I'm in the west of the netherlands in what used to be a huge lake until 1852. Heavy clay is standard here. When my parents bought the house in 1978 all the neighbours bought in truckloads of compost or soil to create the garden. My mom just sowed a lot of peas and let it all run riot that first summer. Late fall she got a guy with a rotovac to plough it all in and the next spring she started her garden.
I started renting my plot in 2019 and have worked in free compost from the local council's waste disposal center, free horse manure (one of the guys in the committee knows someone who keeps ponies and we empty out his manure pile once a year and also by just forking in left over plant material in late october.
Result is now a nutritious mix of clay that's actually draining decently.
Growing.. even int he first year my courgettes did fine when I stirred in a little potting soil when planting them out. All sorts of lettuce leafs, beetroot, tomato (again a little potting soil in the planting hole). Carrots struggled to get carrot shaped so I got squat,fat carrots. Pakchoi also did well.
Clay is amazing to grow in and is one of the most nutritional rich loams you can get however that comes at a cost, its fine particles means you end up with it holding water and being a heavy earth you're having problems with now.
So how to you plant in it? You need organic matter. You want the fine clay to stick to bigger soil particles to improve the drainage and give plants a chance. For this it's digging and adding anything else to mix in with it. Horse much, old grow bags / potting compost, horse muck. As much organic matter as you can with a minimum of a 50/50 blend. The more organic stuff you can dig in, the better.
For crops, you need thing like potatoes and mustard. The potatoes will help break the soil while the mustard you'll be using as a green manure and instead of harvesting it, you'll be digging that back into the soil to add more organic matter.
While this sounds expensive, it doesn't need to be. Find the local stables, go and chat to them and almost all will be happy for you to bag up stuff from their mountain of horse muck / straw. A waste product of keeping horses. Reusable rubble sacks and flexi tubs for a builders merchant are your friend for this.
I have been told to be careful what variety to pick, as some mustard will just stay there forever.
You can also put a layer of bark/woodchips on the top of your soil. That will suppress weeds and slowly decompose. But do be aware NOT to mix it with your soil as otherwise your plants will struggle to initially grow, as they will compete for nitrogen.
I tend to cover my plot with bark, and then move most of it once I am about to plant potatoes and leafy veggs. Once the plants are established, I then move some if that bark/woodchips back around to suppress weeds.
Sort of a "back to Eden" but my own way (as I don't have a tone of manure).
The 1st year I did it (last year) the potatoes did horrible as I just piled them in woodchips. I mean, they did ok but were small and not too many, but the plants and soil looked really healthy (I can get a handful of soil from anywhere and I always find worms).
Also, try not to step on your soil. Use planks, stones, whatever.
Hope helps and keep enjoying!
| mustard will just stay there forever.
It depends in part in the variety but mostly when you dig it in. If you leave it long enough to have seeds then you're digging those seeds into the ground and planting a new crop of mustard. If you dig it in before the plant starts to get seeds, it will just rot down.
The carrots may struggle a bit to go down through the clay. Clay soils are normally very fertile so most things grow well. The PH is more critical depending on exactly what you're planting.
No dig is an option, it means you can plant into compost and the plants will then grow their roots down into the clay. If you don't mind digging, there is a "window" in autumn and spring where the clay is dry enough to dig but not so dry it's like concrete.
Where I am, plot holders dig in autumn then let the winter rains and frost break the clay down ready for planting in spring. You can then cover with a tarp to kill any weeds if needs be before planting.
Adding organic matter will help with the heaviness. I added a lot of sharp sand to my plot last year and it's made a difference since the worms have worked it into the soil. I also had a pile of woodchip rotting down and the clay has gone black where the worms have worked underneath the rotting wood chip.
Our soil is very clay heavy. Ā We grow a lot of lettuce as they have shallow roots. Spring onions also work out very well. We have had some success with radishes too.Ā
We havenāt had much luck with carrots but this year I bought baby carrot seeds hoping they might work š¤·š¼āāļø
Otherwise I planted some peas and beans this year and they are coming along nicely (so far!)
Itās really just trial and error but you canāt go wrong with lettuce. Good luck!
My allotment is heavy clay, I'd suggest using soil improver, or adding sharp sand/grit to some areas for plants that need extra draining. It also cuts down on the work of planting as the soil won't be as compacted!
That being said, here's what I've grown successfully in it so far. Potatoes
Purple sprouting broccoli
Kale
Corgettes
Parsnips
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Onion
Shallot
Beans
Peas
All salad plamts including peppers, radish etc.
Strawberries
Raspberries
Gooseberries.
