Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , [H]omer wrote: So you reckon 12" of chips followed by 6" of organic material? 6" doesn't sound very deep. I was planning on planting trees as well. Is that really all I need? Most clays are very fertile - all they need is to be opened up so that water can drain and air reach the roots. So you don't want to remove the clay so much as dilute it in the soil with coarse material. This needs to be done fairly deeply, for the drainage. 6" of organic matter is far more than most soils have. My loam has 12-18" of topsoil, of which only a small proportion is actually organic material, and it is nearly as fertile as soils get. I didn't make it clear before, but my current 'soil' is about 1/2" of what looks like mainly sand (think the kind of soil you get at the inland edge of a beach), followed by ???" of clay (I haven't struck rock yet!!!). Therefore, for all intents and purposes, there is no real soil on site; I'll have to buy some in. /me gets his calculator out Is this about right then? ... I excavate 24", and keep the clay. I mix the clay with aggregate, and backfill 12". I buy in a skip of topsoil, and backfill 6" I buy in a skip of GP compost, and backfill the remaining 6" Does that look OK? Thanks, - [H]omer |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
[H]omer wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote: In article , [H]omer wrote: So you reckon 12" of chips followed by 6" of organic material? 6" doesn't sound very deep. I was planning on planting trees as well. Is that really all I need? Most clays are very fertile - all they need is to be opened up so that water can drain and air reach the roots. So you don't want to remove the clay so much as dilute it in the soil with coarse material. This needs to be done fairly deeply, for the drainage. 6" of organic matter is far more than most soils have. My loam has 12-18" of topsoil, of which only a small proportion is actually organic material, and it is nearly as fertile as soils get. I didn't make it clear before, but my current 'soil' is about 1/2" of what looks like mainly sand (think the kind of soil you get at the inland edge of a beach), followed by ???" of clay (I haven't struck rock yet!!!). Therefore, for all intents and purposes, there is no real soil on site; I'll have to buy some in. /me gets his calculator out Is this about right then? ... I excavate 24", and keep the clay. I mix the clay with aggregate, and backfill 12". I buy in a skip of topsoil, and backfill 6" I buy in a skip of GP compost, and backfill the remaining 6" Does that look OK? I wouldn't bother buying in the compost: the topsoil you buy probably won't be brilliant, but it'll do perfectly well; and compost alone won't provide enough physical support for plants (remember it's used in pots and other containers, not the open ground). I reckon the stone underneath should give you reasonable drainage, as long as the water's got somewhere to _go_. If there's no way out, all your operations won't have any long-term effect. So if you're going to dig out, it would be worth putting in some plastic land drains (local farmer's merchants or Jewson-type place). But of course, they'll still have to lead somewhere. I think I'd let it all settle for a year before putting in trees: it won't be very stable. (I have to say it's amazing what will survive in almost pure clay; and of course growing things will improve the soil in itself.) -- Mike. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
In article , [H]omer wrote:
I didn't make it clear before, but my current 'soil' is about 1/2" of what looks like mainly sand (think the kind of soil you get at the inland edge of a beach), followed by ???" of clay (I haven't struck rock yet!!!). Therefore, for all intents and purposes, there is no real soil on site; I'll have to buy some in. That smells wrong. I strongly advise analysing it first - your clay may not be entirely clay. My soil is 60% sand, 18% silt and 22% clay, and you should likke at various loams - if you have basically clay, you WANT the sand. To analyse clay at home, half fill a clear glass wine bottle with soild from a particular horizon, put a spoonful of washing powder (the corrosive type) into it, fill up with water and shake until it is an emulsion. The sand will drop out almost immediately (20 seconds?), the silt fairly quickly (30 minutes?) and the clay over a period of days to weeks. Somwhere on the net is the actual description of the method and times. Again, you can find it on the net, but look up what a good loam is. If I recall, equal parts of sand and clay is heavy, but good. Mine is a fairly sandy loam. If your clay contains a fair amount of sand, you may want to add a bit more sharp sand or fine gravel (or small aggregate), but the key is to loosen it. This will be tricky as diggers compact the soil - so you may need to reverse carefully. Anyway, while I am no expert, that is roughly right. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , [H]omer wrote: I didn't make it clear before, but my current 'soil' is about 1/2" of what looks like mainly sand (think the kind of soil you get at the inland edge of a beach), followed by ???" of clay (I haven't struck rock yet!!!). Therefore, for all intents and purposes, there is no real soil on site; I'll have to buy some in. That smells wrong. I strongly advise analysing it first - your clay may not be entirely clay. My soil is 60% sand, 18% silt and 22% clay, and you should likke at various loams - if you have basically clay, you WANT the sand. To analyse clay at home, half fill a clear glass wine bottle Hi Nick, Yeah I remember doing the soil-test-in-a-jar experiment way back in my school days. Let me put it this way, the clay under my garden has the consistency of putty, i.e. it is nearly pure, terracotta-red, potter's clay. It's so 'good' in fact that I am actually going to be selling it to a local arts and crafts club. It would seem that I'm sitting on top of a clay pit. Oh lucky me. I am brassed off that the property developers slapped lawns directly on top of wet-clay with zero drainage. I understand that clay is not intrinsically the evil entity that some people think it is; it is rich in nutrients after all, but it's also a pain WRT drainage. I think my garden may actually be one of those that really does need field drainage pipes. I'm going to be calling in a guy who's a tree surgeon and landscaper, to help me with a tree that's been blown partly over by the horrendous wind we get round here, so I'll ask for his expert opinion about drainage on site as well. Thanks again, - [H]omer |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Is it too late to prepare new Veg garden? | United Kingdom | |||
Wildflower garden: how prepare for spring? | Gardening | |||
Planting New Shrubs - How to Prepare Soil? | Gardening | |||
prepare soil for new grass?? | Gardening | |||
[new site] new site for biotech in agriculture | sci.agriculture |