Planting shrubs in clay

[PositronicRay]

Some largish shrubs, top soil is pretty sloppy clay. Once down 30cm it's getting v wet, scooping out rather than digging, the constancy and colour of diarrhea.

Should I put sand and or rubble in the bottom? Or just plant as normal with compost?

[Wagonwheel555]

Some plants actually like clay, it really depends on what they are.

We have fairly heavy clay in our garden so I tend to dig down about a foot or so and mix in about 30% sharp sand or grit to the clay, works fine for us and most plants do fairly well.

Either that or if you are struggling to grow stuff, build some raised beds or planters.

[OriginalFDM]

We’ve got clay soil and our shrubs do well. We have Laurel, Euonymous, Nandina, Choisya, Cornish and Ceanothus and have all thrived with very little knowledge on our part of what we’re doing!

[PositronicRay]

Thanks chaps.

It's just the drainage I was querying, I know it's been wet recently but I don't want the roots waterlogged.

I'll dig in some sand 1st then plant normally in compost.

[dhutch]

We have just started gardening more, and Mum bought us 'What Plant Where' which we have found good.

https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/RH...

Sorts things by soil type, if they like shade, sun, damp, free draining, etc. Always easier to work with what you have not against.


Daniel

[Nick_MSM]

Does depend on what you're planting, yew for example would die in boggy ground but a lot of shrubs will be fine. Mix some organic matter and mulch around them once a year if you can - will help massively. I'd use some coarse grit when planting and fork the bottom of the hole to aid drainage.

[8-P]

Lots of plants and shrubs are fine on clay. Improve the soil with some compost before hand.

[PositronicRay]

It's not going too well at the moment.

One half of the garden is OK the other a bit of a mare, same level. Dig down 30cm, hole starts filling with water, smash up the limestone, hoik out the rock, dig some more slop out, smash some more rock, and on it goes.

Bale out the hole, and they just fill up again.

Am I best avoiding planting this area, until the ground is less saturated?

[Wilts_jeff]

The RHS have some good advice and recommendations for planting in wetter areas,

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=303

If this area is always wet would it be possible to build some raised beds?

Cheers

Jeff

[dhutch]

Is the whole area clay from the of, or is this perhaps a new garden where the developers have scalped the top soil of? Might Explain when some area is better than others?

If it is the case the the top soil has been removed, it may be that you need to replace it, which might involve removing some of the clay to start with.

A more clay soil is one thing, but what you are describing sounds more like sub-soil than anything else!


Daniel

[PositronicRay]

Wilts_jeff said:

The RHS have some good advice and recommendations for planting in wetter areas,

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=303

If this area is always wet would it be possible to build some raised beds?

Cheers

Jeff

Ahh thanks, good link.

I suspect it may be super compacted. We've moved some sheds, and a concrete base. I might leave it a week or two and see what happens.

[Wagonwheel555]

Dig a one foot hole and fill it up with water.
See how long it takes to drain.
This will tell you how much of an issue you have.

If you want a nice planted garden, you need to either select plants which do well in clay, i.e. their roots are fine smashing through the clay soil or dig down fairly far and mix in some grit and compost.

In our garden, I tend to dig down about a foot and mix in about 50% compost to break up the clay.

I have managed to grow quite a few things successfully in the ground and for things which struggled, I just built a few raised beds.