Kitchen Garden Forum

Hooray! Have FINALLY moved house, into the Cotswolds, and have a garden again after 9 long months. AND have got the internet back after 5 long weeks!!!!

Can't wait to get going on my veggie plot, but am shocked at how heavy the soil is here - could actually make pots, fire them and glaze them just from the stuff I've had a dig at in my plot. EEK!

Guess all I've got to do is use lots of manure and compost? Gonna do raised beds too, that might help.

SO happy to be settled again at last! Wahay!!!

Hi Maz,
May health, wealth and good fortune befall you in your new home. Congratulations!
JB.

Welcome to your new home, and back to the world of gardening. Bet you can't wait to get your hands and wellies dirty again. Hope your first crops make up for the frustration of being without a garden for 9 months. It would have driven me barmy !

Dear Mazmezroz, glad to hear you are settling into your new home, it's nice to see you back on the forum.

Shame about your soil.

congrats on your new plot and home
heres hoping the clay soil is your only challenge
nice to see you back
jo x

Congratulations on your new home.

As for the garden, it looks like you'll be shovelling a lot of horse about....hope you've got a big shovel

Enjoy....

Dug for an hour yesterday,and managed one spade's depth and about 5'!!! Got some muck and compost and am incorporating that. I am considering ordering some topsoil and muck to put in my raised beds. Looking around the area, there are plenty of people who are growing their own, so I know it's not impossible!!!

I have the same problem here. The clay I dug this winter was blue with red freckles in it , so very compacted. I've done raised beds and done a mixture of mixing compost and manure and importing soil.

Hi Jane,
Is the entire plot composed of this awful clay?
The reason I ask is because years ago when I lived in Hertfordshire, which is renown for its clay, and having struggled with the clay I had occasion to replace a heavy a post for a heavy gate and I dug down 2'6" and to my surprise came across topsoil.
I investigated further and found that the clay that I was experiencing was from the foundations from when the house was built some 150 years before.
I investigated even further and eventually dug all the clay out a took the topsoil and dumped the clay underneath. It took me nearly two years but it was well worth it. Oh I wish that I had the stamina today! Just to make you jealous there is no clay on my plot whatsoever. I have 5 acres, which was my nursery, and there is no clay anywhere in that area.
I go from bare rock to 4ft of topsoil!
JB.

I moved from Hertfordshire just over 2 years ago and am still amazed at how easy it is to dig and weed. I don't think that gardening books and experts emphasis just how difficult those tasks can be on clay soil, but I suppose if they did a lot of beginners would never begin. Tons of manure has to be the answer - best of luck!

That's OK chaps, just rub it in, don't mind me, down here in Hertfordshire.
On Clay, already cracked wide enough to loose biros in.