Make Clay into Garden Soil
by DeAnna Pennington
About 4 years ago we had to dig up a great deal of hard red clay soil for fence post, deck and porch post and for new gardens. To be able to keep the soil for later purposes and to keep it out of the way, we decided to put the soil across part of our back yard running about 80 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet. Over the years we added grass and weed clippings(prior to seeding), (disease free)clippings from the flowers beds, end of the year flower bed droppings, uneaten vegetables, spent potting soil, uneaten old wheat and oat products, decaying and fallen pond plant leaves, tree leaves, and even a little sand and very small rocks that were dug up on the property to promote better drainage. We also added earth worms when we found them laying around. We only added these things on top of the clay and NEVER turned the soil over the 4 years. When weeds or grass would grow up through it, we would just pull them out and lay them on top. We had added a few feet of loose material to the pile over the years so our pile had gained at least another 1 foot in height and 1 foot in width in completely decayed matter when we decided to finally turn it early this spring. When we turned the soil with a tiller this spring, what we discovered amazed us. This entire pile (even all the way to the bottom) had turned into Black crumbling (but retains moisture) soil that is ideal for using as gardening soil. The many dandelion roots that we had placed on top over the 4 years had even fully decayed. This has really been a enjoyable project that has been very rewarding. It was also very nice not to have to take all of additives to the dump. Our yard is 100 X 150 with two 25 feet tall Bradford Pear trees to give you an idea how much additives came from these sources. We plan on mulching well to help control any weeds that might come up during the first growing season. |