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Texas Gardening

Replacing super wet clay soil -- what to use?

17 years ago

I want to create a couple of 5' x 5' raised beds in an area that is almost 100% clay and is super-wet. My idea is to dig out all of the clay soil and simply replace it with good, fertile, well-draining soil/compost/? mixture (which I'll have delivered).

Is this a good way to go? I'm looking for EASY (vs. simply economical) since I'm 6 months pregnant and don't have the time/energy to spend mixing the clay with the good stuff.

Can anyone give me suggestions as to what I should use in the beds? For example -- half soil, half compost? Or should I include something else in there due to the drainage issues?

thanks,

Roxanne

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Comments (2)

tcharles26
17 years ago
I guess it depends on what you're going to plant in the raised beds. But I will say that most bagged top soil (that I see) is actually half sand and half finely screened compost, which is a pretty good soil in my opinion. I'd use mostly the soil 3 parts, maybe 1 part composted bark (soil conditioner)and 1/2 part of some coarse mineral component - like sharp sand, expanded shale or calcined clay.

For ericaceous plants more organic material and peat. For trees and shrubs and less organic..... Just my two cents
PKponder TX Z7B
17 years ago
The black gumbo clay is super fertile and I know you don't want to use it, but if you put in a layer of the compost/sandy loam and a layer of the clay, you should have something that drains a bit better and is easier to work in. The bigger issue is that when you dig out the clay and fill in with better (read more friable) soil, you get a bowl effect and the water still doesn't drain. Personally, I prefer to raise the level with a good compost/sandy loam mix because it drains better. I just build beds on top of the clay, raising the level as high as I can because the beds will eventually settle some. Just my opinion, I'm sure others have great ideas too.

Pam
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In my experience I've found that tillers don't dig very deeply. I agree with the above comments on the addition of the compost. As the tiller mixes the compost with the clay it fluffs the mix and appears to be quite deep. After watering and settling you will find the amended depth to be somewhat less. In my tilling experience it seems that the tiller really only goes to a depth of about one tine's length. S ham recommended trying to dig deeper and I would second that. A good garden fork could be used to dig a bit more deeply into the clay and to provide a broken interface with the amended soil above. At the end of the garden season you might be asking yourself where all of the compost went. It's amazing how the heavy soils will seem to soak up the organic amendments. For the best results I would encourage you to repeat the process in the coming years.
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g'day daleblack, better late than never maybe hey? but here goes. first questions (as i have never used brunning gypsum), was the gypsum of a moist talcum powder type consistancy? second if yor soil is like it sounds why fight it? use raised beds for all gardens, if you wanted to you could do a raised bed first where the trees are going then plant the trees in to rasied bed, the main thing with trees is their feeder roots need to be well drained the tap root will pretty much find its own way. so for trees that need good feeder root drainage you need to plant them into a raised position that is you dig a slight hole into your original soil throw some good quality gypsum in (usually the best stuff is bought at a produce agency) then create a mound to what ever height you need over and above that to plant the trees into (might be anywher up to 1/2 the heith of the current root ball?), this is necessary with citrus in those heavy soils so you may get some clues from researching planting citrus trees. len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page
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