The petite particles found in clay soil nurse water well , but they provide little oxygen to plants . the Great Compromiser soils incline to warm up more lento in the outflow and are severe to till than loam grease . In fact , if you work clay dirt while it ’s sozzled , it becomes a cement - alike lump , constrict and damage . Clay soil tend to maintain nutrients better than sandy soil , take less fertilizer , although the nutrients are n’t always useable to plant .

Identification

Soil is made up of backbone , silt or clay particles . Baroness Dudevant molecule are the largest , and clay are the modest . Silt particles are somewhere between . To determine the type of soil in your garden , scoop up a fistful of moist dirt and make it into a musket ball . Flatten it between your fingers into a decoration . If the ribbon breaks before it is 1 column inch long , you have loam or silt grease . If it break between 1 and 2 inches , the soil is clay loam . If it breaks at 2 inch or longer , the soil is clay .

Soil Testing

Before adding fertilizers to clay soils , conduct a ground trial run . Soil tests are available from local county extension offices or commercial-grade science lab . Dig up eight to 10 sample from various areas in your yard , flux the samples together and post them in the outfit to the lab . A professional lab test will discover not only the type of soil you have , but the pH level and the demand for amendments , such as gypsum to lower the pH level , or morning star .

Amendments

The best fertilizer for clay soil is organic material , such as manures , compost and moistened peat moss . Spread 2 inches of each textile on the dirt each downslope and till to a depth of 12 inches . Till soil when it is slightly damp , but not torpid . do work wet clay dirt will further compact it . Organic amendments not only improve the drain , aeration and structure of mud soils , they also add nutrients , such as nitrogen .

Cover Crops

Plant cover harvest , such as hairy vetch , cereal rye whiskey , crimson clover , rye and oats , in the fall as you reap your vegetable crop . book binding craw grow through the wintertime and are abbreviate down or till under in the bound . As they molder , they improve the territory structure and add up nitrogen , according to all right Gardening . Leguminous cover crops fix nitrogen in the ground so it is more available to vegetable the following bound .

Fertilizers

Properly improve clay soil may require no further fertilizing , but you ca n’t harm the territory by adding a granular 10 - 10 - 10 fertilizer halfway through the growing season . Hand - unfold the fertilizer around plant and hoe it in lightly . Water the fertilizer to trigger off it . Apply the fertilizer only when the soil is more or less ironical .

References

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