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Fri, Feb 4, 11 at 8:50
| I finally found a forum for soil. I just bought a house in Denver. It has gardens but I can't get a shovel into the soil? I don't know how the planted things survived. I want to use the already cut out garden areas for my dahlias. What should I put into that heavy soil and how? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by berryman135678 (My Page) on Fri, Feb 4, 11 at 12:38
| Welcome, yes Compost would help, helps loosen Clay type soils and adds body to sandy soil. Lots of good info on getting started with composting here. Will take several months or more (unless you have a tumble- turn type composter) to get compost to add. Others here will probably add to this info as to what you can do in meantime. I have four composter's (two bought and two homemade) for compost for my garden and plants. If I had no compost to begin with I would be apt to try sand, sawdust, mulch and till it in. Never tried Peat moss and thats a nasty can of worms I wont open here. I always add mulch from the droppings off my wood piles in the spring with about 3-4 buckets of sand. In middle spring I usually have some compost to add. My garden was 2" of black soil and the rest solid clay. 5 years later I am at about 9-12" of black soil. |
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| I've also read that adding a layer of gypsum to the soil will help loosen clay soils, but it's a process you'll have to repeat for 3 years before you see results. And, there's differing opinions on this method. Gypsum is cheap for a large bag, so I'm trying it anyway. Perhaps others can comment on their opinions, or you can search this site for other threads on the same subject - its been discussed here before. Like Berryman, I add a layer of composted manure to my soil each spring (or at any time). I have clay maybe 18" below grade. I purchase the bags at my local box store. |
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| It was said "I've also read that adding a layer of gypsum to the soil will help loosen clay soils," Only if the underlying problem is excess soil. And only a professional soil test will provide that answer. |
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| Gypsum will only help sodic clay soils, those clay soils that receive too little rainfall to wash alkaloid salts out of that soil. Whether it would help soils in Colorado can be answered best by the people at your local Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Office. That aside, the best thing for any clay soil is organic matter, compost and any and all of whatever organic matter you can add to that soil to bring the level to 6 to 10 percent. |
Here is a link that might be useful: CSU Extension
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| Also try digging it over with a fork rather than a spade. Far less effort and you will not be lifting big heavy lumps of clayey earth. I have clay soil and would never dig it with a spade, even after years of organinc additions. |
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| I can't thank you all enough for the help and especially the link to CO. They have alot of information. Guess I should have asked about the soil before I bought but I saw so many gardens around that I assumed , it was easy. |
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| Although many people love to hate clay there is nothing wrong with it that organic matter will not fix. |
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