I've finally found someone who can deliver those yardbags of soil
directly to my backyard but now i'm trying to figure out what I want
delivered.

My plot is clay. If left open to the air it turns greyish and gets
very very hard. Impossible to work with when dry. Last year i used a
layer of generic "black earth" on top which worked really well. I've
posted and read a bunch to find out I should dig in organic matter to
help make the clay more manageable in the years to come. Things grew
well in it last year but, like i said, it's impossible to work with if
it gets direct exposure to the air. I plan on getting this delivery
company's Multimix (manure, compost, peat, sand) to dig into my clay.

My question:

I want to get two bags. Will such a multimix work well as a top 2
inch layer to do the actual planting in and keep the clay from drying
out? Or should I make the 2nd bag as their generic black garden soil
like last year, which seemed to work well, for that very top layer?

Iis there any advantage to 'black earth' over a mix of manure,compost,
peat and sand?

Any thoughs appreciated.

Hi kevins_news2,

I plan on getting this delivery
company's Multimix (manure, compost, peat, sand) to dig into my
clay.

Clay mixed with sand will make it harder when dry. I suggest you
mix something that is high in lignin to your soil.

Will such a multimix work well as a top 2
inch layer to do the actual planting in and keep the clay from
drying
out?

Since I'm going to do no-till organic on my land, I mix rice hull up
to 4 foot deep to my clay soil. PH of rice hull are 5.7, this will
make my soil acid at first, but it's good for future.

After the mix :
Due to the hard to break down lignin in rice hull, my soil are crumbly
even it's dry.
Since soil become porous, less runoff while rain, drainage are not a
problem now.
Plant root grow deeper, and I do not irrigate my plant anymore(except
while transplant). g

Mixing organic matter to deeper subsoil in effect make a deeper
topsoil, and organic matter will last longer when it's deep in the
soil than on soil serface.

I use backhole and rototiller to achieve this, but for you, a
double-dig to about one feet will be good enough.

Regards,
Wong