In the Garden: June 2006 Archives

We live on top of the mother lode of CLAY!

It's a lovely dark soil when it's moist, but when the heat of midsummer comes along, it becomes a grayish cement!

I was moaning about the clay across the front of the house, and complaining that I needed to amend the soil so I could plant the perennials this week. A good friend told me that his mother swears by "Clay Breaker," and I said, "What's that?"

Well....there are several varieties of this product, and it seems they are all produced and sold in either England or Australia. I checked at Google and the first two pages of listings were all from those two countries. Luckily, one of the entries talked about how to improve clay soil. Rather than searching for the clay breaking products, it told how to use sand, organic matter and lime or gypsum to improve the soil.

Dear Husband and Second Son spread sand, gypsum and compost for me last week. We had a good rain over the weekend, which made the soil easier to work. The next step is to incorporate all this into the top 8-12 inches of soil.

Sharp sand will improve the drainage and aeration characteristics of the soil, and encourage strong root formation. A good "grit" sand will have a reasonable amount of tiny pebbles in the 3-6mm range. These are sometimes called a "concreting" or "Horticultural" sand. It is NOT the soft, fine sand that builders use.

Organic matter also aids drainage and aeration, but it will also add to the fertility of the soil. Well-rotted compost, spent mushroom compost or well-rotted leaf litter are excellent choices. You do not want to use green organic matter, or partially rotted compost as it will feed from the soil to aid decomposition, rather than feeding the soil.

Both lime and gypsum (calcium sulfate) work to aggregate the clay particles in clay, to make it more permeable. Gypsum accomplishes this without raising the soil pH.

My information, and a great deal more, can be found at this site: Improving Clay Soil FAQ.

If you've been battling clay soil in your gardens, this site has loads of information about easy ways to improve the soil. When it comes down to it, grit sand and well-rotted compost in large quantities are the cheapest way to improve the soil. Good luck!

I'm NOT a failure. I discovered today that I have NOT been a failure for the past SEVENTEEN YEARS!

When we first moved here, and I started the gardens, I tried to grow morning glories, so that they would grow up over wild shrubs and give us more color during the summer. I scarred or cracked the shell of the seed. I soaked them overnight. I tried strewing seed in November so that they would start naturally in the spring. Nothing I did seemed to work.

I assumed that I had done something wrong. Not once in all that time have I been able to get morning glories to grow in my gardens.

Well, this year, I bought two pots of them, already started. One was a smaller plant, the other was a 6 or 8" pot that had several plants started. I took them out to the east driveway garden and planted them. Both had something to climb, and lots of mulch around them. I watered them every other day.

Today, as I drove by on the way to the garage, I looked over at the garden and something was missing. The supports were all there. The mulch was there.....
But, where there SHOULD have been two healthy growing morning glories.....NOTHING!

Some wretched furry creature has eaten seventeen years of morning glories right to the ground! Some miserable varmint had himself a great salad last night! There's NOTHING left....of about six plants.

I need to think about this. I wonder if there's anyway to get around the darned critter? At least now I know that I am not a failure as a gardener!