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| I am in Virginia and the surface of my clay soil is turning rock hard. I tried to water my veggies yesterday but most the water ran off instead of soaking down towards the roots. I have tried to gently break up the hard layer where the plant stalk goes down but am concerned this could damage the root system.
I will be top-dressing with shredded leaves as mulch this week. In the fall I will put down a couple inches of compost. For now I just have this hard surface crust that is making watering a struggle. Should I add sand? My buddy closer to the coast has soft, sandy soil and his water just gets soaked up instantly. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Add organic matter to your clay. Organic matter, in sufficient quantity, will seperate the clay soil particles and allow water to penetrate that soil. It may take time to get that OM in the soil so you may want to think of maybe tiloing some in. Mulching clay soils that do not drain well might cause more problems by holding too much water in that soil and that can cause plants to rot. |
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| To moisten your dry soil, you will need to apply the water slowly and in on-off cycling. Continue as long as it takes. After it is well moisten throughout the rootzone, apply several inches of mulch (can be compost) to help retain the moisture. Then before you plant next time, do as already suggested-- mix in lots of compost, at least 2 inches. Four inches is better yet the first time but mix it in 2 inches at a time. |
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| While mulch may hold more water in the soil, you cannot allow clay soil to be exposed to the hot sun, otherwise it will bake in the hot sun and become hard and crusty as you are experiencing. Then when it does rain, the crusty surface actually repels the water. Since you've already planted, you should lightly water the vegetable bed and then try to do a mulch of straw or grass clippings, anything that will keep the moisture from evaporating from the soil. Once the soil softens up, it can absorb more water. After your plants are done you can work in a lot of organic amendments into the soil, so that the soil will only be part clay and will not dry out so quickly. |
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| I have amended several areas of my gardens. I have clay loam so I have certain areas that are problamatic since I no longer fall plow them. What I have done is add 4 or so inches of local sphagnum peat moss which is well hydrated with some fines; 4 or so inches of not too fine sand. Then I mix it all together with 6 inches of my decent topsoil....instant bliss. I also add leaf compost and rotted horse manure...wow! The texture and structure is great....moist, aerated, and loose. |
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| peat moss does a great job on clay in helping to change the texture. And of course all the leaves and manure. I put down shredded leaves and manure on all my roses this winter and had my best spring flush ever! |
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- Posted by idaho_gardener 6a_sw_idaho (My Page) on Sat, Jun 4, 11 at 23:31
| Although I'm not from your area, I do garden in clay soil. Good stuff. I don't think the problem is that you have clay soil, I think the problem is that your clay soil is not covered with mulch. I would spread 1" of finished compost on the surface of the garden soil and then cover that with a mulch. I have used unfinished compost as a mulch, over finished compost, but I tend to use grass clippings or shredded leaves more often. If you use unfinished compost over the finished compost, keep it away from your plants by a few inches. I tried mixing finished compost into my clay. The clay seemed to eat that stuff up. It did improve the texture of the clay and darken it, but not dramatically. Plant roots do their best work close to the surface of the soil so just laying the finished compost on the surface will do the trick and it's lots less work. |
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- Posted by joepyeweed 5b IL (My Page) on Sun, Jun 5, 11 at 10:32
| I think the mulch will solve much of your problem. Any way you can topdress with compost, before you mulch? The more organic material you can get on your soil, the more it will improve. |
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