Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On 07/06/10 08:57, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

Chris

No reason whatsoever.

Even better, if you can find a source of lumpy out of date plaster for
free (try asking around).

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On Jun 7, 8:57*am, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly 5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...itioner-p-6321....

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under 5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

Chris


Assorted rottable garbage also improves soils, so if you dig it up to
add gypsum, you could add rubbish under the surface too. Unused
plaster will bind the soil, used lumps wont.


NT

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

Chris

I don't really know the answer to your question, but I would warn you not to
use gypsum if you want lime-hating plants such as heathers, rhododendrons
etc

R.

On 7 June, 09:31, NT wrote:

Unused plaster will bind the soil, used lumps wont.

Run it through a cement mixer and a couple of rocks as a ball mill. So
long as you crunch it down enough to go through a sieve, it's fine.
Even just soaking it in an excess of water would be enough (this is
plaster, not cement).

I wouldn't add "rottable garbage" to soil either, it's much better to
rot this down separately. Otherwise you'll be short of nitrogen and
lawns in particular would suffer badly.

In article ,
Tim Watts writes:
On 07/06/10 08:57, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

No reason whatsoever.

Even better, if you can find a source of lumpy out of date plaster for
free (try asking around).

Yes - where about in the country are you?

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Chris J Dixon wrote:
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

Hmm. I know it is, but I am scptical.

Our clay overlies enough chalk, and though it helps, it does make the
soil excessively alkaline.

We have found copius additions of orgamic material - peats, topsoils and
manures - and sand, to be a better bet.

Its back breaking work as well. Hire a rotovator or small digger to
break it up and mix it in.





http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?


As previous poster says, none really, except it sets hard and can make a
mess of drainage in a particular area. The same is probably true of pure
gypsum.

I've got areas of lawn that I simply left cement and plaster tailings
under and heaps of builders sand, They don't fare well.

The easy way of of making flower gardens in clay, is mulch. That will
decompose into decent topsoil, and you can pull annual weeds out of it.
Wood or coca shell. Or peaty compost.

Or if its for vegetables, cheat: We made raised beds and filled them
with gravel sand and topsoil. After breaking up the underlying clay pan
just a little.



Chris

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In article ,
Tim Watts writes:


Even better, if you can find a source of lumpy out of date plaster for
free (try asking around).

Yes - where about in the country are you?

See sig. Ironically, in a village whose major industry is
plasterboard ;-)

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On 07/06/10 12:12, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In ,
Tim writes:


Even better, if you can find a source of lumpy out of date plaster for
free (try asking around).

Yes - where about in the country are you?

See sig. Ironically, in a village whose major industry is
plasterboard ;-)

Chris

I've got one of the gypsum mines and processing facilities round the
corner from me too. Ironically the dump bang over the road is unable to
accept plasterboard for recycling(!)

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

On Jun 7, 12:49 pm, Tim Watts wrote:
On 07/06/10 12:12, Chris J Dixon wrote:

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In ,
Tim writes:

Even better, if you can find a source of lumpy out of date plaster for
free (try asking around).

Yes - where about in the country are you?

See sig. Ironically, in a village whose major industry is
plasterboard ;-)

Chris

I've got one of the gypsum mines and processing facilities round the
corner from me too. Ironically the dump bang over the road is unable to
accept plasterboard for recycling(!)

could that be addressed by the fabled "joined up thinking" we are all
looking forward to?

(IOW can you recycle old pb into new pb?)

Jim K

On 07/06/10 13:12, Jim K wrote:
On Jun 7, 12:49 pm, Tim wrote:
On 07/06/10 12:12, Chris J Dixon wrote:

Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In ,
Tim writes:

Even better, if you can find a source of lumpy out of date plaster for
free (try asking around).

Yes - where about in the country are you?

See sig. Ironically, in a village whose major industry is
plasterboard ;-)

Chris

I've got one of the gypsum mines and processing facilities round the
corner from me too. Ironically the dump bang over the road is unable to
accept plasterboard for recycling(!)

could that be addressed by the fabled "joined up thinking" we are all
looking forward to?

(IOW can you recycle old pb into new pb?)

Jim K

I must admit - I don't know if British Gypsum do recycling at the
Mountfield/Robertsbridge plant. Though if they can take crap out the
ground and turn it into plaster (they do all that here) I would have
thought they would have added a preprocessing feed for doing whatever
you need to old PB and sticking the result of it in with the raw
materials from the mine.

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.

Ragnar wrote:

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
.. .
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

I don't really know the answer to your question, but I would warn you not to
use gypsum if you want lime-hating plants such as heathers, rhododendrons
etc

Other sources seem to be of the opinion that one of the benefits
of using gypsum is that it is essentially neutral, and will not
alter pH.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.


Interesting how gypsum comes out of nasty thick clay pits, yet we put it
back in as a clay improver?

S

Chris J Dixon wrote:
Ragnar wrote:
"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

I don't really know the answer to your question, but I would warn you not to
use gypsum if you want lime-hating plants such as heathers, rhododendrons
etc

Other sources seem to be of the opinion that one of the benefits
of using gypsum is that it is essentially neutral, and will not
alter pH.


If that's true, its news to me..

pretty sure that vinegar dripped on plasterboard fizzes..

Chris

Chris J Dixon wrote:
Ragnar wrote:
"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
Having just extended a flower bed to incorporate what has been
lawn for 40 years, I am left with some pretty solid clay soil.

Gypsum is recommended as a soil improver, but appears to be sold
in garden centres as a proprietary product costing nearly £5 for
2.5 kg.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/clay...er-p-6321.html

On the other hand, I can pick up a 25 kg bag of multi-finish
plaster for under £5, and AFAIK this is essentially the same
material.

Any reasons not to go with plaster?

I don't really know the answer to your question, but I would warn you not to
use gypsum if you want lime-hating plants such as heathers, rhododendrons
etc

Other sources seem to be of the opinion that one of the benefits
of using gypsum is that it is essentially neutral, and will not
alter pH.

Chris
I just checked, and its main constituent, calcium sulphate dihydrate is
mildly alkaline. giving a typical PH of about 7.4


If its the raw plaster of paris, its even more alkaline at a ph of 11+