We have had the same experience in the past with a clay loam soil. Hate to say it but it took us till the next year to get rid of all the balls. We tilled the heck out of it.

Don't till again unless it's start to dry out. It would be a good idea to work in compost when the time is right.

"And those things are like cement now."

Yep, they are basically Cement! Especially if you have clay!

My now deceased neighbor hired someone with a tractor mounted tiller to deep till his garden years ago.

The soil was too wet when the hired hand tilled it.

He was still cussing about the rock hard mud balls the summer before he died. 5 years after the tilling!

If it has rained since the last time I have been in my garden, I will not even step on it without grabbing a handful of dirt and doing the ball up and drop test.

My Daddy taught me that!

He was an old time farmer, raised on a really big farm. Their food and all of their income came from the farm. They had to know when and what to do or starve.

I have soil like that, in a low, badly drained location. My solution is to till in the late fall, prepare the rows and beds for spring planting before winter.

Even though I grow my potatoes on the surface, they still burrow into the soil, and digging them up gives me the huge cement blocks, even tho I work extra organic material into the bed in the fall.

LOL at the crocks in the garden.

I was really blind-sided by the midatlantic clay when we moved here last fall. I dug a few shovelfuls of the stuff and quickly decided I'm out of my league! I am doing mostly raised bed and container plantings this year until I have a real plan in mind for amending my soil and draining the yard. I'll go ahead and drop a few sturdy-looking transplants in the ground in the "least bad" spot and see if they sink or swim. If your crocs are any clue, "sink" may be literal! :)

jadie88...check out gypsum. I'm turned on to it. There's some "recycled" gypsum out there that I'd stay away from.

Thanks for all the replies! I'm hoping to get out there this weekend and plant. It hasn't rained since monday. Now if it will just get a bit warmer :)

As for the clay..I'll just keep adding leaves and straw and such. It's ALOT better than it was 4 years ago!

Meanwhile...if one of these sprouts up out of my garden thanks to my "croc seeds", I'm not sure what I'll do! (see below)

There is a serious market for a tree like that! I am in Midlothian and feel your pain. I went with raised beds, now I just squish to get to them, but I am not growing rice any more. Good luck, I will be putting most of mine out this weekend too.

Had to laugh at the shoe tree-at least you have a sense of humor about it :) I am wondering if any of you with such bad/difficult soil have tried Straw Bale Gardening? I am trying it for the first time and I am really excited to see how it goes. I purchased the book "Straw Bale Gardens" by Joel Karsten after going to one of his seminars. The straw bales must be conditioned, but after 10 to 12 days, they are ready to plant or seed. And they will only hold a certain amount of water, any excess runs out so you can't drown your plants. I have included the link to his webpage. Oh, also, at the end of the season, the straw bale is now compost.

Here is a link that might be useful: Straw Bale Gardens

Im in Fredericksburg and commute to Short Pump every day. Looks like we are in for a deluge this week. Hope you got your stuff in the ground over the weekend.

I got everything planted except for squash. I'll get that in a few days. It's been mostly sprinkles and good old fashioned pitter patter rain so far. The good side is that it seems to be warmer. The over cast skies made for stress free transplanting too.

As far as strawbales go....i wouldn't mind growing potatoes in them; but i'm a dirty girl. I want to dig and feel the dirt between my toes!

Ya'll have a great soggy day!

Thanks again for all the feedback!