RE: Amending clay soil?

I just ran into a fellow gardener at a local nursery and was lamenting our
clay soil in the PNW and was mentioning that for some of the plants I wanted
to try that were definitely not moisture lovers I was going to try pea (1/4
inches minus) gravel in the plant holes/beds.  She mentioned that a mail
order nursery in this area is doing that standardly in all their beds now.
My trial is new, but has anyone else tried this successfully in clay soil?

Susan Saxton, zone 6b
For mine is a little old fashioned garden where the flowers come
together to praise the Lord and teach all who look upon them to do
likewise.
Celia Thaxter

I AM in shape.  ROUND is a shape!


> -----Original Message-----
> From: jim ray [n*@avana.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 1999 3:16 PM
> To: perennials@mallorn.com
> Subject: Re: Amending clay soil?
> 
> 
> To quote the garden guy Paul James sand and clay make 
> concrete.  You would
> be better off using compost peat moss or something like natures helper
> mixed in with it.  Also a good mulch used will help keep it 
> from going back
> to its old hard clay self in a few years by continuing to 
> break down into
> the soil layers.  Jim
> 
> Allan wrote:
> 
> > I'd appreciate some advise on amending a heavy soil. Some 
> suggest sand,
> > certain types
> > of sand, compost, gypsum and mixtures of these....
> >
> > My soil is quite heavy. Compressed in a fist, it forms a solid ball.
> > It's black and breaks
> > apart, but doesn't drain well. I think it has a lot of 
> clay, but isn't
> > all clay.
> >
> > I was thinking about 4" of "builder's sand" and 4" of well 
> decomposed
> > compost tilled in
> > well. Is this a good idea? The gypsum also seems like a good idea.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > -Allan
> >
> > 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> > message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
> 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index