chris lowe wrote:

My question is, Is there anything we can do like adding sand etc to the clay
to make it more habitable for plants, even veggies, as at the moment it just
looks awful!

This is a question that shows up regularly on frj, urg's French cousin.

To sum up what I understood: yes, you can add sand but be very careful
about its coarseness. Very coarse sand will quickly turn the clay into
concrete, whereas fine sand may help - unless of course it's the other
way around, I really can't remember. Sorry.
(ask people in the construction business maybe?)

There are possible partial results using frost: apparently you just
shovel the clay into clumps with a machine, then let winter pass. Frost
is supposed to help the clumps crumble by themselves come springtime,
but it could be heavy work to start this on clay...

The best results so far seem reached by a friend in the north of the
country who lays heap after heap of leaves and leaves them to decompose
there. It seems he means it, like bags and bags, offering his neighbours
to rid them (they quite like it, actually!).
It takes a while (about 4-5 years in his case, I think), but now he
swears by his 'new' soil, and the pictures show a fantastic garden where
plants grow like crazy. The best bit is it's free and natural.

Good luck!


Greg
--

Have you ever really considered how much your buildings actually weigh?

No ficus = no spam