On 2011-03-29, Chris Hogg wrote:

On Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:19:01 +0100, "Tim W"
wrote:

If it's solid clay then nothing will be much use, but if it's really a
narrow strip of a small garden you could just plunge a garden fork
vigourously into it and shake it around. Do it before it dries hard.

I'd second that. Get a garden fork, drive it in, wiggle it about a bit
to enlarge the holes, and when you've done the whole strip, brush in
some coarse sand.

I've tried it today --- a bit more like hard work than I'd hoped for
;-) --- and I'll see how it goes.


The OP's comment about spiked shoes being bunk is almost certainly
correct. Never tried them but all they are likely to do is anchor you
to the spot. Don't bother with one of those hollow tine lawn aerator
jobs either, the ones that are supposed to remove a plug of soil.
After a couple of insertions, the tubes just block up and have to be
laboriously unblocked by hand. BTDTGTTS (and a useless aerator!). Use
a fork.

OK. I saw those mentioned somewhere on the WWW as being better than
the spiked sandals, but apparently that doesn't mean much.

Thanks to everyone who replied.