Gardening on clay

BigBertha1, I feel your pain here in Kansas. I have had success (after years of experimenting and just plain backbreaking work), with various rich composts, mixed in, rather than straight manure. It's possible (tho I'd never have believed it) that your clay is more compact than ours. I have to add amendments every year as the ground seems to churn more clay up every spring. In addition, we have tons of limestone rocks under all the clay. We live on a rock covered with clay. I also have had great success by adding fishing worms. Lovely, long blooming Veronicas, Butterfly Bush, Clematis, Daisies do well here. Good luck!!!

MaizieD DH dug it (only 1 spade depth) over the winter but spread the manure over the surface for the worms to work on.
I should realise I can't teach an old dog new tricks.

We've got a gravel area - it's surprising what comes up in it.

Also on Cheshire clay (I think!). The small garden has two 'wet' patches in the end corners that are always in shade from the tall fence and the grass (from turf about a year old) refuses to grow there. Any advice would be very welcome for growing grass in this area. Don't like artificial grass.

I have mulched with thick layers of newspaper, whilst soil is damp, then layers of old mushroom compost or even old wood chippings, to stop weeds and improve structure. People before us actually removed clay and bought in lighter soil, just for one bed.

Roses love clay.. My father ( occupation gardener) told me the clay acts as a food source for roses, and need no further rose feed to help them flourish. So I plant roses in my garden as it has a great clay consistency. I do sometimes apply a rose feed too though. But my roses do thrive in it.

Kryptonite... Keep the damp patch well ariated by spiking it every so often and apply lawn sand, this helps dry out the soggy area.

Callistemon

MaizieD DH dug it (only 1 spade depth) over the winter but spread the manure over the surface for the worms to work on.
I should realise I can't teach an old dog new tricks.

We've got a gravel area - it's surprising what comes up in it.

Have you shown him any of the 'No Dig' videos? They're like my gardening porn

My gravel area has practically disappeared under the plants that have marched into it from the surrounding beds!

Back to clay, though. I've found that primulas and primroses do really well in it; particularly ones that are close to the native species.

I'd abandon the idea of grass there, Kryptonite. Just have a 'moss garden' instead...

Kryptonite I had the exact same problem with grass as you have and tried several times to get it to re-read, but nothing worked because it was either baked dry or drowned. So I had a patio laid in one of the corners and put a greenhouse up in the other.

Our garden in France was pure clay and hard to work. The only thing we put on it was the soiled straw from the chicken house and it was very fertile, especially for vegetables including potatoes.
But when I tried to create a herbaceous border it failed. we did succeed with lavender rosemary and also santolina. and hellebore.
Climate plays a part too - it could be very hot and wet there. The day we left the soil drive - in was so claggy that the removals van couldn't get up to the house and we had to borrow a transit van to shuttle back and forth to the lane. Took 2 days instead of one.

weeds flourished too + +

Our home is Claybrook Cottage, says it all!

Have you shown him any of the 'No Dig' videos?

I could try but I know he'll just say "Interesting" then go off and do it his own way!

I've got some pots on the gravel area and the squirrel digs in them, he's just spread soil everywhere ready for the weeds to flourish amongst the gravel.

Our home is Claybrook Cottage yes AnD1, the road near us is called Clayhills, and it certainly is.

One advantage of blueslip clay and a high water table. My OH dug out a pond years ago, with digger. It did not need lining as we had the natural clay. It gradually filled with rainwater. At least that is one part of the garden we don't have to cultivate.

We have planted several Fruit Trees on our Clay soil, Coxes and Bramley Apple trees, multi variety Pear grafted onto one trunk, and a Victoria Plum Tree. It's amazing how much water they soak up, and we get a decent crop of free fruit during the late Summer months. The only free that showed signs of failing was a Cherry tree, so we moved it round into the front garden which is slightly more elevated and faces South so dries quicker, and it's happily given us fruit for several years, that is if we manage to get there first before the birds do!

seacliff thanks for the reminder - we also had a very pretty wildlife pond in our garden. plus frogs and dragonflies etc .
I think the dugout clay had been used to make bricks which helped to build the lower part of the house in chequer board pattern with blocks of pebbles washed down from the Pyrenees.
Very fertile cereal growing area.