| Homepage Gardening Index Gardening on Clay soil Tillers & Rotavators Electric Tools Hand Tools Metal Sheds Sawing Firewood |
Gardening
on
clay soil One of the most difficult soils to work on is clay, it is hard manual work to loosen it up when it has not been dug for some years. It is difficult to get weed roots out especially the persistant weeds like nettles, convolvulous (bell vine), couch grass (spear grass, twitch) and horseradish. If you walk on it when it is wet or damp it treads down solid and when it dries out it is like concrete. You need to use a plan which avoids treading on the damp clay. |
| A Plan for Clay
Soil I
worked for Her Majesty's Forestry Commission in the late 1950's
although we were on sandy soil, the same plan is useful for clay soil.
Our nurseries (6) totalled 24 acres. We produced 3.5 million trees a
year. Because we were a mechanised nursery unit our site was laid out
in "beds", 3ft wide with 1ft paths between.
I have adapted the measurements to metric and now use 1metre beds with 40cm paths. These are not raised beds as usually known, they are raised by the fact that the tilling of the beds will raise the level slightly while the paths are trodden down solid. I would recommend hoeing the paths regularly and if you have persistant weeds then a systemic weedkiller applied by watering can. |
If the clay soil has not been dug for some years it will be necessary to dig to the full depth of a spade (11 inches). This is hard work but will repay in the produce you get. You should plan for a three year rotation, so three (or multples of three) beds should be laid out. The first group would be for root vegetables, the second greens and salads, and the third for legumes (peas, beans and similar crops). If you wish to have a four year cycle you could add potatoes as the fourth stage. Potatoes are a good crop for breaking in a bed of soil which has not been worked for a few years. Newly applied manure is suitable for potatoes, greens and other crops but not for root crops, it causes forked roots. |
 1 metre Beds looking North East |
 1 metre Beds looking South East |
 Beds surrounded by electric rabbit netting |
 Digging the clay before it is tilled |
 A full spit depth |
 The Mantis Tiller, travel left to right. Note: finer tilth on the left. |
 The Mantis Tiller, small, light and effective. |