Hallelujah and saints be praised!

[blamebrampton]

It is a long weekend, and I have no work work to do. At last, I can get stuck in and clean the house, beta fics, write and read (and [Poll #1411482][Poll #1411482]

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part one

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Ooh! I can help with the second part of this immediately!

Clay soils are the bane of most gardeners as they have the annoying habit of both holding water enough to rot plant roots and bulbs, and also being able to dry out to the point that they could be used as the setting for an Australian road movie.

On the upside, clay soils are almost always nutrient rich, it's just a matter of being able to alter the soil structure to the point that it's conducive to happy plant life.

There are any number of ways that you can do this. I am operating under the assumptions that you do not have a massive budget and that you do not want to do an enormous amount of work.

Happily, clay soils should not be heavily dug, so you've saved a load of work there. Because the soil particles are very fine and 'sticky', digging will collapse what little air spaces there are between the particles. So your garden is perfect for a no-dig approach. What you need to do is to add loads of organic matter and increase the soil biota to a point that it starts to turn from clay to loam on its own.

Start by using a claybreaker. Scattering garden gypsum is traditional and cheap. It's pH neutral and can just be cast over the soil at the rates on the packaging and then watered in. Takes a little while to work and the dust can be unpleasant to work with (it's harmless unless it gets in your eyes, wear safety glasses, and you can wear a mask if you like, though it has no warnings on inhalation or ingestion), but easily the best value for money. If your soil is waterlogged due to rain, this is the product to choose.

For a slightly faster and much easier to use product, there are a range of clip-on claybreakers that attach to your hose and can just be sprayed over the area. These can often be purchased in multi-packs at a good price, but do take a look at the suggested area covered, as it can be a fair bit less than the garden area you need to treat and you may need to buy several. They're absolutely foolproof to use, and over-application is not really a problem (aside from the waste, same goes for gypsum).

You will need to repeat this a few times in the first year and possibly annually thereafter depending on how your soil rehab goes. Now it's time to add rich organic matter.

Anything that is organic, nutrient-rich and well-rotted will do (essentially, it's all types of compost, even though only some are labelled as such). You can go for compost, stable manure, cow or sheep manure, leaf litter, agricultural byproduct such as composted sugar cane pulp, composted chicken manure ... whatever you can get in bulk.

And when I say bulk, I mean bulk, ideally we're talking tonnes. Don't balk at the idea: you can often purchase very cheap compost in large quantities from your council, and I have seen products that cost A$10 for 30L sold at A$60/tonne. As a rule of thumb, you want a depth at of least 4 inches (10cm), though you could easily double that. Calculate the area and multiply by depth for the volume, most suppliers should be able to convert that into weight.

If you are not sure of local suppliers, ring your council, any local community gardens or any local landscaping suppliers for recommendations. Check the price of delivery, too, as it even for smaller amounts it can be cheaper to have it delivered loose than bought packaged.