"tina" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:18:55 +1300, "George.com"
wrote:

My soil is SOLID clay, miles clayier that the lady called carol who is
on the grow your own Veg TV program, when she described hers as heavy
clay, ours is SOLID clay. e.g. If I crab some I can mold it into any
shape i like, bowls, stick men etc :-)

Luckily I have a friend who works at a stables who has offered me some
horse manure, as well as a friend who owns 300 chickens who has also
offered me some chicken manure.
In readiness for my plot I set up 5 compost bins, although it doesnt
look to have composted sufficiently yet.

I have an oak tree at the end of the garden & I collected 5 black bin
bags full of leaves, & shredded them, so plan to chuck that in s well.

I'm also going to buy a couple of 8ft by 4ft plaster boards & chuck
those in as well in the hope that the gypsum in the boards may help to
break the solid clay up a bit.

if you have really rubbish soil then leave it where it is and build up BUT
you don't need to go grabbing soil from off property. A modified form of
lazanga garden will do fine. You might charitably term my gardens lazagna
gardens though 'reheated leftovers mixed together' is more likely. Sounds
like you have most of the ingredients to make a bottler garden over time. If
your ingredients are all fresh and you bung/layer it in now it will be in
reasonable condition by the start of summer. If things are well rotted it
will be just a few weeks for it to settle down and then planting in early
spring. If your poop is fresh it will benefit from a few months in-situ in
the garden before you plant in to it. If leaving the garden a while, spread
the best of your compost over the top as a planting bed and it will break
down into a nice tilth. If you want to plant before a seeding layer has
fully formed you can bring in some finished compost or top soil. Over a
spring summer mind it is surprising how quickly organic rich raised beds
settle down. I'd be tempted to start tomorrow and leave any decision as to
whether you need to bring in a seeding layer close to when you need it.
Every couple of weeks rummage around in the gardens and see how the
deomposition is going. Very therapeutic.

rob