I have clay soil and have tired everything to grow flowers any suggestions?

Question

I have tried rotatilling it, adding gypsum and top soil but the clay just absorbs it all and breeds rocks.!~!!

Answer 1

We save our vegetable scraps in a composter, get our neighbors grass clippings, and get buckets of manure from a local ranch (let it sit in a composter for several months so it burns out weed seeds, though), Every few months we add whatever is ready to our garden and the soil has become pretty good.

Answer 2

Lots of good advise. Here's mine:
Before blaming the soil, have your soil tested at your county extension. Its probably about $10 and they will tell you the condition of your soil. Only then will you know with any certainty what to add, if anything.


Perhaps it is a moisture problem, a pH problem or an aeration problem? Get the soil analyzed first, then start adding things.

I added grass clippings to heavy clay once. After I rototilled it, it turned into a wall of adobe!

I dug out heavy clay from another area and replaced it with top soil. The result was a bathtub that allowed the top soil to become saturated with water, held in by the surrounding clay bathtub. I had to install a french drain to drain the water out of the bed (but it worked!).

My final cure was to simply mulch the beds with pine bark mulch and till it in every winter. This eventually loosened up the soil, added needed acidity, and allowed it to retain moisture longer. This was based on a soil analysis that indicated a high pH and lack of organic matter.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

If your going to make a flower garden, dig out the clay and fill it with a compost/soil mixutre. Or you could make a mound of soil on top of the clay and plant direcltly into that. You can mix gypsum, lime and soil conditioner like 'Nature's Helper', in with the clay, that will work too. It takes a long time for gypsum to take effect, so you're probably not going to see overnight results.

Answer 4

Go out and get a bag of Gypsum. It causes the hardest clay to break down into better soil for lawns. It is made by Espoma. Find it in Lowes or Home Depot.

Answer 5

I spent three years with the same problem. I'd dig holes and fill them with a garden soil and mulch mix and everything died or simply didn't grow. Then a friend shared the local Garden Society secret. A substance called "Gin Trash". It is a compost of the residue of cotton gin mills. You don't even need garden soil. Dig a hole and fill it with Gin Trash". A 50 lb bag is about $4.50. You can also scatter it over your yard, pile it around plants that aren't doing well, etc. It has done wonders for me and finally I have trees growing in my yard! My Jacob's Coat rose was scraggley and didn't bloom much or grown until I started pouring some of this around the base every couple of months. It has grown and bloomed like crazy this year. It's great stuff and easy to pull weeds out of since it doesn't pack up.

Answer 6

I have some clay and the only way I can get flowers to grow is make sure I have enough top soil above the clay to support the roots of the flowers.

Answer 7

We have the same problem up here in the Northwest. You have 2 choices.

1. Dig out the clay and fill the area with compost and sand.

2. Build a raised bed out of rocks or wood and fill it with compost and sand.

We did a little of both in our front yard. We piled up the clay soil and mixed in compost and sand to make a small mound and then planted in it. It turned out really nice and doesn't look like everyone elses yard.

Answer 8

i live in houston texas -if there is harder clay in the world -i wouldnt want to have a pissing contest over it -but u would come closer to braking a shovel than the ground when it hasnt rained-andddddddddd i went and gathered the neighbrhood grass clippings im talking 50 bags ish -2-3 times sprinkle everywhere ,especially where the dogs made just dried dirt paths-let that settle for a couple months then got 50 dollars worth of earthworms and everytime i touch the ground i get loose impressive soil and a earth worm-they did the trick-but they wouldnt of lived with out the organic mater to eat till they did the magic

Answer 9

We have clay soil also & tried all the things that you have done. The absolutely best thing we've done is to use raised beds with purchased garden soil, peat moss, compost in it and several inches of mulch on top of that. Newspaper mulch works good too. In areas where we don't use raised beds we've continually added composted leaf mulch, composted kitchen & garden trimmings & grass trimmings until it raised the level of the bed several inches over a couple years time.

Answer 10

My soil used to be clay and I used to turn it over in the fall by adding leaves, cow manure, and grass clippings I saved during the year. Now it is rich and black. It takes patience and in a few years you'll see a big difference. It's better if you run over the leaves first with a lawn mower to break them up.