Clay soilis in some ways the opposite of sandy soil. The structure of clay soil is very tight. This soil is heavy and impermeable as well as very absorbent. Although it stores many nutrients valuable for plants, it also retains water excessively, which often causes plants to rot. Many plants' roots in clay soil lack air and the soil is too compact for the roots to expand freely. When the clay dries, it becomes very hard and can crack, damaging the plant roots. Seehow to improve clay soiland what to plant, i.e. the bestplants for clay soil
Clay soil
Clay soil - properties
First make sure you have clay soil in your garden. How can you tell? Pick up a lump of soil from the garden. If, after soaking, it sticks easily and gives shape, it isclay soilIf you try to rub it, it will remain on your fingers and make your hand quite dirty. When dry, a lump of such soil will become lumpy and hard. It will be possible to crush it.
Clay soil - how to improve
You should startimproving the quality of clay soilbefore setting up your garden. If you work in an area where plants already grow, be careful not to damage their roots.
It happens that clay soils are heavily overgrown with weeds and you need to start removing this problem. In small gardens, remove weeds by hand.If the garden is too big and too much work to do, you can apply a herbicide (eg Roundup). After spraying, you need to wait at least two weeks for the agent to work. You should also be careful with herbicides if there are any plants already growing in the garden or if these agents could harm plants growing on neighboring plots. So let's use them in moderation and in accordance with the instructions on the packaging of a given measure.
When weeds are removed or dried after applying the herbicide, the soil should be dug to a depth of at least 20 cm. This is best done with a fork. Perhaps you are wondering why not use a shovel? Well, it may turn out that driving a spade into hardclay soilwill take too much effort, if at all possible. In this case, the forks will work better. In larger gardens, a tiller or a plow will be useful.
After digging, the soil will be slightly loosened, but this is just the beginning of our work.Now you have to increaseclay soil permeabilityThe easiest way to do this is by adding sand. But it is not everything. First, mix the sand with organic fertilizers (compost or manure), thanks to which you will also fertilize the soil. The addition of manure will be particularly advantageous, as it will activate the development of soil organisms and earthworms. Earthworms, in turn, moving in the soil will additionally loosen it. However, use manure only in the fall, as many plants do not grow well in the soil freshly fertilized with manure. If you do the work in the spring - it is better not to risk it and use compost, possibly well composted manure.
Mix selected organic fertilizers with sand in a ratio of 2: 1 and then spread about 10 cm layer of this mixture on the soil. Then dig carefully so that the structure and color of the soil becomes uniform. It is worth repeating this procedure in subsequent years to maintain a better condition of the soil, but then it is enough to spread only a 5-cm layer of a mixture of organic fertilizers and sand. If you do not have your own composter and the manure is too hard to come by, you can use a mixture of fertile soil (mixtures of peat and humus available at garden centers) with sand.
There is one more, perfect treatment that is worth doing to improveclay soil structureWhat's that? Sowing plants for green manure. This treatment works well both in order to fertilize sandy soils as well as to improve the properties of clay soils.
In the case of clay soils, blue lupine is a perfect green fertilizer. Sow it in spring or at the end of summer. As soon as it starts to bloom? cut and ditch with soil. During the growth period, strong lupine roots will loosen the soil a bit, and after digging the cut plant parts - a valuable humus layer will form.
Plants for clay soils
Perennials:Bergenia heart-shaped, Houtunia heart-shaped, Orange Tongue, Marsh Marigold, Yellow Iris, Chinese Flower, Primrose (some species), Calamus, Autumn Winter, Great Pyrethrum,
Deciduous trees and shrubs:White dogwood, Coral viburnum, Hazel, Three-leaf almond, Barbed holly, Laburnum
Conifers:Common yew, Pea cypress, Chinese metasequin
