Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi Colin,
Back in the Hertfordshire clay days no doubt! I had 16 years of that but that clay was tamed after about five years of really heavy work and then one year the clay gave up the ghost and it was plain sailing from then on
and had some really wonderful result from the fertility of the clay.
JB.

I often tell people an alternative way of digging where you can move as little or as much as your back and the conditions allow with each spade stroke. Put a line across the patch you are digging - digging is always easier if you are tidy and methodical. Make a vertical slot all the way along the line to a spade depth. Dig your trench a spade wide by digging at right angles to the slot and turning over sideways, you can take off 2" or 8" or whatever you can manage. If you are going for depth loosen the bottom with a fork and mix in the organic matter. Move the line a foot then off you go again. This might be how many people dig but you also often see people pushing the spade in then trying to move almost a cubic foot forwards away from them.

Welcome Dave!
I agree with everyone else regarding double digging....you can't beat it for improving your soil. The previous tenant of our allotment had obviously rotavated the life out of it, as there was a "road" of clay about 8 inches down which was almost impossible to get a fork into, let alone a spade!
Happily, 8 years down the line, all has been double dug, loads of muck added and we have a really good soil now, with excellent drainage.
I'm glad we haven't to start again now though! Good luck...and look after your back!
Cheers.

Remember some garden member needs advice here: Vegetables love the sun, then they need at least five to six hours of full sun every day. Vegetables must have good, loamy, well-drained soil. Avoid planting too near a trees. Vegetables need lots of water, at least 1 inch of water a week.

I'd also like to recommend you double-dig. And indeed, do it in small stabs, even going so far as double-digging half your plot this winter, tackle the rest of it the next. You will by then have got a handle on what does and does not perform well in your conditions, which will inform how you want to manage your area in the future. It may be that you don't have to double-dig it all after all, but only trial and error may prove this. In the meantime, you cannot go wrong with piling as much muck onto the ground as possible, even onto the bits you don't plan on cropping just yet.

I'd also be interested to know where in the country you are in so far as ascertaining what sort of clay you have. Acidic clays such as you find in Kent and Sussex, for instance, can be ameliorated with the application of lime. A pH test will determine this if you are not sure. I'm also inclined to ask: can you be sure your soil is clay? Often a waterlogged, winter-bogged soil can appear "clayey". I took over a plot some years ago which was described by the previous tenant as heavy clay when it was in fact silt which, when worked, was like pixie dust. But it did compact easily, which gave a poor impression.

williamraed wrote:Remember some garden member needs advice here: Vegetables love the sun, then they need at least five to six hours of full sun every day. Vegetables must have good, loamy, well-drained soil. Avoid planting too near a trees. Vegetables need lots of water, at least 1 inch of water a week.

The thread was from someone who has poor soil; how would you suggest he improves it?

What exactly do you understand by 1 inch of water?