clay soil
 

hello everyone, Does anyone here know what to do with thick, red, clay
soil?? I am dying to start a vegie patch, and so far I've weeded, put down
newspapers with dry leaves on top to kill the weeds, but I wouldn't have a
clue apart from that. I remember seeing something on clay soils on Gardening
Australia, but I was living in a sandy, acid area then and didn't write it
down. Any help would be really appreciated.

--
There are many intelligent species in the Universe. They are all owned by
cats.

Anonymous

One cat just leads to another. -Ernest Hemingway

If I had that problem I would lay down some top soil, sand, and compost and
mix it altogether, at about 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. You could make as deep as you had
materials for and for as long as you could put up with that much work.
Otherwise I would build raised beds and fill them with that same mixture.

Dwayne


"meee" wrote in message
...
hello everyone, Does anyone here know what to do with thick, red, clay
soil?? I am dying to start a vegie patch, and so far I've weeded, put down
newspapers with dry leaves on top to kill the weeds, but I wouldn't have a
clue apart from that. I remember seeing something on clay soils on
Gardening
Australia, but I was living in a sandy, acid area then and didn't write it
down. Any help would be really appreciated.

--
There are many intelligent species in the Universe. They are all owned by
cats.

Anonymous

One cat just leads to another. -Ernest Hemingway

meee wrote:
hello everyone, Does anyone here know what to do with thick, red, clay
soil?? I am dying to start a vegie patch, and so far I've weeded, put down
newspapers with dry leaves on top to kill the weeds, but I wouldn't have a
clue apart from that. I remember seeing something on clay soils on Gardening
Australia, but I was living in a sandy, acid area then and didn't write it
down. Any help would be really appreciated.

--
There are many intelligent species in the Universe. They are all owned by
cats.

Anonymous

One cat just leads to another. -Ernest Hemingway

Gypsum is usually used to help break down clay, but there are other
methods as well.
Look at:-
http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/s...asier-work.htm

"Dwayne" wrote in message
...
If I had that problem I would lay down some top soil, sand, and compost
and
mix it altogether, at about 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. You could make as deep as you
had
materials for and for as long as you could put up with that much work.
Otherwise I would build raised beds and fill them with that same mixture.

Dwayne


"meee" wrote in message
...
hello everyone, Does anyone here know what to do with thick, red, clay
soil?? I am dying to start a vegie patch, and so far I've weeded, put
down
newspapers with dry leaves on top to kill the weeds, but I wouldn't have
a
clue apart from that. I remember seeing something on clay soils on
Gardening
Australia, but I was living in a sandy, acid area then and didn't write
it
down. Any help would be really appreciated.

--
There are many intelligent species in the Universe. They are all owned
by
cats.

Anonymous

One cat just leads to another. -Ernest Hemingway





Yes I was thinking of doing something like that. There's a nice garden bed
in the right spot, edged with besser bloks. It has a couple of small and
sickly hibiscus, so I was thinking of building up some soil around them
,maybe mushroom compost and composted vegie scraps, and just growing salad
vegies and tomatoes. we're renting, so I'm not able to do major alterations
as we wouldn't be here to see the fruit, so probably adding topsoil would be
best.

g'day meee,

do raised beds no need to worry about the clay then they are my
favourite method see my site for details of how i do it.

you could add a heap o gypsum over the ground before filling in your
raised bed that will help.



snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.users.bigpond.com/gardenlen1