RE: Sand in clay soil
Good info Chris, the gypsum must act as a floculant. I
also have to realize that soils in other areas act
differently than the soils here. I do remember hauling
pickup loads of sand, and spreading it on our friend's
garden. I definately helped to loosen the soil. It went
from clay to silt, but it did take alot of sand. Maybe try
sanding a small part of your garden and see what it does.We
also added leaves from our yard every fall too. Our soil at
my house is not bad, claywise, but is very rocky, anyone
have suggestions to disolve rocks:).
I did learn in my youth that timing of working clay soil
was important. Too wet, and it just stays in clods and
turns to "pottery", too dry and it doesn't want to break
up. But if you catch it just right it's not too bad,
breaking up into very small clods, bean size on down.
Watering had to be done carefully too, or it just turned
back to concrete. Mulching helped, it kept the soil dampish
without baking in the sun. It also keeps the soil cooler
though, so it wouldn't be a good idea early in the year.
With pumpkins having such big leaves, the shading should
keep the clay from baking. Maybe mulching around the plant,
and raking it back as the plant grows would work to keep
the clay from hardening before the pumpkin can establish
itself. This is speculation, I haven't grown pumpkins on
clay, I've only grown them on our rocky soil where we live
now.
=====
Good fishing!
Matt Moore
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http://www.virtualseeds.com/matt.html
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