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clay soil

vic14vic14 Posts: 82
Hi im after advice. My garden is sunny all day but my soil is clay. Could any of you lovely people advise me on good plant choices and what to avoid. Thanks in advance
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  • Incorporate as much organic matter as you can into your clay and you'll be able to grow virtually anything.  It will be the most fertile there is and roses will love it.


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • vic14vic14 Posts: 82
    Thankyou. I have recently dug some out and put compost in so it looks like i was heading in the right direction. Ive also put a rose in about a month ago so im really hoping it does well. Ive got so much space to fill with plants as there wasnt much here when we moved in. Just a butterfly bush a few hellebores a peony and a photinia robinia if ive spelt that right?
  • vic14vic14 Posts: 82
    Oh i am glad im new to gardening i thought clay was a bad thing to be honest. I think i still have an awful lot to learn. The weeds seem to like the clay image
  • Everything I plant in my clay grows like mad but Iv added abit of compost
  • Clay is a great constituent in soil as long as there is not too much of it. Unfortunately on some sites builders leave you clay subsoil or leave you a thin veneer of topsoil.

    You will get plenty of advice to dig in lots of organic matter. As a no dig gardener I would suggest you add lots of organic matter to the surface!

  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    Clay isn't bad, it can be hard work though. At times I curse it like today where I've spent most of the afternoon in a wet sloppy mess cementing in a post.. but come the summer when everything is growing, I'm not going to be complaining about being on clay. image 

  • vic14vic14 Posts: 82
    Agree about the builders roger. We recently put a new fence up and im sure we could have built another house out of all the debris that we had to dig through! Ive since spent lots of time getting rid of most of the bricks and concrete that were lurking under the surface.
  • vic14vic14 Posts: 82
    Gemma the clay is lovely in the summer aslong as i dont want to dig it lol
  • vic14vic14 Posts: 82
    Agree about the builders roger. We recently put a new fence up and im sure we could have built another house out of all the debris that we had to dig through! Ive since spent lots of time getting rid of most of the bricks and concrete that were lurking under the surface.
  • Clay may be back breaking but sand is heart breaking,,,imageimage

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