Thanks for the tip; I'm gonna need a new garden fork to do this to 3/4 acre of clay.

Toni

Beautiful garden! Thanks for the tip!

Have to add that one to my "to do" list. I have clay soil and longing for some nice planting soil. Thanks for posting it.

Marilyn said:Toni

Beautiful garden! Thanks for the tip!

Marilyn - wish I could take credit, but that's not my yard. I don't know who's yard that is or why someone attached that picture to my tip. I wouldn't have used a picture with so much grass. Bleh!

Well, I was just tree-mailed by someone stating that working clay soil while it's wet is bad. I'm going to state right now that I've been doing this every year since the spring of 2006 and haven't destroyed my soil yet. So please do speak with someone who's a master gardener in your specific area about how to work the soil in YOUR SPECIFIC AREA. My area in Colorado is heavy clay and that's what is advised in my area: work it as early as possible when the snows melt. If someone waits until it dries out to work, then you're not going to work it at all as it turns into a solid base that is impossible to work by hand. Heavy machinery is required. Trust me, my back knows!!

I wanted a zone around my veggie patch, so I tilled one pass wide around, and then spread a three or four inch layer of sawdust. "Wheee!!" said the grass. I spread more sawdust, owell, ran the tiller again, and much to my surprise, the 'dirt', heavy red clay, had become fluffy and dark brown. The sawdust was fresh pine, not treated.

All submitted tips get a photo attached to it so if you don't provide one, a suitable one is selected.

I've worked in shredded paper on occasion and in some ways it's also similar to the lasagna method where you layer the grass/weeds with a thick layer of newspaper. But I'd like to offer one bit of caution - if you use paper that has coloured ink on it or is coloured, it may be best not to plant veggies in that location for awhile at least because of the dyes.

I tried a similar method. Used newspaper, some composted manure and grass and leaf mulch but did it in the late Autumn and it sat all winter. That particular bed has decent soil.

Good caution, Ann, thanks.

CarrieRose, I LOVE the tree in your avatar photo.

Well, well, now I know what to do with all that paper that I have to shred (credit card offers, bank statements and such). Heh, heh, might even get me motivated to clean out my file cabinets!

I am the one who says that working with wet clay soil is bad. I am not going to argue, but I will not be misrepresented.

Never did I say or advocate that clay must be dry to work with.
Quoting from my treemail:
"soil must be dry enough to work with so they [people who dig] won't destroy the soil structure"

There is still plenty of moisture in "dry enough".
When the snow melts here, the clay soil is sopping wet.
I guess you will need to research it on your own to find the right answer for you.

There are black clay areas here that are rich for row crops. It is often called "15 minute soil". That is the amount of time that you have to work it between it being too wet and too dry.

Oops, I was posting on the wrong thread....

Ain't it the truth, Porkpal?

>> There are black clay areas here that are rich for row crops. It is often called "15 minute soil". That is the amount of time that you have to work it between it being too wet and too dry.

:iagree:

For a few years, I thought that you needed a mattock AND a pick to work heavy clay, "because it's rock-hard until you add enough compost". Or paper, or sawdust, or leaves, or grass.

DUHH.
Finally someone explained to the sweating idiot that it needs A LITTLE water to soften it.
DUHH.

The right amount of water softens the clay and lets you break it into smaller clods to mix with organic matter. I could even force it through 1/4" hardware cloth.

However, many year ago, I worked some clay-ey soil when it was TOO wet. It was soggy enough that it slumped together and stuck to itself, squeezing the air out. You know the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base? It got hard enough to land military jets on.

Once I have it just soft enough to work, I try to mix in as much organic matter as I can buy, borrow or steal, plus a little something gritty like crushed stone or bark fines. Then maybe a little coarse sand, like powdered sugar on gummy candy to help keep it from sticking to itself.

Then I "fluff it up" with a garden fork and think airy thoughts, like making a souffle.

Then (I THINK this last step is important), I firm it back down carefully, aiming to get it firm enough that a little rain will run through it instead of turning it to pudding, then soup, then solid-as-rock clay-crete. I try not to firm it down so much that I squeeze all the air paces out.

That step is where I imagine that the grit and sand help the clay-compost mix settle into "structure" with some open spaces, instead of slumping and oozing back into one homogenous pudding.

That's just my theory or daydream, but it either does work a little on my soil in my climate, or I imagine that it does. I have to "fluff it up" once or twice per year until it accumulates enough organic matter and roots and soil fungi to support itself.

LOTS of compost, paper, sawdust or bark fines is sure to work. If you don't have enough organic matter (like 50-50 clay and compost or richer in compost), I THINK the grit and sand help a little.