"Sheldon" wrote in message
...
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

How deep does the clay extend? If you dig down with a hand spade for
ten minutes and are still into clay then no amount of soil amending
will be practical... for the small area you're dealing with you really
should consider a raised bed garden.

The depth of the clay in itself is not important, the way you arrange drainage
in your area sitting on clay is. Unless you are into bog species, that would
preclude digging a pit in the clay that can saturate with water regardless of
the type or quality of soil you fill the pit with. This applies to planting a
single shrub or a bed that will have many plants in it.

You can happily combine the ideas of soil amendment and raised beds as part of
your solution to the various problems of clay soil - the two are by no means
mutually exclusive.

On the plus side clay-based soils hold both water and nutrients better than
the sand-based loam that is often described as ideal. If you are in a place
where water can be scarce and you don't want to be dishing out fertiliser
constantly, only to have it wash into the drain and make algal blooms
downstream, you may grow to appreciate your clay compared to sand, although
you probably won't ever actually love it.

David