too much clay

too much clay

Asked on 2 Jul, 2008

my garden soil is full of clay ,in some places it is just below the surface i want to lay a new lawn & plant some shrubs and plants like evergreens, how do i go about it.

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Susiespearing

3 Jul, 2008

Hi Costa.
Pure clay will suffocate your plants but with a little help clay can produce a very rich garden.
You have a couple of options.You can dig in bags of organic compost to break up and improve the soil,or you can place a thick layer of organic compost on the top and stick to planting only those plants that can cope with clay until the compost works itself in.
If you were to dig the soil over now and leave it for the winter the frost will help break it up and in spring you can add lots and lots of compost and start planting
When you try to plant anything new it's better to surround the plant with fresh compost rather than trying to break up clods of clay to put back.In our soil there are usually a great many chunks of stone which I remove .Good luck, it's back breaking work.