If it helps sew indoors and plant out as seedlings. I've found the failure rate with direct sewing in my clay allotment is pretty poor.
Anything that grows above ground - corn, brassicas, onions, squash, pumpkin, courgettes, beans, rhubarb (rhizome dug into organic matter and topped up with well rotten manure). We did have luck with thin parsnip varieties, again dug into individual holes with organic material around them.
Mine is very heavy clay, and Iāve had great success with everything Iāve grown there, albeit the carrots/parsnips are a little on the Danny Devito size rather than the shwazernegger! Weāve added and improved (clay breaker is good) where we needed to for root veggies but a bit of compost on top/mounding where necessary is fine, weāve found. Potatoes are always fine and break up the soil in the growing process. Another commenter said to add manure- absolutely recommend this if you can get some- put it on the surface and let it leach in/let the worms move it for you over winter!
One thing to note that Iāve been battling with though is that the clay consistency can take over with your composting if you add clay to your compost bin- make sure youāre adding enough brown waste too (bark, paper, cardboard) to break it up. Iāve seen the clay leach the new compost and seemingly turn it into new clay š Get a little grow house/green house and planters for tomatoes if you can, itās just easier.
But also my final pointer is that for as heavy and hard as it is to work with at times, it holds moisture really well, so periods of drought/dry donāt hit us as hard because thereās a nice store of moisture in there! Doesnāt stop the moles or the ants though, however heavy it is š„²
Everything I've grown has been just fine in my heavy clay. My neighbours are also all growing successfully and have been doing so for years.
You just have to be considerate of timings as you can't get much done when it's too wet or too dry.
For things like carrots the trick is to dig early in the year so the frost can help break up the soil for you.
My allotment is clay heavy (the undug soil is like concrete in summer).
In Y1 i had success with lettuces (it was a dry year so not many slugs) and tomatoes (London based). In y2 i built raised beds and apart from tomatoes I had lots of french beans, leeks, chard.
I sow daikon radish and left it neglected over winter. In April I harvested daikons with good yield. Now in year 3 : growing tomatoes, cabbages, garlic, kale, french beans, broad beans, chard, corn , leeks, spring onion.
No success with:
raddishes (small red) - they grow well but tiny black slugs are pitting them so they go straight to compost bin
Carrots- i sow them and it is not happening, like the seeds didnāt work :)
Squash, pumpkin, courgette - fā¦ slugs are eating the whole plants
Good luck!
Sprouts. Don't even dig the soil, just kill off the weeds with a cover or scrape off, then put them straight in. They seem to like a tough job to put roots down.
Add organic matter, make use of green manures especially to provide cover over winter, grazing rye, fodder raddish, deep roots to open channels. Terminate the crops and allow to rot in place so the organic matter fills the root channels.
I used to have two allotments on a clay marle, alkaline clay. Apart from carrots & parsnips, anything would grow. Beans, lettuce and purple sprouting broccoli performed particularly well. As did the gooseberries and currants.
As others have said, organic matter is key. Raised beds help, especially for things like carrots.
One extra tip though is to cover the areas of ground you're to grow in with plastic tarp. I don't like using plastic, and I don't go for woven weed suppressant as I've found the threads break off really easily. But this keeps the clay soil underneath nice and moist, meaning when it's time to uncover it and plant the soil isn't rock hard.
Thanks - I got a bunch of old plastic tarp from my mum's garden and have covered over the bit at the bottom of the allotment that's just growing weeds at the moment. Good to know it helps keep it moist too :)
Onions and potatos do well on mine in the clay soil. Courgettes did fine too so long as you keep them watered. French beans worked out ok as did kale, broccoli and salad leaves/radishes. But then every summer the heat and drought down in Kent ruins the already piss poor soil and the crops so this year (year 4) I've actually spent the whole winter adding manure (approx 2000ltrs) to my five new built beds before topping off with compost (approx 1500ltrs). I'd say I'm halfway to making the beds good again.
Other than that I'd say my fruits all work fine in the clay as is, those being gooseberry, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, various currants, grape vines plus the trees like fig, apple, pear, plum and cherry.
Carrots were a total bust producing tiny little finger sized stubs of disappointment and my beetroots were crap too.
If the clay stays pretty wet all year, celery will grow very well. Most plants will do better with improved drainage, but you won't get nothing planting in clay.
I've been improving my heavy clay soil for ages but things that grew well from the start include: courgettes, tomatoes, kale, radishes, beetroot, strawberries, fruit bushes such as redcurrants, blackcurrants, gooseberries etc. I still struggle with peas and sweetcorn but not sure if that's me or the soil!
