3 Steps For Fixing Clay Soil

Hi there, friends. Let's talk dirt!  Do you have hard clay soil in your garden?   I do!   Yuck!  It's so hard for my plants to thrive when their roots are planted in clay.  So today, I'm going to show you how to amend your clay soil so that it's easier to dig, easier to water, and easier for your plants to thrive.

3 Steps For Fixing Clay Soil

Step 1: Avoid Compaction

Do your best to "Keep off the Soil" in your garden beds.  Walking on your garden soil is something you always want to avoid, and even more so if you have clay soil.   Clay soil that is compacted will form thick, heavy clods that make it all but impossible for the roots of your plants to grow and receive the water, air and nutrients they need.

Soil can be compacted by pets, too, especially if there's an area where your dogs like to run and play (or in my case, protect our property from evil squirrels).

Of course, heavy machinery will compact your soil in a hurry.   Even moving the wheelbarrow or garden cart over an area too much will compact your soil.

You can use stepping stones to navigate through large garden areas, or even better, keep your gardens to 4' wide or less, so you can reach where you need to work without stepping at all.

Don't be like me.  The soil in our North Side Yard Garden is heavy clay, and was super compacted by heavy machinery when we had the field stones put in last fall.  Then this spring I planted all my new plants right into that compacted clay soil without doing any soil amendments.   At all.   Like, none.   No, don't be like me.

Step 2: Add Organic Material

Add organic material to the soil and mix it in well to a depth of at least 6-8 inches. This can be peat moss, chopped up green plants, potting soil, leaf mold, well-aged compost, well-aged manure... the list goes on.  Home improvement centers and garden centers sell large bags of soil amendment  or "soil conditioner" materials, and can give you great advice for what to use in the soil in your local area.

If you're amending a large garden area all at once, figure on adding a layer of organic material that's a good 3-4 inches deep.  Use a rototiller if you have one, or use a spade and some sweat equity to mix it all together.     If you can find a strong able-bodied teenager who wants to earn some cash, all the better.  Spread the organic material out across the area to be worked, and use the spade to dig down, turn over, stir, chop, and repeat, until the entire bed has been worked.  

You can also amend small areas for individual plants.  That's the method I'll be showing down below.

For a few months after amending your soil, pay a little extra attention to the soil moisture when watering your plants.  The clay around your newly amended area can act like a bowl, holding too much water and staying too wet.

Step 3: Cover with Organic Material

Cover your amended clay soil areas with slow-decaying mulch such as bark, sawdust, shredded hardwood or ground wood chips.  These types of much will break down over time, and work their way into the soil to add to the organic matter and lighten up the clay.

Option:  Grow a Cover Crop

You can grow a winter time cover crop such as clover, borage or hairy vetch to continue improving your soil.   The roots work their way down and lighten the soil. In the spring, these crops can be turned over and worked into the soil.    This may not work for a suburban foundation bed, for example, but could be a great option for a vegetable patch or a larger  garden area in a new part of your property.

Other Ideas:

Amending clay soil like I described above is a long term project. It's going to take a few years to really get the soil to where you want it using that method.   If you don't have time to wait, you could:

• Build a Raised Bed - These would be built on top of existing soil, and filled with high quality top soil and compost to create instant "perfect soil".

• Remove and Replace the Clay Soil - You could bring in some machinery to dig down into your soil about 8-12 inches, and just remove the soil (or bring in that teenager to do the job one wheelbarrow at a time).  Then bring in a dump load of top soil and compost to make instant "perfect soil".   I did this once in one of the yards we lived in, and that garden soil was AWESOME!

• Use Plants that Thrive in Clay Soil - there are lots of plants that do a great job in clay, even adding nutrients back into the soil or busting up the clay with their strong roots.  Some good options include aster, daylily, and many native or ornamental grasses.  Just do a quick search on "Plants for clay soil" to come up with some great options.

Now that I've covered the basics, let's see what it looks like in practice.

Follow Me To The Garden

I have this cute little pair of baby hostas called "Curly Fries" - don't you love the name?     These were new plants this spring, and they both should be growing by leaps and bounds.  But instead, they're pretty much stunted, and the leaves are starting to turn yellow from the far edge back toward the center of the plant.

After a little research I learned that this is probably caused by overwatering and/or poor drainage.   Yep - we've got poor drainage alright, in this heavily compacted clay soil where the machines moved all the stepping stone pavers last fall.

I can't imagine uprooting ALL of these plants, setting them aside, and amending the entire area at one time.  That's too much work all at once and I have neither the time, the money nor the energy to do that!  So I'm going to have to take care of them one at a time I think.

My project for today is to amend the clay soil around these two hostas.  It's an easy project which took only about 20 minutes to complete.   Come follow me to the garden, I'll show you how I did it!

You'll need:
- a spade or shovel
- a pair of gloves
- some organic matter (I used potting soil)





First, I dug the plant out  of the ground and loosened the soil around the roots.   Yep - the clay was definitely suffocating the roots, and when I watered, the water just sat there drowning the poor plants.

Next, I dug a hole about 3 times the diameter of the root ball... I could have made the hole even bigger and it would've been even better.

Next, I filled the hole about 1/3 full of my organic matter.  In this case I was using potting soil.  I might have preferred to use peat moss, because it's lighter and does a great job adding just enough room for air pockets around the clay.   You could also use compost, ground up green plant material, or composted manure.

I added some native clay soil back to the hole and stirred the it around with the potting soil, mixing well.   See?  I have a photo to show I mixed well.  :-)

I added more potting soil and re-planted the hosta, taking care not to plant it too deep or to pack it too tightly.     I took the offending clay soil leftovers to another area of the yard, since I no longer needed it here. 

I repeated the process with the second hosta, and replaced the shredded hardwood mulch around the base of each plant.  Success!

Then I watered, but not too much.  Because I essentially created a clay bowl in which the potting soil mixture is hosting the plants, I didn't want to over-water.  

And that's about it!    I'm going to keep my eye on these two little guys to make sure they don't continue to have problems with yellowing leaves.   If this solution doesn't fix them, I'll be sure to update this page with more information.   But I'm hopeful that they'll be happy campers here in their upgraded digs.  (get it?  Digs?  Ha! I crack myself up.)

Do you have clay soil in your garden?   Do you think this approach might help you with your gardening challenges?  Do you have any questions about what I showed here?   Please leave a comment, let's have a chat!

Did you see this post on How to Divide Hostas from earlier this week?   Come take a look!

Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest to get more tips and information about caring for your yard and garden. 

  

I use these products in my garden and love them!

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Linking To:

Metamorphosis Monday - Between Naps on the Porch

The Scoop - Stonegable

Make it Pretty Monday - The Dedicated House

Wow us Wednesday - Savvy Southern Style