How to improve clay soil
Clay soil is a blessing! Thats right! A blessing!
Most people wouldn’t agree and that’s because they don’t know what to do to improve clay soil.
You may have struggled digging it over because it’s too heavy, too wet or too dry (hard) and just so full of clay that it’s like cutting through blocks of cheese with your spade.
You need three ingredients to improve clay soil – time, effort and natural wood fiber – and then nature will do the rest.
Improving clay soil is simple
Add fiber into it. Thats it!
Specifically natural wood fiber – that’s the best – natural wood breaks down and creates mycelium and thats key to the transport of nutrients and the basis of healthy soil and happy plants.
- Wood Sawdust breaks down the fastest (local sawmill or lumber yard)
- Wood Chips – second fastest (local tree surgeon)
- Wood Bark – the slowest (local garden centre)
You should also dig in any of the following too…
- Shredded cardboard or paper
- Kitchen Scraps (egg shells, coffee grounds and vegetable peelings)
- Tree litter (twigs and bark)
- Leaf Mulch
- Fiberous Compost (multi-purpose is ideal)
- Clean Cat Litter (dried wood pellets)
- Aged Cow or Horse Manure (2 yrs plus)
- Small amount of chicken manure or pellets
They will help maintain the balance of the soil.
The timescale to transform (condition) the soil will depend on a number of variants. Allow two years to get really good results.
Usually from six months onwards, you will see a vast improvement in the condition of the soil. It will have lots of worms, be easier to dig and the soil will be in smaller chunks and as they decrease in size you will get a tilth (fine, workable soil) that is healthy, nutrient rich and free draining).
Word of warning...
Throughout the whole process, do not use any weedkillers on the soil.
Weedkillers have negative long term effects and will kill the micro-organisms, microbes and beneficial insects that do all the hard work of conditioning your clay soil.
Let nature do the work
My advice is to plan well ahead – prepare a new border by digging into it any of the above listed items in quantity and leave it. Winter is a great time to start the process as nothing is actively growing and the soil will be wet and more workable than when it’s bone dry.
If you leave the border bare, dig it over every now and then – that will help speed up the process. Nature does all the hard work – air, frost, rain, sunshine – the elements, insects and microbes slowly change the soil composition. Only plant up trees or large shrubs into it until it’s conditioned to the point you can work it with a hand trowel and then you can add in your bulbs, perennials, seed and bedding plants.
Improve Clay Soil Annually
Annually, in the autumn, add more fibre into it – wood chippings, with wood bark on top is ideal. 4 to 6 inches deep will keep out the light too and drastically reduce your weeding.
The best way to improve clay soil is to change it’s composition from having little wood fibre to lots!
Happy Gardening!