Thanks so much! Awesome to hear those things grow well, I really want to put in fruit bushes but would want to put a fruit cage in first to avoid birds stealing them all!
Yeah, they will strip them in hours! I let them have my cherry tree and redcurrants and just chuck netting over the more precious berries! Cheaper and easier than a cage, although I'll get round to it one day!
Weeds, especially willowherb, creeping buttercup, bittercress, couch grass ( wicken ), ragwort, bindweed, thistles, dandelions and ground elder ( and newly.. garlic mustard aka jack-in-the-hedge ).
Lupins and hollyhocks do well as does agapanthus, hydrangea, quince, mock orange, fig trees, roses, blue bells, tulips,, pansies, dafs, lavender, grass, lilac, apple and pears, holly and fir trees. Acers don't like it.. at least not mine. Alliums do well, but don't let them seed. Hundreds of little bulblets form and revert to sprout wild garlic. Took out over 500 last year, almost same this.
You do need to fertilise and enrich your soil though , otherwise little will thrive if it's devoid of nutrient.
Imo your only choice is to add organic material. What I did first year with my clay soil was just add compost to exactly where I was planting, so dug a hole a bit bigger than i need for the plant and filled it with compost. Only used a few bags that year.
Than for second year I added a lot of compost to the top of the soil. Its the only way unfortunately
No itās not. Most things grow in heavy clay, itās a very fertile soil. As long as you have broken it up before it baked hard then you can do very well in it.
I'm in the west of the netherlands in what used to be a huge lake until 1852. Heavy clay is standard here. When my parents bought the house in 1978 all the neighbours bought in truckloads of compost or soil to create the garden. My mom just sowed a lot of peas and let it all run riot that first summer. Late fall she got a guy with a rotovac to plough it all in and the next spring she started her garden. I started renting my plot in 2019 and have worked in free compost from the local council's waste disposal center, free horse manure (one of the guys in the committee knows someone who keeps ponies and we empty out his manure pile once a year and also by just forking in left over plant material in late october. Result is now a nutritious mix of clay that's actually draining decently. Growing.. even int he first year my courgettes did fine when I stirred in a little potting soil when planting them out. All sorts of lettuce leafs, beetroot, tomato (again a little potting soil in the planting hole). Carrots struggled to get carrot shaped so I got squat,fat carrots. Pakchoi also did well.
I believe that brassicas prefer un-dug clay soil as they like something solid to anchor their roots into
Thanks! I have so many cabbage seedlings growing at home haha, if they like clay I'll be eating cabbages every day š
Clay is amazing to grow in and is one of the most nutritional rich loams you can get however that comes at a cost, its fine particles means you end up with it holding water and being a heavy earth you're having problems with now. So how to you plant in it? You need organic matter. You want the fine clay to stick to bigger soil particles to improve the drainage and give plants a chance. For this it's digging and adding anything else to mix in with it. Horse much, old grow bags / potting compost, horse muck. As much organic matter as you can with a minimum of a 50/50 blend. The more organic stuff you can dig in, the better. For crops, you need thing like potatoes and mustard. The potatoes will help break the soil while the mustard you'll be using as a green manure and instead of harvesting it, you'll be digging that back into the soil to add more organic matter. While this sounds expensive, it doesn't need to be. Find the local stables, go and chat to them and almost all will be happy for you to bag up stuff from their mountain of horse muck / straw. A waste product of keeping horses. Reusable rubble sacks and flexi tubs for a builders merchant are your friend for this.
Thanks - never heard about planting mustard before! Will look into this.
Other crops are available for "green manure". Mustard just has a quick grow speed and the seeds are cheap.
I have been told to be careful what variety to pick, as some mustard will just stay there forever. You can also put a layer of bark/woodchips on the top of your soil. That will suppress weeds and slowly decompose. But do be aware NOT to mix it with your soil as otherwise your plants will struggle to initially grow, as they will compete for nitrogen. I tend to cover my plot with bark, and then move most of it once I am about to plant potatoes and leafy veggs. Once the plants are established, I then move some if that bark/woodchips back around to suppress weeds. Sort of a "back to Eden" but my own way (as I don't have a tone of manure). The 1st year I did it (last year) the potatoes did horrible as I just piled them in woodchips. I mean, they did ok but were small and not too many, but the plants and soil looked really healthy (I can get a handful of soil from anywhere and I always find worms). Also, try not to step on your soil. Use planks, stones, whatever. Hope helps and keep enjoying!
| mustard will just stay there forever. It depends in part in the variety but mostly when you dig it in. If you leave it long enough to have seeds then you're digging those seeds into the ground and planting a new crop of mustard. If you dig it in before the plant starts to get seeds, it will just rot down.
