Brian wonders about garden in clay :
I would like to take whole tone in this direction but feel stuck . My grow infinite consists entirely of horrible , horrifying Piedmont Henry Clay . I ’ve built raised bed ( layer with lots of organic stuff , partly out of necessity and partly to better the territory . But to my repulsion , I was moving grime recently and discovered that not only had the soil at the bottom of a bottom had not improved , but the red stiff colossus had seemed to originate and consume some of the soil I had brought in to use . There was MORE clay than before I built the beds . Drainage is an absolute disaster .
Is a food forest hopeless in this scenario ? The concept of planting in - priming coat seems impossible here . I also have a mildly slanted blank space and was wondering if that should involve my try .
He leave that input on my sidekick - in - jurisprudence Justin ’s recent post on hisGrocery Row Garden in Delaware .
That really is a unmanageable billet . Clay suffocates plant by forestall drainage and drowning their roots . It ’s also quite heavy to forge , and play it makes it even hard .
My initial response to his commentary was just eight words : Are there trees that get in your field ?
That ’s unnecessarily wordy , though : I could have just written
Got Trees?
Forests grow in Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin and in corpse and everywhere in between . They ’ll even grow out of tilt , if collapse half a luck :
The trick is to get them started .
Asrecommended by Piedmont Master Gardeners :
qualify corpse ground for veggie gardens or efflorescence beds is one thing . tree diagram and landscape planting however is more a matter of choose plants that can do well in the aboriginal grime and planting them in a way that makes succeeder most probable .
The recommended way to implant a tree or shrub is a number dissimilar for Lucius Clay than for well - drained , loose soils :
Another thing I recommend is just growing tree diagram from seed wherever you may . They ’ll develop very strong origin system of rules mightily from the beginning and their rootage body process and exudates ameliorate the clay around them . incentive points if you engraft atomic number 7 - fixing pioneer trees – you know , the seedy tree everyone hat ! – which can then be repeatedly chopped and drop to add organic matter to the grease aerofoil .
Most ground grow some trees . If you ca n’t get them growing in your 1000 , look around and see how nature is doing it . opportunity are , she ’s throwing tons of semen around and permit the winners endure .
What About Annuals in Clay?
I have a feeling the raised seam “ rise ” the clay via water from the rainfall and the nurseryman washing down the stiff from the top layers and aggregating all the particles together lower down . Drainage really is a awful issue in clay . Sometimes the only affair you’re able to do is produce “ up ” and make mounds to plant upon . We did that in the sticky clay of Grenada . There was a spot we gardened that was hard as a rock when it was dry and as sticky as mucilage when it was wet . The papaya tree we planted in the teetotal season rotted and drown in the ground when they were a few foot tall and the summer rainwater started fall .
It was terrible . I feel your pain .
The dependable lot we had was with lasagna gardening – and with the yams we grew in raised mound of clay .
Lasagna gardening :
That picture was filmed on that patch of hard - to - body of work , viscid black corpse .
I would keep layering that organic stuff , and also think about set up a French drain if potential , as well as try adding gypsum to relax the soil .
It ’s not an easy task , but I do trust the more plants and constituent matter you get growing , the good the soil will become over time . Just do n’t till it !
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