignore the all too common advice of adding sand to your clay soil to improve
texture. Soil scientists warn that the ending result can actually be worse to deal with than the
clay soil itself. Another tactic I like to use is raise it up-- and by that I mean getting your
beds or your rows or wherever you're planting elevated, even if it's just a little bit. As you
may have noticed clay tends to get waterlogged and compacted very easily. Raising up your beds
helps fight these issues in two different ways. First of all the raised beds tend to drain more
quickly. It also helps that I have created kind of a water a waterway or a diversion of the
water with these lower walkways so the water tends to drain there and then drain out of the
garden versus just sitting in my planting areas. Also by having devoted beds and walkways I'm not
tempted to walk in my planting areas which would just exacerbate the problem of compaction. As I
mentioned clay soil is dense and sticky and tends to not get enough oxygen. Because of this texture
aerating is one of the best things that you can do for clay soil particularly when you're starting
out. Now aeration is simply introducing pockets into the soil that oxygen can penetrate. Now as
I mentioned earthworms will do that job for you. Moles, as much as I hate their presence in the
garden, will also aerate your soil for you. So if anyone can figure out a way to train moles just to
work in the non-planted section of garden please let me know, I would love to utilize them. And
then a few other tactics that I use for aeration are using tools like garden or digging fork or
a broad fork and utilizing clay busting plants. A broad fork and a digging fork work in
similar ways in that they are introducing air pockets into the soil without disrupting
it to the point where you're causing damage. And another great method of aerating the soil
is using clay busting plants. So you see one of my favorites, you may have heard me mention it in
other videos, but daikon or tiller radish is one of the ultimate clay busters. It has a nice long
tap root that really busts through that clay soil and when those roots rot away they leave these
nice big pockets and again adding organic matter to the soil as they rot. And there are plenty of
other crops that you can use to bust up clay soil. Anything with a long deep taproot and plants
with extensive fibrous root systems-- so rye is a really good one for that as well. And last but not
least, cover that soil. I try to never ever leave soil exposed in my garden-- now this is important
for all soils, but of particular importance for clay soil. If clay soil is left exposed the heavy
rains that we tend to get in the spring and fall will further compact and erode our valuable
topsoil. By heavily applying natural mulches I'm avoiding those two problems as well as adding
valuable organic matter to the soil. Now I tend to use things that are very similar to what I
mentioned in the section about adding organic matter. Grass clippings are a favorite of mine,
as well as leaf mulch, straw, chopped up cover crops and I focus on at least getting everything
heavily mulched in the fall. if I come into plant in the spring and the mulch is still too heavy
I'll just pull back a little area so that I have room to plant and leave everything else in place.
But if you live in an area where like slugs in heavy mulch are a problem in the spring you can
pull everything off your beds and just throw it in your compost pile. By taking these steps, whether
it's all of them or just incorporating a few, you will begin improving your clay soil almost
immediately. But don't expect amazing loamy loose soil your very first season. Improving clay soil
is a process and it does take some commitment. I will say though that I personally, by using all
of these techniques, have drastically improved my garden soil in about three years. You can see
the difference here- I went from this to this and honestly my garden has never performed better.
Now be sure to let me know if you have any other tried and true techniques for improving clay soil.
And if you find content like this helpful consider subscribing to my channel- Growfully with Jenna.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time!
Leaf mould https://imgur.com/gallery/6hrCqtU
Horse manure,
Green manure https://www.greenmanure.co.uk/pages/choosing-the-right-green-manure
Agricultural Gypsum.
As much organic material as possible.
I used to think sharp sand was the solution but apparently it can cause more issues than solves.
Edit: After watching your video you didn’t mention Gypsum, farmers use Gypsum to bind to clay particles etc.
Keep adding organic matter (leaves, straw, compost, etc) and then have patience and a “long game” mind set. In a few years your soil should be a bit more balanced.
Great advice! I’m besieged with clay soils. How much square feet of land are you working with there? I’m envious.