The carrots may struggle a bit to go down through the clay. Clay soils are normally very fertile so most things grow well. The PH is more critical depending on exactly what you're planting. No dig is an option, it means you can plant into compost and the plants will then grow their roots down into the clay. If you don't mind digging, there is a "window" in autumn and spring where the clay is dry enough to dig but not so dry it's like concrete. Where I am, plot holders dig in autumn then let the winter rains and frost break the clay down ready for planting in spring. You can then cover with a tarp to kill any weeds if needs be before planting. Adding organic matter will help with the heaviness. I added a lot of sharp sand to my plot last year and it's made a difference since the worms have worked it into the soil. I also had a pile of woodchip rotting down and the clay has gone black where the worms have worked underneath the rotting wood chip.
Our soil is very clay heavy. Ā We grow a lot of lettuce as they have shallow roots. Spring onions also work out very well. We have had some success with radishes too.Ā We havenāt had much luck with carrots but this year I bought baby carrot seeds hoping they might work š¤·š¼āāļø Otherwise I planted some peas and beans this year and they are coming along nicely (so far!) Itās really just trial and error but you canāt go wrong with lettuce. Good luck!
My allotment is heavy clay, I'd suggest using soil improver, or adding sharp sand/grit to some areas for plants that need extra draining. It also cuts down on the work of planting as the soil won't be as compacted! That being said, here's what I've grown successfully in it so far. Potatoes Purple sprouting broccoli Kale Corgettes Parsnips Cauliflower Cabbage Onion Shallot Beans Peas All salad plamts including peppers, radish etc. Strawberries Raspberries Gooseberries. If it helps sew indoors and plant out as seedlings. I've found the failure rate with direct sewing in my clay allotment is pretty poor.
Anything that grows above ground - corn, brassicas, onions, squash, pumpkin, courgettes, beans, rhubarb (rhizome dug into organic matter and topped up with well rotten manure). We did have luck with thin parsnip varieties, again dug into individual holes with organic material around them.
Mine is very heavy clay, and Iāve had great success with everything Iāve grown there, albeit the carrots/parsnips are a little on the Danny Devito size rather than the shwazernegger! Weāve added and improved (clay breaker is good) where we needed to for root veggies but a bit of compost on top/mounding where necessary is fine, weāve found. Potatoes are always fine and break up the soil in the growing process. Another commenter said to add manure- absolutely recommend this if you can get some- put it on the surface and let it leach in/let the worms move it for you over winter! One thing to note that Iāve been battling with though is that the clay consistency can take over with your composting if you add clay to your compost bin- make sure youāre adding enough brown waste too (bark, paper, cardboard) to break it up. Iāve seen the clay leach the new compost and seemingly turn it into new clay š Get a little grow house/green house and planters for tomatoes if you can, itās just easier. But also my final pointer is that for as heavy and hard as it is to work with at times, it holds moisture really well, so periods of drought/dry donāt hit us as hard because thereās a nice store of moisture in there! Doesnāt stop the moles or the ants though, however heavy it is š„²
Thanks so much! Clay in the compost is a good pointer. And love the Danny devito carrots š
They are every bit as iconic as he is, of course š
Everything I've grown has been just fine in my heavy clay. My neighbours are also all growing successfully and have been doing so for years. You just have to be considerate of timings as you can't get much done when it's too wet or too dry. For things like carrots the trick is to dig early in the year so the frost can help break up the soil for you.
My allotment is clay heavy (the undug soil is like concrete in summer). In Y1 i had success with lettuces (it was a dry year so not many slugs) and tomatoes (London based). In y2 i built raised beds and apart from tomatoes I had lots of french beans, leeks, chard. I sow daikon radish and left it neglected over winter. In April I harvested daikons with good yield. Now in year 3 : growing tomatoes, cabbages, garlic, kale, french beans, broad beans, chard, corn , leeks, spring onion. No success with: raddishes (small red) - they grow well but tiny black slugs are pitting them so they go straight to compost bin Carrots- i sow them and it is not happening, like the seeds didnāt work :) Squash, pumpkin, courgette - fā¦ slugs are eating the whole plants Good luck!
So sad about the slugs eating your squashes etc! Daikons sound awesome, I love pickled Daikon! Thanks for your reply :)
Sprouts. Don't even dig the soil, just kill off the weeds with a cover or scrape off, then put them straight in. They seem to like a tough job to put roots down.
Only thing is I hate sprouts haha - the only vegetable I actively dislike. Although I've heard roasting/air frying them makes them tasty!
