The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: Frank and Jake on May 02, 2012, 12:54:49 pm
-
My garden soiul is mostly heavy clay. I heard that treating with gypsum is good but I cant find a supplier in Ireland. Does anyone know where I can get a supply. Anyone got anyother ideas for improving nthe soil??
Frank and Jake
-
I am on heavy clay too. I have been digging in loads of pretty much anything over the last ten years and it is much better than it used to be, but still has quite a pan to it in some areas. I guess at some stage I will just have to dig deeper! Leaf mould, compost, lawn clippings, sawdust, ash - asI said pretty much anything! In my veg area, I grew potatoes in solid yellow clay (my deeds say I may not make bricks! :D) and they really break it up like nothing else. In other areas, I have just grown fruit trees which seem to like it! The lawn I have aerated, sanded and topped up when it cracks in the dry summers with lawn soil, but it still floods every time we have heavy rain. It's a battle but definitely surmountable long term. Don't know anything about gypsum, but am nowoff to find out! Good luck!
-
Thanks for that Greenerlife. If you find out anything about gypsum let me know
-
I sympathise with you and offer you my solution I've used for my blue coal mine clay See what your builders merchants have in the way of old out of date gypsum plaster , find out the company name and contact thenm to find the gypsum content .
I have used four bags of Thistle finish on my front and back lawn areas ,, it helped crumb the clay nicely , pervious to using it last winter I incorporated several tonnes of well rotted strawed stable muck and horse muck with wood pulp beddings.quare metre and rototilled in ,then tilled four more times while drying out and then treated again wwith thistle and again four times rototilled .
The Thistle was put on at the rate of 10 ounces per square metre on each dressing session .
Gypsum does not change the pH of the soil much where as lime does.
Old plaster board is now a recycled commodity , it is ground up and sold at extortionate prices to farmers for just the purpose you want it for.
My lawns were sown on the first of April and has their first cuts on 10 May a week after rolling it in three different ways to compact it and take out any small humps etc.
-
My solution is raised beds
-
and mine. break the pan of clay up a foot deep and build your beds on top.
-
Lime will break down clay in time.
-
Lime will break down clay in time.
Kind of true .... it helps form crumbs , with the lime soaking up the glutenous content out of the wet clay .
Lime gets dissolved by rain & , it washes out fairly quickly and it will lead to chlorosiss of lime if you use too much .
Gypsum does not give the chlorosiss problem and like lime can also be used to adjust the pH .