Clay soil found in new garden bed, can you still plant?

7 years ago

I bought this new house with blank canvas for gardening. Im trying to plant hostas and cali lilies along the fence but have discovered its clay soil as I have it all dug up now.

Can I just break it up and mix a good soil and compost/ fertilizer with it?

Or would I need to remove the clay soil and put a good quality soil in?

Im fairly new to gardening so I want to make the right choice but honestly don't want to get to over my head.

Thanks :)

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Comments (3)

rgreen48
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
lady, where are you? Different locales have different forms of clay. In general though, from what I've read for those plants, just generously amending the clay with organic matter (compost, leaf mold, etc...) should do fine for the hostas. Mine do fine in my clay-based soil.

I assume you mean calla lilies - instead of cali - the resource I read from... http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/calla-lily/growing-calla-lilies-and-care-of-calla-lilies.htm ... indicated they like more drainage. You could remove some of the native clay and incorporate a mix intended as potting soil into the clay. As mentioned, all clays are different. You may have one that is just fine being amended once, or have one that will require a lot of work. Tough to know for sure from here. Some clay could be beneficial, but not so much that the soil doesn't drain well.
toxcrusadr
7 years ago
Most of us here will recommend that you work with what you have rather than trying to replace it. Clay has some great qualities, it just needs a little help with its attitude.

If you need to raise the level, then adding soil is OK, but if you really don't need to, add extra compost instead. Several inches is not too much. Dig or till it in. Avoid working clay when it's wet. Organic matter will work in several ways to help the soil become more spongy but it does take time. If these are perennial beds, you will want to use degradable mulches like grass clippings (no weed killers though!), leaves, wood chips etc. They will feed the soil without much work on your part and no digging.

You can search for 'clay soil' in this forum and see other tales of working with clay.
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Clau soil particles are a mineral and do not "break down", it is the organic matter thaat gets mixed into the clay that gets digested by the soil bacteria. Some types of clay do not seem to allow organic matter to mix, there seems to be some kind of barrier at the soil/mulch interface that prevents mixing so those soils need to have some organic matter tilled into the soil first. Once that is done then mulches add to the OM in the soil with no problem. However, wood chips and shredded bark seem to be the most common types of mulch material that presents this problem. I would find some good compost and work that into that soil first and them apply the mulch.
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Ya, that weed fabric is a pain in the but! I just moved in a new house and had to pull tons of it out, while the people put a foot of soil on top of it! talk about pain in the butt! I have very heavy, heavy clay soil. I had very good results by placing newspaper and a sheet of cardboard on the existing grass, then piling compost and soil and made a 6" raised bed.. I didn't even till the soil.. I have great results and no weeds to pull.. If I was in your shoes, that's what I would do.. You wanted to till in wood mulch and leaves in the soil.. I would not do that.. Wood and leaves are high in carbon and it will use nitrogen fromthe soil to decompose.. Thus depriving you plants of nitrogen temporarily.. Think of it as a compost pile - you need the proper greens to browns(nitrogen/carbon).. Always leave the high carbon(leaves,woodchips,straw) on top of the soul as a mulch.. It will not tie up nitrogen in the soil because it is not mixed in the soil, and it can get nitrogen from the air.. Good luck, Joe
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We live in Oklahoma, and have clay soil. My solution has been to take a pick ax, dig down at least a foot, remove the clay, then before putting in anything, take that axe and work up the remaining clay. Once the remaining clay has been stabbed and torn, put in some top toil or compost. THis is for drainage, and the added soil will never never combine with the clay. Once you have this part of the bed prepared, you have a hole that is at least 12 inches deep. Put in good top soil with some compost mixed in it. (Pure compost will create a swimming pool, and kill any plants.) Once you have filled the hole, water it, stomp on it, then continue filling higher and higher. Put in some plastic or metal around the sides of the bed that will hold the soil, and continue building it up. Again water and stomp. When you plant your roses, make them very very high. THey will begin to sink, but start with them high. You are planting in a modified raised bed. Little by little as time goes by, you will know when to add compost, and you will watch the drainage. If you need to display one rose, follow this process, and pretend that you are preparing a bed for 5 roses. The clay will begin mixing in with the top soil ----- never. As least never in the years we have been here, and that is since 1979. Peat moss will become as dry as a brick, and also will not mix well. This may not be true if you live in a wet area, but in Oklahoma, I don't use peat moss. If what I have written will not work for you, you might try putting in small rock under the 12 inches you have dug. Once you have prepared you bed and roses, you would need a good amount of mulch to also protect your plants. Be sure to be scientific with your watering, and I think you will be fine. Scientific with watering means that you should find an area to dig where there are not roses, and watch from time to time what the water effect is in that area. The clay that you remove can be a good product to use to border your beds. I hope this helps, Sammy
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Thanks for your suggestions. I hesitate to try to photograph the area as it's a long strip and would be hard to do, given my limited photographic abilities. So I'll try to describe it. It's a long narrow strip of land, about 5 feet wide and the length of the entire side of our house. But I probably won't convert the whole area. I at least want to convert the part that I can see from the kitchen windows, which is about 12 feet long. Future project would be the part below the dining room windows, another 12 feet or so. On one of the sides is the reddish brick wall of our house and includes a few basement windows. The other side is a reddish-stained cedar fence. It currently has native grape vines covering much of it. That could go or stay. It's a dry area, though I will provide some water. Moss wouldn't work. I can't put a lot of water into that soil because it is elevated and supported beyond the fence by a retaining wall that is tilting. Consultants have told me that introducing plants would be good for the stability, but not to saturate the soil with water. It's currently a weed patch, but I am smothering the area to kill them. There is a very large yew (tree-sized) at the end of the area, corner of the house. Hope this helps.
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kimmq
7 years ago
There is nothing wrong with clay soil that adding a lot of organic matter will not make better. However, do not just add some organic matter to the planting hole since that will create a place that water can flow into but not out and the plants can drown. Organic matter worked into clay soils will separate the soil particles which will then allow water flow easier, plant roots to grow easier, and change the soil so plant nutrients are more available. Clay soils are generally better since the nutrients plants need arfe held in place much better than in sand.

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Clay soil found in new garden bed, can you still plant?

Comments (3)

rgreen48

toxcrusadr

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