Garden Soil Help.

[riptides]

Markv,

Paulk's last response was very informative, I would stay away from the sheetrock and go visit your local HD for it instead.

With a manufactured product, you really never know what your getting into in the long run.

Some co-ops may carry it too, pretty inexpensive.....

Good Luck.
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[fractal]

I think it boils down to ... which do you have ... time or money.

If you have more money than time, you can have the old dirt removed, a drainage system installed and fresh fertile topsoil brought in.

Ok, so you aren't bill gates. A more cost effective solution is to ammend the soil you currently have. First you must decide if raising the level of the garden a few inches is going to be a problem. If so, you have to remove some of the dirt. Most of us don't mind it being higher so just start ammending.

All of the previous posts have been good. You can buy bags of amendments at the box store, but that gets expensive fast. One dollar for a 1 cu ft bag of compost works out to 27 bucks a yard. You can buy precomposted wood and organic compost by the truck load from many suppliers. Prices in the 18-35/yd delivered are typical. 2-3 inches on top of the garden then turned in will do wonders.

I am not a fan of adding sand to clay. I feel that you wind up with sandy clay. Organics are the key to breaking down clay.

I have had mixed feelings about drywall. It sure is cheap if you let it be known that you take drywall scraps. You will soon get more than you need. A layer of drywall on the garden while the wood chips mixed with grass composts will get you going pretty good in about a years time. Yes, the wood chips will ... what's the word ... absorb nitrogen ... as they compost, but this nitrogen will be available later in the cycle.

The one thing I do think needs to be said. Don't worry if you don't get it right within 48 hours. Turning raw clay into rich fertile soil can take years, and any mistakes you make at the beginning can usually be corrected. That is, with the possible exception of adding sand which would be a real pain to remove. I would suggest you do your own research and make up your own mind about whether you want to add sand or not.

 

[MarkV]

Great advice and I thank everyone for the help. The wife and I laid out an area we are going work into a garden this year. It is about 30x50 and is most likely much more than we need but hey, we finally have some room so why not. We orientated the plot in a North to South direction for the best sunlight and will be able to get a water line to the area. As soon as we are able we will bring in as much organic compost material as we can afford and till it in lightly. The plan this year will be to plant about a 1/3 of it and add a cover crop to the rest. We will see what happens and get the soil amendment process started.

This area is presently in grass, doormat at this time of year, do I need to wait for it to start greening up and kill it off with Round-up? We were encouraged when we dug a couple of test pits and found some decent looking topsoil for about 8" before the heavy clay started. That is not the case in most areas of the property. Some old tomato cages in the woods make us think there may have been a garden in this area years ago so we might have a little head start.

Due to all the great advice I think I can see a little bit of a green tint coming through on my black thumb. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I'll keep you posted as we get going.

MarkV

 

[fivestring]

<font color="red">"How about sheetrock scraps as a source for gypsum." </font>

Short answer: NO.

To add to my reply of 1/3 organic....
Make most of that peat.
It's the best for our clay soil.

My dad has grown show roses for 40 years. That's his soil recipe. He has won many, many shows from roses grown in his soil, both in Hotlanta and in Charlotte.

 

[Molerj]

No need to kill the grass with round up. In the spring when things are dry enough, till it up. Do that several times & it should be good. I use grass clippings in the garden to hold down the weeds. I usually start putting the clippings down a few weeks after I plant. Before that, I run the tiller thru the rows while the plants are taking hold to keep the soil loose & weed free. Good luck.

 

[bebster]

Your grass is a fine cover crop and by tilling it under you'll add a source of nutrients to the soil.

 

[MarkV]

Thanks all, the grass will stay.

MarkV

 

[SPIKER]

Just a quick responce:

drywall board does work well if for garden, but you need to either chop it up right away when it is still hard (it breaks up pretty wel then) or let it set for a year. Once it gets wet it does not till up very good. I tilled in about 4 truck loads this past year into my clay garden... the first batch I left set as I had mower on tractor. later after 3 days and a slight rain on the first day I tilled it up, the drywall didn't break up very well at all. the next loads I tilled soon after dropping off and it did a great job and broke up into very small parts and tilled in nicely. using my 3 pt tiller.

I later used the nice scrap strips to lay between the rows for walking on and simply left it to rot and it will be tilled in this year.

my brother is a drywall hanger/finisher has own buisness so I can get as much of it as I want fro free. (and or even work scrapping out houses for $)

gypsum does help it by ambending the soil it actually bonds 2 clay monicules together to form a sand like molicule. that is for every gypsum molocule that is.

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[jmf7112001]

Mark V several years ago I move from the city to the country and didn't know very much about gardening. Several people told me to go take a Master Gardner course at the local extension center. Its the best 10 weeks I every spent. I even got to know more about gardening than my mother-in-law. But what you really need to know before you start adding all those suggestion to you soil, "What do I have now"? In Alabama we can go to the extension center and get a little box and get samples of the soil and send to Auburn university Soil Lab. They will come back and tells use what to add to the soil. All for just $8.00.

 

[RalphVa]

I'm sitting through my second MG class as coach. Took my own class 3 years ago.

Soil samples are checked here for $7, another $3 if you want organic content in addition to pH and minerals. Southern States does samples for $10. You only have to take the soil into them in a plastic bag, no shipping to Blacksburg.

Ralph