CannyCat Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Our garden is full of clay-soil, so drains really, really badly. Our garden is also north-facing and gets no sun in the winter, but lots in the summer. Is there a way of improving drainage, short of stripping out the clay and laying down new topsoil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Move house!!! Only joking! I was watching a gardening programme the other day and they introduced loads of horticultural girt to the area. I suppose it depends on the size of the plot as to whether this is practical or not. Is it for vegy or borders? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Licken Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 You can get granules of gypsum (I think) that help to break down the clay. Better to add organic matter than grit to improve the soil. If you are planning on veggies then throw in a load of spuds - they will break down the soil over the first couple of years. My mum and sister both have solid clay allotments and they have made massive progress in a year. Mum also planted some weed suppressing plants (can't remember tge name) but they were great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicky G Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 You could create raised beds and back fill with good soil and compost, or use pots and containers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnieP Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Cannycat, I was going to suggest the raised bed idea. Makes gardening easier too! If you need any well rotted manure to fill raised beds with (or anybody else who may be reading this), we have tonnes of the stuff... would you believe we have to PAY a local farmer to take it away? And then he uses it on his own garden, as its such good stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel (& Paul) Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Cannycat, I was going to suggest the raised bed idea. Makes gardening easier too!If you need any well rotted manure to fill raised beds with (or anybody else who may be reading this), we have tonnes of the stuff... would you believe we have to PAY a local farmer to take it away? And then he uses it on his own garden, as its such good stuff we'll bring some sacks next time we are in the area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Our garden is full of clay-soil, so drains really, really badly. Our garden is also north-facing and gets no sun in the winter, but lots in the summer.quote] Snap!!! Ours it made worse by the fact that our neighbours raised the height f their garden last summer, so this winter all the water from theirs drained into ours and we were left with a 2 inch deep puddle that stretched 20 feet down the garden. All our fruit trees are on that side too. We are going to make a new bed on that side and make sure that we plant moisture loving plants in it as any other option is just too expensive. Will cheerfully throttle our neighbour next time i see him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CannyCat Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 Sadly we only moved in 6 months ago, and I think if we moved at this point we'd be in debt! I definately want to get a much larger, south facing garden next time though - I'd never kept chickens before we moved, and now I find it a bit of an addiction - no matter how many chickens I have, I always want one more! We're going to make raised veggie beds for the veggies (Thankyou for the kind offer - we'll come nab some manure for it in a month or so if thats ok Annie!) but our lawn is in an appauling state too. When it rains, it just doesn't drain; it squelches for days aftewards, which is horrible and increases the wear and tear the grass goes through too. Tom (OH) has asked - if we turn our clay-soil lawn over with manure in it, will it help the grass grow or is it too harsh for that? We need to level it our a bit too, as at the moment it dips towards the centre where people have flattened it walking to the garage, and the water pools there x_x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnieP Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Come with lots of bags and wellies! You can even have a donkey ride...... It will be great to meet you! Christian keeps threatening to take some manure... but has never got around to piling any in his lovely little car...... Can't help with the lawn I'm afraid. Sorry. Have you thought of making the really bad sunken bit the part where the raised beds would go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Tom (OH) has asked - if we turn our clay-soil lawn over with manure in it, will it help the grass grow or is it too harsh for that? We need to level it our a bit too, as at the moment it dips towards the centre where people have flattened it walking to the garage, and the water pools there x_x We have a company called Green Thumb come and sort our lawn out as the people that lived here before us were elderly and even though they loved gardening struggled to anything more then cut the lawn once or twice a year. We are due to have the lawn scarified and some hollow tine aeration done to it - this might be good for your lawn too? You can find them here http://www.greenthumb.co.uk/index.