clay garden

[IndianaPaul]

Okay folks.....as I was leaving the house this morning I notice power company's contractor topping trees down the lane from me. I stopped and talked to the guy heading crew, checked out the size of the chips (pretty small stuff surprisingly) and asked him where he took it. He agreed to drop off 2-3 loads of the stuff as he would be working in area rest of week.

My question is: I see it is good to add organic matter into soil to break up clay.....I am wanting to begin working on some soil in pasture that I would like to begin using for food plots in a couple of years. It is not all clay, more 50-50. Have been planting rye, wheat etc....last couple of years and tilling in. My question is: Do I leave the chips piled up to naturally decompose (with assistance from hose and a few cans of beer) or should I spread some of this on the area and till in now, then again next spring. This stuff is all pretty green (mixed oak, poplar, some locust).

Suggestions?

IndianaPaul

 

[RJohnson]

DocHeb
The thing about ripping up the soil would be to improve drainage. If the clay soil has received a lot of traffic and is compacted then you might what to break it up. Realize that just breaking up the soil will not be a lasting improvement. Unless you turn over some organic material the soil will eventually compact hard again and eliminate air in the soil. All plants need oxygen in the root zone. Anything to improve the texture and drainage in the soil would be an improvement.

Randy

 

[RJohnson]

IndianaPaul
I hope you realize that fresh wood chips are a carbon source that will rob nitrogen from the soil. That is why you add beer (although I would rather drink mine /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif) to give the bacteria a nitrogen source along with a carbon source(wood chips). If you are not going to be planting anything on it for awhile then by all means spread it out and let it do it's thing naturally. If you want a nice green lawn or a garden then you should compost before use.

Randy

 

[njrqs]

Some folks here say don't dig up the clay, just leave it there and mound gardens over it.

Fiune if you have the $ to buy soil !!

We just plant into the clay and mulch with LOTS of hay. The hay breaks down and in no time the clay is turning into proper soil.

Organic matter will get into the clay eventually !!