Mike & Karen wrote:
Well I say clay soil, but really it is just clay. I'd probably be very
happy if I was a potter, but for growing veg I am finding it a bit of a
challenge.

I feel your pain.

If you have lots of money and zero patience (like me) then just dig the
whole lot up and start again.

Clay is wonderfully rich in nutrients, but if your garden was anything
like mine (basically like one big potters wheel full of solid,
terracotta-red clay) then it's more hassle than it's worth.

I've just excavated over 30 tonnes from the front garden, and that was
just the central area; the borders are next, but I have to find a
temporary home for certain shrubs first. I dug right down to the
hardcore (about 3ft). I've backfilled about 30% of it so far with
grit/aggregate 50:50, then topsoil. For lawn areas I'm doing 2ft
drainage followed by 1ft lawn mix topsoil, and for border areas I'm
doing 1.5ft drainage followed by 1.5ft border mix topsoil.

I was lucky with utility pipework (only one, which is telephone cable),
but the clay was the least of my problems; mostly it was whole breeze
blocks and empty cement bags etc. - basically all the stuff the builders
thought I'd never find.

The hire of digging equipment, skips and labourers has set me back a lot
of money, but it'll be worth it to get the whole thing done in just a
couple of months. In fact it would've been finished long before now,
were it not for the fact that I insist on being on-site while the work
is going on, but I work overseas for weeks at a time, so that puts the
brakes on it now and then.

There'll be before/after/during photos up when it's done ... soon I hope.

There is one small verge area that's already done (well it's about 6
inches too shallow). I planted it up anyway, with salad crops, and even
though I left it late in the season (June) they've all come up well. At
the end of the season, when there's nothing left, I'll dig it over and
top it up to the correct hight.

Then I'll have the job of basically establishing a new front garden.

--
[H]omer

Problem with cats in your garden?
Try this: http://img169.exs.cx/img169/6382/kitten8va.jpg