Amending soil using sand and opinions on some new products

[matchynishi]

I'm a fairly new gardener, and on a small budget, and I have a fair amount of work to do to work up the beds this year! My yard has extremely clayey soil, and is weedy, so some of the beds that weren't used over the last year have weeds in them. I have some theories that I want to try this year, and I wanted to run by the folks here for opinions

Comments

[matchynishi]

I don't have pets, so thankfully none will be poisoned if I use coir! So apart from that issue, it should be fine to work with, then, huh...

Wow, you do have it worse than me! I have a veritable forest of weeds in the backyard... I had this giant dandelion sprout through gravel last year, it was at this little-visited corner, and by the time I saw it, it was about 5 feet! o_o

[matchynishi]

You do have a point about the expense! So you think I can add mulch directly to the soil before adding the compost, instead of the sand or the Beatspeat coir thing? I guess the mulch would eventually decompose, too.. but I'll have to add *something* because I don't have as much compost as I need, and the leaves and stuff I've saved aren't quite enough for my beds... :( I suppose there is always the option of adding more newspapers...

lol, hope your pokey things get killed off successfully!

[ayse]

Sand is not a great additive to clay: just the two mixed together make something more like concrete than good soil. To build a good soil for planting you want a lot of organic material. I'm a big fan of letting the organisms in the soil do the work: mulch and pile on compost (either finished or not), and let worms and bugs move it around for you. Over time the soil will get better. You really do have to give it time: you won't have perfect soil in one season no matter what you do. Raised beds give you the benefit to the soil plus immediate gratification, but they are pretty expensive and might not work in every garden design.

[matchynishi]

Ooh concrete is definitely not what I'm looking for. D: I'll try the compost & mulching method and leave the sand alone... while raised beds are more of an ideal for me at this point, though I'm probably gonna use edging to do the slightly-raised beds this year! Thank you for your advice. :)

[matchynishi]

aaah I'm definitely not planning very many root veggies, apart from those tiny radishes! I'll definitely keep aside the carrots and things for the next couple of years.. although sometimes funky shapes are pretty awesome. :p

Wow... guess I'll have to pay a lot of attention to the seed instructions.. From the comments here, I'm definitely feeling more encouraged - at least I have clay and not sand!

[rainarana]

I have heavy clay soil as well. Do you know what the PH level is? That would determine what you might want to add to it. You can find pretty inexpensive testing kits either online or at garden centers. What I've done is sheet mulch the areas where I wanted to plant. I've added sand ONLY under the walkways to create a smooth surface for weed block and inches of gravel. The number one thing is lots and lots of organic matter. If you have access to a truck then your most cost effective would be to buy in bulk. I've also added gypsum, blood meal, kelp meal and green sand, but this was to correct nutrient deficiencies as well. I'm on a city lot that hadn't had anything done to it in 50 or so years and had bricks buried in it from an old house. Here's a description of sheet mulching. www.digitalgardenleetsdale.com/content/toby-hemenways-bomb-proof-sheet-mulch

[matchynishi]

I checked out the soil pH with a handy DIY apparatus of baking soda, water and vinegar, and figured out that my soil is mostly alkaline. I tested out three places, and two of them were alkaline, and one place was neutral. I guess I can go ahead and put down my acidic bokashi compost / compost tea to bring up the soil acidity naturally since most plants prefer it a bit more acid, right?

Sand idea ditched, definitely, and I'm working on the compost! Buying in bulk is probably not gonna happen. :( I
ve been composting all through the winter, but I'll probably need more than I have at the moment if I want to plant everything I've planned, lol. Well, at least spring means that I can compost faster, so there might be some compost formed every couple of weeks... hmmm, this needs more planning. o__o

Thank you for the sheet mulching advice, that's probably what I'm gonna go with now!

[virginiadear]

Adding my voice to the "Avoid putting sand into clay soil, because if you do, you'll end up with something like cement" chorus.

Organic matter is the way to go.

By the way, weeds are always a very good indicator of what your soil has or hasn't, nutrient-wise. Weeds are hardier (and heartier) than cultivated plants) and many of them have extensive root systems. This is a very good thing for the gardener, because those root systems have already begun breaking up and loosening the soil for you.

They can go on the compost heap, if you like, as long as they haven't gone to seed already. (If the soil hasn't been tilled or otherwise worked by humans for some time, there are already weed seeds on or in that soil. Not to worry, though.) In fact, keeping your weeds and using them for compost is probably a good idea as "naturally" occurring plants often contain large quantities of the very thing the soil is lacking and which the decomposed plants will give it.

Please understand: the only problem clay soil presents is that it is heavy

[padawanspider]

seconding (thirding? fourthing?) the "don't-add-sand" sentiment... I live on the Mississippi coast and our backyard already has clay-sand just below the topsoil. Digging into that stuff is murder, especially when it's dry...

[matchynishi]

Oh no. D: Definitely a do-not-want scenario, I have enough problems trying to crack the clay alksdj;klj. Hope things go smoother for you this year!

[matchynishi]

The cement talk scared me off sand in a big way. o_o I've taken some heart from your statement that weeds can actually indicate a good thing... like you said, I'll try to compost them; I use bokashi composting for my food waste, and I'll probably use that for the yard waste too, eventually. Any seeds theoretically should be destroyed in the fermentation process, - the first result is pretty acidic, so things should be okay... And the yard here hasn't been worked for a few years, so it's rife with weeds! Seeds everywhere. :p

The comments here show that things could definitely be so much worse! I'm gonna be looking into sheet mulching and building up the bed naturally like you suggested... thank you so much, your comment really helped me with figuring out stuff!

[plantyhamchuk]

It's possible to garden on the cheap. I'm gardening in straight clay too, and like the others said, the answer is organic matter. It takes years to improve the soil. Raised beds are popular, but they lose water more quickly than beds in the ground. In case you live some place with drought issues, it's something to think about

[plantyhamchuk]

Oh and one last thing, people talk a lot about double digging. It's a TON of work, and unless you're adding in *lots* of rough organic matter like coarse mulch, it doesn't do anything to improve clay. Clay just recompacts upon itself.

Part of the idea with adding in mulch is that it helps to break up the heavy clay on a structural level. I would recommend mulch over leaf litter due to this, but either will be better than nothing.

[matchynishi]

yeah, that seems logical. And just the single digging of the clay was hell on my back, so I don't think I can double dig even if I want to, lol. I'll see what I can find, and mulch that in. :)

[matchynishi]

Organic matter does seem like the way to go... and if I do raised beds this year, it'll be on a natural slope or grade like virginiadear suggested in an earlier comment. I live in Canada, so drought isn't the main concern so much as all the snowmelt... although granted, this year there's been much less snow than previous years!

I figured out that my soil is mostly alkaline through home-testing with vinegar and baking soda, so at least I know I don't have to add lime. :p I'm doing bokashi composting this year, so the acidic compost-thing that I bury in the ground with the compsot tea and things maybe might help raise the acidity level a bit. *crosses fingers*

I don't think there's anyone close who cuts down trees or farm since I live in the middle of the city. :( But yes, sheet mulching does seem like the way to go for me! Perhaps leave aside the coir too, then...

Thanks for your advice and opinions, they really helped!