I have red clay what can i add to make good dirt for a garden?

Question

I have added dirt, i have added egg shells i have added coffee grinds i have added cow droppings, and leaves.. and it is still 80 percent red dirt. thou most things grow, alot of veggies do not and die due to the fact that red clay becomes a hard pot around the roots.. Please any ideas would be welcome. I am in north carolina if that helps

Answer 1

Peat moss and sand can help, but you've already really amended that soil. The real answer is to dig out a few yards of the dirt (you can always make a compost pile and add it in to "unclay" it) and replace it with gravel and topsoil. Clay can be nasty because it's such fine silt and has nothing to cut it.

Answer 2

Try peat. It helps a lot, especially with stuff like azaleas, rhododendrons, stuff like that. It adds a little nutrition and it helps make the soil crumblier.

Oh, and were the "cow droppings" well-rotted? Because if they're not black, crumbly, and smell-free, they aren't worth, well, you know. Well-rotted manure will cure pretty much whatever ails your dirt.

But I agree--I have to deal with red clay and it's a real pain. Sometimes I just haul out a big chunk of it and put in topsoil from a bag, especially if it's a plant I'm really fussing over. There's only so much you can do with the stuff.

Answer 3

Red clay is good soil except that it compacts and deprives roots of air, as you have noticed. There is a product called Perma Till that master gardeners in the Raleigh area recommend. It is baked shale, I believe. It is sold in plastic bags in garden centers and you use it to amend your soil. I have heard that it takes care of the problem.

If you are in the Piedment, you may be able to hear 680 am, there is a Saturday morning gardening show and they take calls. I have learned so much listening to it, besides it is also entertaining. UNC TV also has good gardening shows, usually on Saturdays too. Good luck!

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Peat Moss and Top Soil is what I have always had to add and mix in the garden to help break up that red clay soil!

Answer 6

The key to amending clay soil is to amend a large area and use enough coarse sand and coarse organic matter. Avoid trying to change a small area. Plants will have a difficult time making the transition to the surrounding clay soil, effectively limiting their growth to the amended area. This the clay pot you note so aptly.
Two of the best amendments for clay soil are coarse sand and coarse organic matter. Coarse sand is also sometimes called builders' sand. The particles are relatively large, especially when compared to the finer sands used for sandboxes and such. The fine sands may actually make your problem worse. There are lots of types of organic matter available for gardening but not all of them will help improve clay soil. It needs to be coarse. Avoid fine-textured material such as peat moss or the packaged manures. If possible, find a source for a coarse compost or manure. Check with your city to see if they have a compost site for leaves and such.

When one mixes a sandy and a clay soil together, the large pore spaces of the sandy soil are filled with the smaller clay particles. This results in a heavier, denser soil with less total pore space than either the sandy or the clay soil alone. (A good analogy is the manufacture of concrete, which entails mixing sand with cement - a fine particle substance. The results are obvious.) A soil must consist of nearly 50% sand by total volume before it takes on the characteristics of a sandy soil. For most sites, it would be prohibitively expensive to remove half the
existing soil and add an equal volume of sand and then till it to the necessary 18-24". Mineral amendments of large particle size, such as perlite, may provide some benefit but can also be costly depending on the size of the site.

How much? And how? First, calculate the area you are amending. Length x Width = Square Feet. Ideally, you should use equal parts of coarse sand and coarse organic matter to amend the soil, but extra sand can be used if necessary. You will need to cover the area with a 3-4 inch layer of organic matter and a 3-4 inch layer of sand. Bagged products won't be practical, since they usually hold a half cubic foot or less and would only cover a couple of square feet. Look for a source of bulk material. It will probably be measured by the cubic yard (27 cubic feet). The general rule of thumb is that one cubic yard will cover approximately 100 square feet with 3 inches of material. One hundred square feet may sound like a lot of space, but that is only a 10' by 10' area. A mature tree's roots can fill many times that area. First spread the organic matter over the area to be amended and work it into the top 6 inches of the soil. Next spread the sand over the clay/organic matter layer and mix it in. A tiller works well for this task. If you don't own one, they can be rented.
Check the pH and texture of any amended soil on a regular basis to see how it is changing. The organic matter will decay and seem to disappear. Since clay soils tend to be naturally alkaline and the decaying organic matter will slowly acidify, it will be important to have the pH tested to check its continued suitablity for the plants you are growing.

Soil Conditioners and Gypsum
There are several products called soil conditioners or clay conditioners. These products are new to the gardening market and sound promising. Most of them are only practical for small areas. The jury is still out on just how helpful these products are, but we encourage you to give them a try and let us know how they worked for you.
Gypsum often comes up when discussing clay soils. Gypsum is a mineral product similar to lime. Lime is calcium carbonate and gypsum is calcium sulfate. Billed as an amendment that will help improve soil drainage, it isn't clear whether it is very effective in our soils which are already very high in calcium. Gypsum has been used effectively in areas where the soil is very salty. The sulfate part of gypsum will also help to slightly acidify the soil.

Answer 7

Try some sand. Clay is very a tightly bound soil. Its hard for water, air, and nutrients to move thru it. Sand on the other hand is not. It might help

Answer 8

My grandma lives in Alabama and she put in a above ground garden in I would suggest doing that and fill with top soil.

Answer 9

Sand will help with binding, but as water is added, the soil structure will settle to the original structure. Amending the soil with compost and airating at changeout will change structure.

Answer 10

mix alot of humas with it. and very fine ground mulch. i`ve grown gardens all my like. i`ve done it many times