It is super sticky when wet. The right of the dirt dry on top, the left got some rain. I was able to make 6-8” noodles with it when I made a thicker mixture of water and dirt, and check the comments for the bowl I made LOL. How do I help this soil to make it better for my rhubarb?
by marlee_dood
16 Comments
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My little pot made with dirt<3 it will be hard in a day or two
Have you tried a soil composition test? You’ll learn how much sand, silt, clay is in your soil and there’s a chart at the bottom of this link that helps you define the type of soil you have.
https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/soil-texture-analysis-the-jar-test/
The most recommended suggestion to amend soil and get it more balanced is add more organic materials. A heavy layer of garden compost is a start, followed by a couple inches on top every year.
nothing wrong with clay soil. id take clay soil any day over sandy soil where everything just runs right through it.
the answer is compost. add compost. then, add some more. when you’re done adding compost, you should also add even more compost.
Add organic matter. Compost, peat moss. It’ll take several years of amendments for it to reach what you will want.
Gypsum can break up that clay if you work it in
I feel your pain! Yes, add compost, but understand that it takes several YEARS to improve the soil. This is my 3rd year of trying to plant veggies, some of the more forgiving plants like squash do ok, but all the tomatoes I have planted don’t. When you have heavy clay soil, any water accumulates and eventually hardens like cement. So go very light with the water. You can also think about raised beds, growing in straw bales, containers or open bags.
Honestly I think you have a fine soil composition from a silt-clay-sand perspective but it is low in organic matter and completely unprotected. You need an organic mulch more than anything.
Can you actually dig into it deep enough to plant things far down? If so, you should be fine.
Raised beds do well in clay soil
The way we were taught in Uni. , was to put a handful that represents the soil in a jar, add water and shake until it dissolves. When it settles, you can discern the make up. Clay settles to the bottom, composted stuff floats. Everything else in between
Clay is good, most soil is good but clay is best. It has the best covalent exchange capacity.
You could try sheet mulching, a way of adding organic matter to the soil without digging or tilling
I had clay heavy soil. Red clay. I installed irrigation (had to use power tools to dig), doused my entire backyard with gallons upon gallons of humate, covered it all with a thick layer of finished? manure, then rolled on sod. Watered it profusely. Yearly I rake in black cow and spray more humate and overseed. Now 4 years later my grass looks great. Recently I decided to partition my yard for more garden space and dug up the grass. Once i got past the thatch and roots, I had good black, slightly clay-ish soil down at least 2 feet (didn’t need to dig deeper but could with a regular shovel)
In addition to heavy amounts of compost being suggested, also look into incorporating expanded shale, greensand, charged biochar (never used raw biochar), composed manure, and topping with a few inches of mulch. The more you can do, the happier your soil will be.
I have clay and I added compost each year and mulch and it worked wonders. The worms took care of it for me. When I added raised beds I was hoping the soil would get to the top because I worked on it for a while. I’d just add a bunch of compost spring and fall. I’d also leave the roots of plants to decompose too.
I have even more clay content than you and let me tell you my rhubarb is extremely, exceptionally happy 🤷🏻♀️.
I amended some other areas and have raised beds for a bunch of other veggies/flowers that couldn’t hack it, but I left the rhubarb in the clay because it is THRIVING ✨. About every other year I’ll throw some wood chips down around it, which over time has added some more organic material to the straight up clay, but…idk maybe you need to worry about this less than you think if you’re primarily focused on rhubarb.