my garden is very clayey any ideas how i can break it down?

Answer 1

loosley dig in a bunch of sand, the dump a huge bunch of earthworms around the area, they will do the rest!

How to get earthworms: Fill a bucket with water, add a tablespoon of vinegar, mix well, splash on about a square yard of ground. Worms come out, put them in another bucket, move on to another square yard. Repeat till you have mega-amounts of worms.

Happy gardening!

Answer 2

If you really want to take dead aim on the problem and are willing to put in some work, then till in some compost to a depth of 6 to 12 inches. If you have a place to put the clay soil, remove it and use only compost and sand (about 50- 50). If you need to leave the clay in place then add some gypsum as two other folks here have suggested. You usually can get it at the nursery in pellet form. How much? I would guess about a handful for each cubic foot.

The compost will tend to decay and shrink so you will need to add more from time to time. Also adding gypsum every few months doesn't hurt until you have all of the clay broken down.

Answer 3

Gympson, a powder, scratch it in the best you can and water. In a bout a week repeat this. You will be amazed how your soil will soften. after you are able to work it but some very good mulch and rent a tiller if possible. The gympson will eat up alot of your clay and help to neutralize it. Then you need to amend your soil with the mulch. Work it in a water....work it some more.You will see result in a week. You can buy gympson at any home and garden center, just ask a clerk. It is very inexpensive and goes a long ways. I am not sure where you live but here it comes in a 50 lb bag, one bag should do a medium size garden. Good luck
God Bless
Grandma

Answer 4

You can take the backbreaking labour route, or be idle and let the worms do the work.
You dig a trench at one end and painstakingly dig in grit, sand and well rotted manure and compost.
Or you just sort of chuck it on the top, fork it in a bit and hope that it'll work its way down eventually, although it takes a couple of years. You could tidy it up with a decorative mulch if you don't want to look at it.
In the meantime just dig out a big planting hole when you plant something, and add some grit when you back fill the hole.
On the plus side, clay soil holds water well and is full of nutrients. Its better than light sandy soil any day.

Answer 5

Save all your old leaves, plant cuttings, grass etc. stick it in a composter or plastic bag with a drop of water in it and some air holes. Leave for a year to create compost.
Then, remove the compost (or buy some if you haven't had time to do this) and dig it into the ground. Also add some course sand - beware, builder's sand may have some salt in it which will affect delicate plants. The clay soil will soon turn into a proper loam!

Answer 6

What the gypsum suggested by others does, is to flocculate the clay. ie turn it from very fine particles to larger particles. This then helps to make it workable. All soil is composed of different size particles, clay being very fine which means they are closer together and prevent water getting through.
Compost, manure, peat and grit will all help to open it up but it will take time and effort. There is no 'instant' solution.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

u need to find a clay disolving solution, the best way is to buy bonjella used for mouth ulsers, this has the ingredients in it that break clay down fast. empty half a tube into boiling water and release onto mound through a watering can and wait 15 mins

Answer 9

I picked an area I could work every year and dug the whole bed over once, added 2 inches of damp peat moss, and dug the whole bed over again, mixing in the peat. As long as you don't walk on your garden soil, it will not re-compress into hardpan.

Answer 10

Gypsum is a good start, but you'll have to till it and mix in either compost or top soil as well. You can buy bags of gypsum at places like Home Depot!

Answer 11

A lots of peat, wood chip & dig deep and leave over winter to break naturally.