# Clay into soil



## Cincinnati guy (Mar 6, 2018)

What's the quickest way to turn clay soil into good soil? I have a large flowerbed that's mainly clay and think the plants would grow better if the clay soil was good rich soil.


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

Dig it up 2 ft deep and mix in compost and gypsum


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## Cincinnati guy (Mar 6, 2018)

What about the plants I already have in the ground? Can I go around them or should they need dug up and replanted?


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

Cincinnati guy said:


> What about the plants I already have in the ground? Can I go around them or should they need dug up and replanted?


Depends. You can damage the root systems and the plants recover fine for some things, but you definitely have to be cautious and dig around main roots. It can be done. But if a plant isn't a particular favorite of yours, then pull it up and start over.

That being said, you can grow plants just fine in clay soil and you can amend the soil over time instead of all at once. Point being don't do the work just so you can say I have good soil. That's nothing but waste. You can amend with compost over time by digging up portions and laying compost based mulch ever year.


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## Miggity (Apr 25, 2018)

Quick won't happen without a lot of work and expense and you will kill your beneficial soil biology already in place. I agree with @Ecks from Tex's suggestion of compost based mulch added every year. What I have done the past three years is to mulch with 8" of well shredded (multiple passes with a lawn mower and then bagging) autumn leaves. It is consumed by worms, etc. and incorporated into the clay by them and is completely gone sometime in August. Local lawn mowing services are happy to dump trailer loads of fall leaves on my lawn for free as it saves them dumping fees. I wait until the grass has nearly stopped growing and they are in fall cleanup mode to avoid turf herbicides and pesticides in the mix, so this is still at least a month away for you in Cincinnati.

As far as looks go, it is the best I have found and I would do it even if it added no soil benefit. Weeds are minimal and pull out easily. Hardwood mulch was taken out last fall in favor of leaf mulch and if the river rock wasn't such a pain to remove it would be replaced as well just because it is easier to plant desirables and pull weeds in leaves rather than rocks.


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## N LA Hacker (Aug 17, 2018)

Clay is rich soil, by the way. The structure of clay causes it to hold on to the nutrients tighter.


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## Noclssgt (Apr 6, 2018)

honestly, when I did my raised garden bed the soil wasn't very deep and I used a lot of the soil in the ground. To soften up the clay, I put some regular play sand in there along with peat moss, garden soil, manure, etc.
the sand helped break up the clay and make it not stick as much. I used a tiller to get it all mixed up.
I've added stuff every year since then, but the garden bed grows some awesome plants. My MIL buys plants the same time we do from the same place and our plants grow 3x the size and produce vegetables way before hers.


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## TheTurfTamer (Aug 8, 2018)

I would also add Black Kow Manure . I use it on my grass as well as my garden.


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## LawnSolo (Jul 17, 2018)

Aawickham78 said:


> I would also add Black Kow Manure . I use it on my grass as well as my garden.


This ^


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