what to grow in clay soil???????????????????

[ashamomodablam]

hi me and my friend have just got an allotment it has not been used for years and the soil is clay type. any suggestions on how to improve it and what to grow in it thanks

[Jandra]

Congratulations on your allotment!

My allotment has clay soil too and the way to go is to bring in organic matter. Loads of compost, some well rotted manure. Perhaps your neighbours can tell you if the soil is acidic. In that case apply lime, which also improves the soil structure.

I grow anything I fancy and almost everything does from well enough to just fine. One of the grapes died unsurprisingly in a wet winter on clay soil.

Good luck!

Jandra

[Enormous Sage]

I've got very heavy clay soil (you can mould it into plates, almost) and I've found the following crops worked well, some of which flies in the face of conventional wisdom, (though obviously there is more to sucess or failure than a soil type.)

Crops that worked well :
Leeks
Kohl Rabi
Sweetcorn
Potatoes
Lettuce
Strawberries (they're going crazy and they're not meant to work at all in clay!)
Radish
Runner Beans
Mangetout Peas (planted in a "hole" full of compost)
Raspberries
Redcurrants
Blackcurrants
Beetroot.

Crops that have worked very badly or not at all.
Carrots - nothing happened
Squash - went rotten
Cauliflower - went rotten
Cabbage
Brocolli
This is not to say that those crops won't work in your soil, I'd suggest that some of those crops failed due to the wet weather we've had over the past few years.

I have constantly chucked as much compost into the soil as I can - my three compost bins take everything I can gather, including donated garden cuttings from neighbours.

[Green Aura]

The bit with the heaviest clay grow spuds - they'll break up the clay and it'll be much easier to use next year. Other areas, as others have said, put in lots of organic matter.

You can buy a product called Claybreaker, which also helps, but if you've got the patience the spuds will do it for you.

[MuddyWitch]

Clay is the second best soil...after Odsocks' pure peat!

It is very rich in goodness, but it needs to be 'opened up' to allow free drainage & water retention,
(YES I did mean that!), ie free drainage of EXCESS water & to avoid puddles, but enough retained to keep it moist in dry spells. I'd recommend only tackling a fairly small patch at a time.

Spuds are the best crop to start with for their ability to grow through the thoughest clay & they love it. Also all the earthing up helps to break up the soil too. Don't put lime on your soil before spuds though, or they'll suffer with scab. (They are still edible but look like the 'Singing Detective' )

Follow the spuds with a Winter green manure, to be dug in in the Spring & that patch will be great for your other crops next year & off you go again on the next bit.

Having gardened on clay all my life I can tell you it's hard work at first, but it repays you a hundred fold in crops! I LOVE my clay!

Enjoy!

MW

[Peggy Sue]

My garden is clay (luckily the allotment is lovely loam phew)
When we first tried to grow veggies it was really hard, no one had done anything to the soil so worst possible case (unlike most allotments which have had some attention over the years).
We dug in as much sand and manure, even old soil from pots/growbags just to give some stucture. I've been liming every year and thats improved the worm count and its now loads easier to dig.
But from day 1 we grew great runner beans, also had success with sweetcorn, big aubergine plants (but not much fruit- may ahve been the rubbish summer?)
Did try onions, beetroot and broccoli but they were small.
The herbs do OK at the top of the slope but get too waterlogged at the bottom. The raspeberries are rapent and give loads of fruit, as are the black currents.
Lettuce and spinach do really well if you can keep the slugs at bay, the moisture in clay seems to make the slug fest worse.

Good luck with that manure- can't tell you how much difference that makes, you just can't get enough of it, and all thoses lovely worms it brings with it.

[frozenthunderbolt]

big aubergine plants (but not much fruit- may ahve been the rubbish summer?)

the biggest most prolific aubergines my da has ever seen were grown in a garden bed that flooded everyday with water from the washing machine.
from this we learn they need heaps of h2o and posphate? (main chemical in washing powder)

NB clay soil? plant olives, grapes and fejoas - all do well if you dont have major puddling drainage problems