Re: rhodies & blackberries

Well, if the plants are doing well, don't worry about it and leave
them be.  If they are not doing well, dig them up and replant.

Gypsum is too expensive for me to use in the quantities that would be
needed to actually make a difference in my clay soil.  Sprinkling it
on top of the clay isn't going to help much at all - you'd need to
dig it in.  If you dig in copious quantities of organic material,
including fine chip pine bark mulch that you can buy by the bag or
truck load, you will find your clay turning to decent soil in a very
few years.

You can also simply cover raw ground with wood chips and let them rot
for a few years and plant right in them.  Plants will send their
roots down into the clay if they want to.  Best, if possible, to dig
or rototill the soil before piling on the chips, but if you can't do
it, chips about 2 feet deep will rot down to a nice 8 or 10 inches of
humus in three or four years.  If you pile the chips somewhere and
wait for them to rot, then you can spread the humus and plant in it
immediately.  I find it needs added nitrogen and is rather neutral in
pH, but plants adore it.  You can often get woodchips free from tree
service companies who would otherwise have to pay a dump fee to dump
them - if you've got spare space for a woodchip pile, it's a great
thing to have.

Adding "top soil" may or may not do your native soil any good.
Depends on what that topsoil consists of and some sold is pretty much
garbage.  Much better to add a bag of fine chip mulch, IMO.

For beds that are already planted in perennials, just wait until you
need to dig and divide or decide to move something and then heavily
amend the bare spot before you replant.  If you keep this up for
several years, your soil will change in texture and become quite
decent.

I've made decent soil out of pure clay subsoil for many years by
adding a *lot* of organic material - compost, rotted woodchips, pine
bark mulch, compost, manure, leaf mould, rotted sawdust, whatever you
can get your hands on - what you want is something with a fair amount
of texture to it to provide air spaces in the clay and improve the
tilth.

By a *lot*, I'm talking a minimum of a full wheelbarrow load of
organic material to a 4' x 4' area.  Double digging is even better
and with double the amount of organic material - one load for the top
spit of soil and one for the bottom.  And, add more if the soil
texture does not improve enough with one load.  I prefer a digging
fork for working clay soil to a spade; much easier to penetrate the
hard soil,  break up the clods and incorporate the organic material
evenly.

Clay is often rich in minerals and simply only lacks organic
material.  It also lacks air spaces, which are very important to
plant root life.  You can also add fine gravel - pea gravel, granite
chips - or coarse builder's sand.  You do not want to add a fine
textured sand to clay soil as "fine texture" is half of clay soil's
problem in the first place.  You always want to add organic material
with sand; sand by itself + clay = bricks:-)

With heavy clay soil, it is better to dig over an area where you
intend to plant something like a woody plant instead of simply
digging a hole, which tends to have compacted sides from the digging
activity that help create the 'bath tub' effect and discourage plant
roots from penetrating the soil.  If you fork over a, say 5' x 5'
area to plant a 5 gal. shrub, you will be giving the plant a chance
to get its roots into the native soil.  Some current wisdom says it
is best not to amend soil for trees and shrubs, but I always figure
improving soil over a wide area around the plant couldn't hurt.  You
want to penetrate the soil the full depth of your digging fork - or
one spit or about a foot if at all possible.  If the soil is full of
roots that make turning it over impossible, at least get your fork in
and rock it back and forth to loosen things up.

If your only recourse is digging a single hole, make sure you take
your digging fork and break up the sides of the hole so they are not
smooth, but are rough with cracks and holes in them and loosen the
bottom of it as much as possible; create fissures so water will drain
out of the hole.

You need to continually amend soil by keeping a mulch on it and
adding organic material when you dig or plant something.  Chopped
leaves are a great mulch  - it's what old Ma Nature uses.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
-----------------------------------------------
Current Article: Deciduous Flowering Shrubs - Part 4, Hydrangeas Part
1
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/222
------------------------------------------------
Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date
http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html
------------------------------------------------
All Suite101.com garden topics :
http://www.suite101.com/category.cfm/gardening
----------
> From: Diann Barbee Thoma <diannthoma@EARTHLINK.NET>
> Date: Thursday, July 27, 2000 11:45 PM
>
> So what's a gardener to do if 3 years ago she created sink holes
all around
> her shade gardens??
>
> Also, I've been adding gypsum to my amendment soil (with top soil,
compost,
> and sharp sand), and occasionally going  back and sprinkling some
more
> around where it's particularly clay-like.  Is anyone familiar with
how much
> gypsum one needs to condition heavy clay soil, and how long it take
it to
> make a difference?  Do you do it every year, twice a year, or??
>
> Thanks!
>
> Fear in Champaign
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index