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CannyCat Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 Come with lots of bags and wellies! You can even have a donkey ride...... It will be great to meet you! Christian keeps threatening to take some manure... but has never got around to piling any in his lovely little car...... Can't help with the lawn I'm afraid. Sorry. Have you thought of making the really bad sunken bit the part where the raised beds would go? Its too small for that - our garden is only, oh 5m x 9m at a guess, and the box would be right in the middle Oooo donkeys, yay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CannyCat Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 Tom (OH) has asked - if we turn our clay-soil lawn over with manure in it, will it help the grass grow or is it too harsh for that? We need to level it our a bit too, as at the moment it dips towards the centre where people have flattened it walking to the garage, and the water pools there x_x We have a company called Green Thumb come and sort our lawn out as the people that lived here before us were elderly and even though they loved gardening struggled to anything more then cut the lawn once or twice a year. We are due to have the lawn scarified and some hollow tine aeration done to it - this might be good for your lawn too? You can find them here http://www.greenthumb.co.uk/index.asp Hmm, worth looking into I think, although money's tight this year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 (edited) If you need any well rotted manure to fill raised beds with (or anybody else who may be reading this), we have tonnes of the stuff... would you believe we have to PAY a local farmer to take it away? And then he uses it on his own garden, as its such good stuff Just revisited this thread, as I'm all fired up to grow my own. Anyway...AnnieP...just thought I'd mention this....a friends Dad is an Allotment fanatic (he has 2)....he's 73 and the fittest specimen around!)..anyway he says that Allotmenteers give their right arms for decent manure....he has several "sources" and he takes it away and distributes it to his pals on the allotment...Maybe you could contact your local Allotment Assoc and invite them to help themselves......it might save you a few bob.....not that its any of my business! Edited March 10, 2007 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnieP Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Thanks for that Egluntine. The trouble is, there are so many horses around here, that its so easy to come by. Might give it a wizz though. Have managed to get rid of about 1/10 of it through Freecycle, and STILL waiting for Christian to come over and fill his lovely Mini with some.... oh, also managed to get topsoil off Freecycle too, so just got to prod OH into getting the raised beds built.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 and STILL waiting for Christian to come over and fill his lovely Mini with some.... Christian will NOT be putting Manure in Mortimer! OH's land rover will be making several visits soon........... Could you try aerating the lawn with a garden fork. I had this problem in my last house. It involves using a scarifier to rake the moss out of the grass, then pushing a large fork into the lawn every 30cm or so! it does improve the drainage, but is hard work. It took a few months til i noticed a difference. Plenty of Annie's muck ( ) and grit should be enough for the rest of the garden. Good luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffygrue Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 Other than adding lots of manure/organic matter, you could just try to plant things that will be happy in that situation. We have a morello cherry tree growing against a north wall in thick clay, and it's flowering away at the moment. Think woodlandy plants, and you might do okay. Daffodils, Brunnera, Primroses, Heuchera. Depending on whether your soil's acidic, Loropetalum is a lovely little shrub which grows there too. Might even get a rose that tolerates shade to grow there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted April 17, 2007 Share Posted April 17, 2007 I've got a similar problem - area beside the garage is still soggy, despite the recent weather. It's meant to be lawn, but the ground is almost bare with a few tufts of grass! I've decided to work with it, I'm going to put in a pebble fountain and make a bog garden around there. All the above planting suggestions are good ones though, and in the long term digging in organic material will improve things, but it takes time. If you've only recently moved in, worth living with it for a bit just to see how it behaves in the summer - if we get another drought, you may be glad of all that water-retaining clay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickpea Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Try this link: http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1002/clay_soils.asp It could help a bit, and reassure you that "a good clay soil is one of the best soils you can have" packed with nutrients etc. We have clay too and managed to grow lots of stuff last year, only built raised bedding because the chooks are where my old veg patch is! (but I have to say raised bedding is much more convenient!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tara.F Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 my old garden was clay. Have you thought about 'trenching'? it's an easy way of changing your soil little by little. choose an area where you want a flower bed to be next year and dig a foot to two foot deep trench. Use this trench as your compost bin for a couple of months, emptying your chicken poop tray and kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s in to it. Each time you do, put back a thin layer of the soil over the top to deter pests, flies or smells and perhaps some pea shingle. Your chooks will probably scrabble about in there a bit which is all the better as they'll nip off any weed shoots. When it's full, leave it to rest for a bit (two months?) or even better, over winter while you start the next trench. It will be beautiful to plant in by the spring. for your lawn, buy a bag of sharp sand. on damp days go round with a garden fork and just stick it into the ground and pull it out again, leaving behind four small holes. on the next dry day sprinkle some of your sand on the lawn and use a broom to 'sweep' it over the surface. Make this a habit and drainage will be much improved over a season or two. These two little jobs made a fantastic difference in my garden without the back breaking effort of digging in tons of manure. good luck, Tara xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
