Too much clay...

[Smart Red]

I think I need more coffee. I read the thread title and went into art teacher mode, -it never occurred to me that someone would be talking about soil!

I am with @buckabucka. My first thought was I could never have too much Clay. Clay(ton) being my dearest spouse's name.

I have gardened with clay soil, though not long enough to see much improvement. The best additive is compost, compost, compost. That is the solution for any gardening type.

 

[thistlebloom]

I don't think you want to put sand in your clay, that leads to brick material! Others who grow in clay will be along to help you more specifically, but the best thing you can do is add lots of compost.

@frontiergirl53 , I'm glad the others have given you such good help.
@Ridgerunner is right as usual, I'm not an expert and obviously don't know how a brick is made . But I did accidentally get the compost thing right!

 

[frontiergirl53]

I've been testing my soil pH for a long time, and it is always around 4.5-5.5. I think its because I use raised planter boxes and use the bagged soil. @digitS'

 

[journey11]

Since it's a raised bed, I'd worry that sand would really hurt the ability to hold onto water and even your nutrients could be washed out as water drains off too readily. My raised beds require regular watering to keep them from drying out, whereas my main garden almost never needs watered (here we get a lot of rain.)

Compost and manure will help raise your soil pH gradually and you need the humus to help hold water. Now's a good time to be applying lime too, because it takes a few months to kick in. There's a certain amount you need to add per square foot to raise pH by a specified amount and it is different for different soil types. You'll need to do some research on that--I recommend talking to your local ag extension service agent. They'd know! And their advice will be specific for your area's soil type. Most of your veggies will not be happy at that level of acidity you have, except for things like potatoes and blueberries. Hope that helps. You'll also want to mulch that soil surface after plants get started to help hold your water in. I think I'd use hardwood bark mulch. That will also gradually alkalize your soil as it breaks down and you turn it in.

 

[MontyJ]

If your growing in raised beds with bagged soil, where is the clay coming from?

Journey has done a really fantastic job of explaining how to handle clay soil! You go girl! To the OP, you don't know how lucky you are to have a clay based soil. You actually have the opportunity to develop some of the finest growing soil in the world. Follow the advice given by Journey and the others and add as much organic material to your soil as you can. Your CEC will skyrocket to numbers others can only dream about. (CEC is what Ridgerunner was describing in his post about the electrical charge of soil particles).
Your pH will be very slow to adjust, because of the clay so I recommend caution here. The clay compounds are difficult to alter and it's easy to get to ambitious and overshoot the targeted pH. Your local Ag agent can give you a total amount of lime needed, but I recommend applying it in a three year program, with annual autumn pH tests. Bringing pH up is much easier than getting it back down again.
I believe Steve mentioned gypsum. That's a really good additive for clay soils because it helps break up the clay molecules and doesn't affect pH.
Without a soil sample from a reputable lab, I'm hesitant to recommend anything beyond organics such as compost, leaf litter etc...

 

[frontiergirl53]

I bought the soil in bulk from a rock/ soil store. It had a lot of clay in it.

 

[Beekissed]

I garden in heavy clay also and have added amendments for years now with very little results. The soil just...consumes it...but never really changes.

I'm going to try the Back to Eden gardening this year as it seems like the best and quickest option to have an ongoing and positive change to the soils of the whole garden. I'm also going to do the same in our orchard. It's a little more complete than just tilling in amendments that simply disappear after they've been assimilated into the clay. With the BTE, one is actually creating a different type of soil right on top of the clay base and never tilling it into the clay at all.

After that it's just adding more of the same and building this wonderful top layer of mulched top soil that has none of the clay component at all. To me it's the quickest, the most complete, the easiest and cheapest way to amend the whole garden at once. It may take some time to get the desired result but at least I'll not have to depend on this clay soil any longer.

 

[ducks4you]

Here is our recipe for your clay soil, which I have, too.
Ingredients:
clay soil
used bedding, horse, rabbit and/or chicken
plastic grain bags
duct tape
Preen
transplants, 3" and taller
DIRECTIONS:
Go to a local stable, make arrangements with the barn owner and bag up as much bedding as you can, using grain bags. They are plastic and tough and won't break. Roll the tops of the bags down and duct tape them closed. They will NOT leak in your trunk if you tape them well.
Empty the used bedding into a compost pile. The pile will heat up and break down, creating a soup of microbes for your plants. Turn the pile 1x/week until the Spring, as often as you can.
Hand till your garden bed(s). Hand till and rake in the used bedding GENEROUSLY. Sprinkle the recommended amount of Preen to kill off any weed/grass seeds. Scoop your holes and transplant your vegetables or flowers. Water generously. After a few years of this, you can use your hand to dig a hole to plant.

The used bedding is too rich to plant in directly, but I have had dropped seeds sprout in my piles on my property every year, even without turning the piles. Normally, without turning, it takes 4 months for horse manure to break down, chicken manure a little less, but it's very acidic fresh. Mixing it with your clay will put air pockets in your garden soil, so that the plants will also have room to sink their roots.
Hand tilling will decompress your soil, which has had gravity pull it downwards, and anybody walking, mowing or driving on it also compressing it. ALL beds need aeration every year.
Hope this helps! Just takes some elbow grease.

 

[majorcatfish]

it took years of composting and cover crops in the main garden to break up our carolina clay, now it tills like a dream..still working on the raised beds.
you got to love work in progress...

 

[frontiergirl53]

@ducks4you I am definitely gonna do that! My aunt owns a ranch and she will let me have as much manure ad I want, chicken, horse, cow, ect. I'm gonna plan to do that next week. Thank you so much that is very helpful!