"David E. Ross" wrote in message
. ..
On 6/7/2008 9:10 AM, Paul Tiwana wrote:
I hv clay in the soil. It keeps the soil wet and cold
any rememedy ?
Also how to enrich the soil when it is dry,
Does bone meal fertizer any help in the early stage, or peat moss ?
Plz suggest s good fertilizer.
I h a v small garden, ie, 10 X 16 feet only
Please adivise
Paul
Top with soil gypsum (NOT decorative gypsum rock). Over a period of a
week or more, lightly rinse the gypsum into the soil. Gypsum reacts
with clay to make the latter more easily worked. Just wait about 4 days
after the last rinsing before digging. More gypsum should be applied
annually.
Gypsum is useful for breaking up many clays but not all. IIRC smectitic clays
are improved and kaolinic are not. I had a test procedure for this but cannot
find the damn thing now. It may be worth enquiring from neighbours, local
nurseries etc if your clay is the type broken up by gypsum.
Peat moss will help some, but it must be worked thoroughly into the
clay. A potato hook is good for this. Peat moss will remain in the
soil much longer than compost. However, good compost should also be
added; it contains soil bacteria that make soil nutrients available to
plant roots.
Peat moss tends to be rather expensive, in these parts prohibitively so for a
large area. In your samll plot it may be reasonable.
Just go easy with both peat moss and compost. You should keep the soil
near the surface still mostly clay. Otherwise, plant roots might not
penetrate below the area that has been improved.
I find that any organic matter will improve the texture of clay soil and there
it is hardly possible to have too much. Horse and cow manure are excellent but
take care if it is fresh. Adding such to your soil will supply nutrients as
well as improving texture. If the soil is poor and/or you want to grow heavy
feeding plants add chicken/turkey/pigeon manure. Bird manure is much stronger
and must be used in controlled amounts, particularly when fresh.
The third thing that helps break down clay is growing plants in it. The root
activity helps to disaggregate clumps and so turning a cover crop back in will
help in two diferent ways.
All these remedies take some time to work, you are not going to get great
change in a few weeks.
David