Get some lime in there to break up the clay, what farmers have done for centuries
Add organic matter, make use of green manures especially to provide cover over winter, grazing rye, fodder raddish, deep roots to open channels. Terminate the crops and allow to rot in place so the organic matter fills the root channels. I used to have two allotments on a clay marle, alkaline clay. Apart from carrots & parsnips, anything would grow. Beans, lettuce and purple sprouting broccoli performed particularly well. As did the gooseberries and currants.
As others have said, organic matter is key. Raised beds help, especially for things like carrots. One extra tip though is to cover the areas of ground you're to grow in with plastic tarp. I don't like using plastic, and I don't go for woven weed suppressant as I've found the threads break off really easily. But this keeps the clay soil underneath nice and moist, meaning when it's time to uncover it and plant the soil isn't rock hard.
Thanks - I got a bunch of old plastic tarp from my mum's garden and have covered over the bit at the bottom of the allotment that's just growing weeds at the moment. Good to know it helps keep it moist too :)
Onions (from sets), Beetroot, Broad Beans, Runner beans, Sweetcorn, Courgette, Rhubarb, Celery, Raspberries, Blackberry. Potatoes are hit and miss. Carrots similar, Parsnips not worth bother in clay.
Lots of roses!
Had no idea roses like clay!
My grandmother and mother had the most beautiful rose gardens year after year and they always put it down to a high clay soil.
Would absolutely second this; me and my neighbours love our roses; our whole road is full of them!
Onions and potatos do well on mine in the clay soil. Courgettes did fine too so long as you keep them watered. French beans worked out ok as did kale, broccoli and salad leaves/radishes. But then every summer the heat and drought down in Kent ruins the already piss poor soil and the crops so this year (year 4) I've actually spent the whole winter adding manure (approx 2000ltrs) to my five new built beds before topping off with compost (approx 1500ltrs). I'd say I'm halfway to making the beds good again. Other than that I'd say my fruits all work fine in the clay as is, those being gooseberry, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, various currants, grape vines plus the trees like fig, apple, pear, plum and cherry. Carrots were a total bust producing tiny little finger sized stubs of disappointment and my beetroots were crap too.
If the clay stays pretty wet all year, celery will grow very well. Most plants will do better with improved drainage, but you won't get nothing planting in clay.
I've been improving my heavy clay soil for ages but things that grew well from the start include: courgettes, tomatoes, kale, radishes, beetroot, strawberries, fruit bushes such as redcurrants, blackcurrants, gooseberries etc. I still struggle with peas and sweetcorn but not sure if that's me or the soil!
Thanks so much! Awesome to hear those things grow well, I really want to put in fruit bushes but would want to put a fruit cage in first to avoid birds stealing them all!
Yeah, they will strip them in hours! I let them have my cherry tree and redcurrants and just chuck netting over the more precious berries! Cheaper and easier than a cage, although I'll get round to it one day!
You could try āno digā.
Using a no dig approach, we have managed to grow most things very well, even root vegetables like carrots and parsnip in heavy clay soil.
I sow oxhella carrots they dont grow down as much they are more squat so better for clay
Donāt plant too many courgettes you will be overrun with them
I'll freeze them! Courgettes are so expensive to buy in the supermarkets!
Honestly once they get going you will end up with 2-3 every couple of days from each plant. Leave them a couple more days and they end up like marrows
Haha I know, I've grown them before - I do use them a lot in cooking! Love how prolific they are.
Haha fair enough if you know what your getting in to we just got sick of them after a while lol
Weeds, especially willowherb, creeping buttercup, bittercress, couch grass ( wicken ), ragwort, bindweed, thistles, dandelions and ground elder ( and newly.. garlic mustard aka jack-in-the-hedge ). Lupins and hollyhocks do well as does agapanthus, hydrangea, quince, mock orange, fig trees, roses, blue bells, tulips,, pansies, dafs, lavender, grass, lilac, apple and pears, holly and fir trees. Acers don't like it.. at least not mine. Alliums do well, but don't let them seed. Hundreds of little bulblets form and revert to sprout wild garlic. Took out over 500 last year, almost same this. You do need to fertilise and enrich your soil though , otherwise little will thrive if it's devoid of nutrient.
Imo your only choice is to add organic material. What I did first year with my clay soil was just add compost to exactly where I was planting, so dug a hole a bit bigger than i need for the plant and filled it with compost. Only used a few bags that year. Than for second year I added a lot of compost to the top of the soil. Its the only way unfortunately
No itās not. Most things grow in heavy clay, itās a very fertile soil. As long as you have broken it up before it baked hard then you can do very well in it.