Heavy Clay on my new allotment...

[Lincolnshirelass]

We got an allotment last year, and as it was very VERY overgrown (hadn't been worked for at least 5 years to our knowledge), we laid carpet over a lot of it to kill off the worst of the vegetation.

Well, I'm thinking about getting some stuff in this spring, so I figured out that it was time to pick up my trusty spade and get digging.

First problem was that the carpet had been moved by a friend who said he'd try to rotovate it for us. Turns out that the soil was too heavy for his rotovator, so he gave up. Unhelpfully, he had thrown the carpet onto our neighbour's allotment, so to preserve good relations with our neighbour, I moved them to the bit of our ground which hadn't previously been covered.

It has rained here. A lot. Carpet is absorbent. Very. Cue me struggling with incredibly heavy bits of sodden carpet. I've got most of it moved, but two bits are just too heavy for me, and will require the assistance of husband (which could mean a bit of a wait). I hate having to ask the testosterone for help! I think I may try to see if I can source some agricultural black plastic to sheet the rest off.

Secondly, I discover that rotovator man wasn't exaggerating about our heavy soil.

I've almost killed myself digging a bit which is about 8 ft by 4 ft. Well, at least it's exercise!

Still, the good news is that the weather was beautiful (what happened to winter? This felt a lot like spring!), I had a robin for company, who was stuffing himself with all the slugs and caterpillars I found in the carpets, and I have enough ground turned to plant *something* this year, which is a big improvement on last year.

Yay allotment!

[the.fee.fairy]

I cheated on m veg patch in the garden. We have heavy clay soil too.

Get a load of manure, put it on top (like a mulch) and dig in some compost into it too (i bought a load of the bags fo stuff from somewhere...councils do progro).

Then, into this lot, plant potatoes. They do a great job of turning the soil over nicely for you.

If you're really brave, then go for a layer of manure, then a layer of vegetable matter, then a layer of compost with straw on top. The worms will make their way through the manure and bring the vegetable matter into the clay for you. The straw will keep it all warm and rotting nicely.

It might mean having to leave a bit of the plot for a few months to leave the worms to it.

Another trick i was told is to dig in some sand, but if your soil is too heavy to dig (and i do sympathise with this!!) then that'll be such hard work, but the sand breaks up the soil and stops it clumping so heavily.

Organic matter is the key it seems, the more organic matter, the better, then the little wormies do half the work for you by eating it and bringing it into the clay.

[the.fee.fairy]

ooh ooh, i nearly forgot.

One of the things i did on my beds was to get the spade and shove it in as hard as a could (well, throw it in), then lift it. in clay soil, this starts to break down clumps.

So do that first, then add the organic matter. By lifting the clods a bit, you're areating it and leaving space for the wormies.

[Chickpea]

She's dead right. You need to work stacks and stacks of organic matter into it. You can't overdo it. The more the merrier. It won't happen overnight but if you can really work loads of manure, compost, anything you can get into it, it will be much improved in a year or two.

And try spuds. Spuds are supposed to break up heavy soil.

[Wombat]

Clay soil is good stuff! throw in some gypsum (calcium suphate) which will react with the clay chemically to improve it's structure and give you a larger particle size.

Lime or dolomite will work but raise the pH so if your pH is OK go with the gypsum!

Nev

[Lincolnshirelass]

Many thanks for the suggestions! I shall be sending out my husband with a pickup to go buy lots of nicely rotted horse poo in the next few weeks :-)

Luckily the soil seems to house a LOT of worms, and it seems to have a fairly neutral Ph, so I have high hopes that taking it slow and steadily will yield a nice, fertile plot :-)

I suspect that 2007 could be the Year of Spuds... (and courgettes, which seem to grow like weeds wherever I put them).

[red]

heavy clay is sposed to be rich in nutrients.. so its not all bad - get your compo heap going and it will improve ovver time!

[Ranter]

Wow Lincslass - you could be writing about our allotment, except we're not allowed to use carpet or plastic as weed suppressant. One of the friends with whom I share the plot is determined to dig some of the beds. I'm sticking to mulching heavily with organic matter over cardboard & letting nature do the work for me. Luckily our sodden mass also seems rich in worms...