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• Reputation: 51 Q&A: 2 0 0 11 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 1 topic Gardening Follow Following 0 Juicy

  2 0 Hi! Many early spring food crops (lettuces, cabbages, kale) have a fairly shallow root system, and will love your garden soil you described. For crops that require more root room (carrots, beets, asparagus- most 'root' crops), you may need to dig a little deeper to break up and sometimes even remove some of that heavy clay buried underneath- use compost to amend the garden soil- I'll even use fine shredded bark when planting shrubs and trees in my clay soil. Consider applying Gypsum- it's an amendment that helps loosen and break up the clay particles. It takes a couple seasons for it to start to work it's magic, so the sooner you apply it the better. Use recommended rates. For summer crops- tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, etc, you may have to mound the soil. these summer crops don't like cold soils and clay soils take a lot of time to warm up in the spring. By mounding the soil, you help by creating an environment that allows the soil to heat up quicker. Other tricks to warm up clay soils in spring: use a plastic tarp or covering over an area you want to plant a week or so before you plant. Not only does this dry out the area, it warms it up too Clay soil is made up of platelets that have been smashed and 'glued' together- your job is to encourage the break up of those platelets. One of the ways is by consistent application of compost as a mulch to help replace the organic material that breaks down in every garden. As the compost breaks down, it releases and encourages beneficial microbes to enliven and literally break up the soil. Clay soil has a high nutrient content, but these nutrients are locked up in the soil structure. Diligent amending and mulching will help unlock those nutrients so they are available to your plants. In the long run, you will have to use less fertilizer! Happy gardening!!! Juicy answered in Other Gardening about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by AKB… 0 0 Great answer! Thank you for taking the time to give such a thoughtful and informative response. This is all really helpful and I will take you advice on all counts! AKB commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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