soaking ground

we have moved and the garden is clay and soaking wet we want to start planting in the spring but wondered if there were any plants that would help to dry the ground out or if you have any suggestions.

 

Hello pheebs and welcome.
There is very little you can do in the winter when the weather is as wet as it has been this last few weeks. I would not attempt to dig as you can damage the soil structure.
However, in the Spring dig in as much organic material as you can and add grit if it is a smallish area.
Sometimes with heavy clay a hard layer of ground or 'pan' can form below the top layer. If you find this is the case it is best to try and break it up with double digging, ie. two spits (the length of the spade blade) deep. It will help the ground to drain and you should need to do this only once.
All plants take moisture from the ground, but very little during winter time when they are dormant.
Good luck.

 

Stay off wet clay - you will only make it worse. I'm waterlogged and 6 inches under.

 

I am on clay all over my ground and at the moment it looks more like a paddy field

 

Me too - although previous owners spent much time digging in organic matter so am fortunate cos that and reasonable drainage (its sloping, help. I dig in as much rog stuff as I can whenever I plant something too. Nice and rich for plants though

 

Completely agree with all the above - I'm on clay too. Getting compost and anything else to open it up a bit and help drainage is the first step, once the soil has dried out a lot.

If you have a reasonable sized garden and are thinking of trees, then a small willow would help. Willows are particularly good at taking water from the soil.

The other thing that strikes me, is that if you have any area that seems to stay boggy, despite all yourbest efforts - make a virtue out of necessity, and designate it a boggy area, plant up accordingly, and have a wildlife garden! :D

(That's what we did!)

 

The only thing I would add to the above - is if you have an area you can get at without standing on it too much - then twould be worth turning it with a spade - i.e. put spade in, lever back and turn the clod over. The frosts we are certain to get in the next month or so, will break it down. Then in the spring you'll find it easier to dig in organic matter.

I too garden on clay, both this garden and the one before - know it well - and wouldn't change it.

 

oooooh - clay - shudder!!!!! We are sitting on at least 14 feet deep - long story........
Don't walk on it when wet as that compacts it. Dig in lots of grit (pea shingle would do) and organic matter - so make loads of compost. And if all else fails - several tons of concrete and lots of pots!!!!!

 

I have clay soil and its quite wet at the moment but at least its not really waterlogged like it seems that some of your poor gardens are. I am counting myself very fortunate!

 

Clay is great for roses and holds nutrients well. The down side is that it doesn't drain freely and water logged clay in winter becomes cracked concrete in summer. The answer is to keep off it when it is wet and put plenty of organic compost on when you can. Some people dig it and expose the lumps of clay and that is essential on a new plot. For a more mature clay soil, I prefer not to dig but to apply thick organic mulches of leaves, garden compost and stable manure. Digging wet clay is ruinous to the soil and to your back!

 

fortunately for us Hornbeam we do not have clay more crumbly soil.Clay is 3-4' below as we learned that when we dug our pond out. in fact we had to get a mini digger to get the clay out.horrible stuff.

 

thank you very much for all your comments..
p x

 

A big empty lorry with trailer ... a JCB.....and 20 odd ton of topsoil with grit etc!!!!!!!!

 

Hi Pheebs I can only agree with the advice of the others. I would say, if you starting from scratch, it is a wonderful opportunity to improve the soil first. When I started from nothing about 4 years ago I put a ton of 10mil gravel and a ton of sharp sand (both from a builder's merchant) plus lots of organic matter onto a very small garden. I had lived in the house for some time before and the clay ground was waterlogged in winter and solid in summer. The treatment has made a world of differance. It drains much better in winter and in a hot summer I can dig a hole for a plant with my bare hands - no more solid clay.

I would be inclined to do nothing till the weather is a bit better. Then improve the soil - you won't get a better opportunity than at the start. There is nothing to stop you growing lots of plants in pots in the meantime.

 

Well said, Peter! We did exactly the same, minus the builders' merchants input though. We dug over the grass and weeds we had as the only growing stuff in the entire garden, brought in load after load of "soil improver" from the local recycling depot (formerly known as the cowp), loads of mushroom compost and as much sand as we could carry in the little Corsa ....... And pronged holes in the grass we wanted to keep, and used a corkscrew-style post hole digger to get past stubborn bits, with the result that the grass hasn't been squelchy this winter, despite all this heavy rain.

So there you go, Pheebs - 2 people with experience of your situation - bith saying the same thing - sort the soil out first, howver tempting it is to get planting! And if you get too desperate, plant containers of all sorts instead! (You can always put them in the ground afterwards..... :rolleyes: )