Breaking up very hard dirt clods.

[zoedog2012]

I'm just curious why you want all that clay in your backyard lawn? That almost borders on being too much of a good thing. You might want to re-think it while it's still in a pile.

Not that it's useless. In fact, I wish I had a pile of clay like that stashed somewhere out of the way but close enough to go get & mix with our native soil - which is an unfortunate sandy, decomposed granite that erodes & will not compact. Adding about 10% clay changes our basic sand and gravel into a dandy roadbase material that stays put when properly compacted.

Mr. Scotty, bring me a load of your soil and I will load you up with as much clean clay fill you want. I need the mix!

 

[DJ54]

It's a learning experience, from the ground up. Make it easy on yourself.

 

[nikerret]

We got over three inches of rain. I have a heck of a mud pile. It will be interesting to see what it looks like, when it dries out.

 

[RancherGuy]

We got over three inches of rain. I have a heck of a mud pile. It will be interesting to see what it looks like, when it dries out.

I endorse the tiller idea - with completely dry clay. I have completely removed the back gate on mine. Moving slowly, skim the top on the first pass, then a little deeper, then a little more.

I don't know what a reverse tiller is vs not-reverse. Mine spins in a way to try to move the tractor forward. Forward tilling for chopping, then when soil is finely ground up, reverse direction and carefully control the height to create a very flat area - better than what FEL can do.

 

[Aussiekioti]

Google what good quality soil is composed of? You will probably be after loam or sandy loam.....try to work out the percentages you have of each..... perhaps 150-200mm below surface X length and width will give you your "sand" volume. The clay on top you have to estimate as probably similar 150mm-200mm depth X area....which if so would mean you have 50% sand, 50% clay, if you mixed it all in with a rotary hoe. The third main ingredient missing from above equation is organic matter....so now add the above volume of organic matter (fine compost/mulch/manure)... If that happened, you would end up with about 33% of each....but you probably want less than 20% clay and about 50% sand.....so you have to work out what you can do/add/remove to get closer to this percentage. It can be an effort, but rewarding in the end. As for how to deal with the clay. You should buy some bulk gypsum (a white powder, look it up) and it chemically breaks apart the clay. Apply, wait for some rain or water in and you will find it will work in well, especially if you also adding compost and manure....do you have a tractor? Before using a hand rotary hoe I just went up and down with a ripper mixing all the ingredients down into the soil. Good luck, the project is not as mad as it sounds (to some) Cheers from Australia!

 

[Jstpssng]

If he can't cut it with the bucket or BH, I don't think I would want my tiller going into it.

 

[nyone]

Why nor just do a rough grading then drive all over the chunks to break them up?

 

[nikerret]

Why nor just do a rough grading then drive all over the chunks to break them up?

Most if it is going around my house, to fix drainage. Plus, my tractor isn’t heavy enough to crush them. At least, it wasn’t. We got over three inches of rain, two nights ago, and another few inches, last night. I’m expecting them to be a bit softer, now.