Gardening on clay

We live on the south coast and have heavy claggy clay. Each autumn we buy a lorry load of recycled compost, grit and rotted manure (and sometimes bark) from the local recycling centre and spread it over the borders and beds. We used to dig it in but now we just leave it and the worms take it down into the clay through the winter. Our soil is much more friable now and we can grow pretty much anything, roses, fuchsias and clematis absolutely flourish. I think most recycling centres offer this service, either in builders bags or smaller bags, and it's much cheaper than garden centres.

Potatoes are good in clay soil. They need loads of water and you break the clay up when you lift them.

Thank you for tips. We have had two good sized raised beds made and planted a few trees and shrubs including hydrangea... the mahonia is doing well and its nice and spiky to keep the cats off the front lawn I hope. I say lawn its a bit boggy. Lots of people here having astroturf for their children and pets to play on but I really dont like it. i think we will go the rockery and shrubs way, lots of pots too.

We are on heavy grey clay and it's not the easiest soil to work but don't lose heart it can be improved. Over the years we've added sand and grit, especially when planting anything. I have access to lots of horse manure rotted down with chopped straw, we've incorporated lots of that over the years too. It gets wet and boggy but dries out very quickly to a solid cement so we get going with any digging as soon as it is dry enough to work. We can lose plants in the winter because the roots get water logged if we don't add enough grit to aid drainage.
However, on the plus side, once plants are established, they thrive. Our roses are gorgeous and many shrubs will do very well eg ceanothus, solanum, hypericum clematis etc You'll find lists on the internet but the trick is to use plants that like your soil. I use dahlias to add late colour but always start them off in pots as the cold clay tends to slow them down. Good luck with your garden.

We had clay on one side of our allotment and used to apply lime after it was dug over in the autumn, but it’s not a good solution for gardens where you might want to grow lime hating plants. You can get a product called Clay Breaker which doesn’t affect the Ph balance and is supposed to be very effective.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread because I have temporarily moved in with my 'bubble' - DD and DSiL while I sell my house and look for somewhere to live.

They refuse to let me pay for my keep but as they both work long hours have asked me to sort out their garden!! They've only been in the house for 18 months and some of the borders were abandoned by the previous owner. The lawn, thank the Lord, is in good nick.

So...I've gone from a dry garden - well drained fen soil, to heavy, wet clay. I dug over a small border on Saturday which gave me a rough idea of what I'm dealing with.

I've already transported a car load of plants from home and there will be more to follow after Easter. There is also a small garden centre just ten minutes away.

Good job I love a challenge!!

I've been here (London clay) for 30 years and the raised beds are a real blessing. In the rest of the garden I've added grit, compost, manure - in fact anything/everything I could to lighten it. It's taken this long to change it, too!

Roses, viburnums, ferns, anemones, hebes, geraniums - anything slug proof, will do especially well. Look in local gardens, especially neglected ones, to see what thrives in your area.

On the plus side, it rarely needs watering and the grass is very lush and green.

Another sufferer of heavy Cheshire clay here too and seacliff is right; it is awful stuff. It's like digging cheese and is damned hard work whether it's wet or dry. I've found that allium bulbs (being of the onion family), planted in the autumn, give a good display in the summer. Hydrangeas do well too because they like plenty of water. Clematis, planted as deep as possible, have also done well. Japanese anemone also seems to grow very well in my clay soil. Delphiniums, transplanted from my previous loam garden, have done really well and look set for another good display this summer. And several varieties of rudbekhia have flourished and spread too.

Good luck BigBertha, I know how physically hard work it is to try to cultivate on clay soil; my garden tool of choice is a pick axe.

Roses love clay soil, a variety of scented roses would be lovely. Day lilies and Hydrangeas also do well.

There are degrees of clay soil, it does improve with drainage. Ours is blue slip clay, so wet in winter it is up to our ankles and then in summer it sets like cement and there are big cracks where it has dried. Very inhospitable for most plants.

It’s a very dry acid soil that usually restricts what you can grow, most plants will thrive in a clay soil, it’s the PH - acidity and how wet that will restrict the choice. Usually clay will be neutral or alkaline, you can buy a test kit to check that, if it is very wet or waterlogged don’t plant out until it has dried in spring.
If it’s a new house the topsoil could have come from anywhere a laid in very poor conditions, don’t despair, add manure give it time it will recover.

Hydrangeas, geraniums grow in ours. Often I put sprouting potatoes in straight out of the cupboard and they seem to do well,too.

Awful stuff, have lost so many plants over the years that just rot in it, however much mulch etc we add. Raised beds are a good idea with plenty of drainage in the bottom. Plants that thrive in our garden are all types of viburnum, roses, willows and crab apples. Primroses.

Our garden is/was heavy clay. There are lots of things that grow well but sedums, ferns and hellebores always look good for us.