Problem Clay soil

Hi

Can anybody help I have had my new home just under a year and this year is the year to tackle the garden. I started full of happiness till I stuck my folk in and heard the squelch of the soil. I then set about it with a spade and started to dig down and to my horror horrable water and clay soil. How can I set about starting to improve the soil and its structure or am I just wasteing my time with this and resign myself to having raised beds .

                      Regards Stephen (Tyne & Wear)

I have a very similar problem, I have rocky clay soil and don't really want raised beds. I have found the best remedy is to plant something with large stringy root base like parsley or certain types of ornamental grass. let them grow for a season then dig them up if it's a larger plant or dig them in if it's grasses. I only disscovered this when I dug up my expired parsley plants to find beautifull soil this spring. I have also spent a fair sum of cash on composts and work it into my soil twice a year to improve the quality. Hope this helps.

We're into our seventh year here on clay soil, and every year I just put more compost in, I concentrate on one bed a year, which explains why it's taken so long! You do see results eventually. If you can afford to, then bulk buy in a load and dig in.

Dig in plenty of sand and grit and if possible leave over winter for the soil to rest and the frost will get to work on breaking up the big chunks. At this time of year all you can do is dig several times and mix in lots of sand and grit. Don't leave it too long as once it dries out it will be rock ahrd and you won't be able to get a spade into it.

i have been reading a few blogs and it appears that (like myself) people with new build homes have clay issues. this is due to the hardcore machines etc... 

i am about to tackle the issue and have been advise on all of the above, Plus add in drainage troffs where possible.

Nothing beats a good dig, hard work but well worth it,add plenty of well rotted horse manure and come autumn a good amount of rough sand.

After 10 years I decided to dig out the clay from borders down to a good spade and a half and relace with good soil and compost bought in.  The work is hard but the difference is worth it IMO.

One border at a time.  

Before my soil would compact to rock hard even with treatment.  Now its always easy to plant and weed.  

Short term pain long term gain.

but what do you do if you have established perrenials everywhere, making it very hard to get to the soil an dig it? would love nothing more than to turn my whole lot of clay soil over but don't fancy removing half the plants  

is there a best season to do this anyway?

The water means that the clay soil is compacted so you really do need to uncompact it before planting. Unless you are digging out the clay soil, you should never use a spade: always use a fork. Fork in bark and compost and leaf mulch and it will get better. I would not bother with sand as it adds nothing - try and keep off the soil when it is wet (yes I know that is not that possible but it does help)

Thanks Therapy- I shall give that a go this Autumn, trying to dig around the established plants as much as I can. Think I'll also stick with the compost and grit rather than sand, idea. It's almost impossible to keep off the soil when wet, especially as we've had almost 7 weeks of rain! The grass looks pitiful this year and I've been patching it up here and there, but with the clay soil it immediately compacts and new grass seedlings get trampled into the clay if they are walked on - argh! Do I have to fork in manure at all? Or is compost and some grit enough? What about bark chips over the top too which gradually break down into soil? Thanks all for so many good tips, you are very helpful!

PS: is compost better to use than topsoil?

If all else fails try building raised borders

Compost and grit is fine. If you have heavy clay then mix in bark chips as you need the large organic matter to loosen it up and add humus. Sand and clay makes a sort of cement in dry weather that is why I said avoid it! Parts of my garden have blue clay that is teribble to work with as it just sticks to everything and causes water to stop draining away, causing roots to rot.

The good news is that clay soil is very fertile, once you improve the drainage and structure.  As you have established perennials, it sounds like it isn't too bad.  Like others have said, you need to dig-in grit, sharp sand (don't ever use builders sand - that will cause the 'concrete effect' in dry weather, but sharp sand is fine) and as much compost as possible.  To improve the drainage around your established plants, stick a fork in as deep as you can and wiggle it about to leave 4 holes.  Pour sharp sand down the holes.  Use as much compost (any type, even the cheap stuff) as you possibly can each year and also put at least 2" layer as a top dressing and let the worms do their work.  I can even now grow carrots on my clay soil - the sharp sand really helps with those.  It did take many years of effort to get it to the stage where I can grow almost anything though!

I have heavy clay soil and over the years have developed it into lovely loam.

It wont take for every, start now with adding compost, grit, sand, spent compost, manure etc etc and repeat every year

Mulch in autumn as well and by next spring you will notice a massive improvement

i  have blue clay, if i used a cement mixer how much sharp sand , compost , and clay should i mix together to get a decent workable soil ?