If you are trying to grow a garden withclay dirt , then you have receive your work slue out for you . The properties of clay soil are distinctive , and even a child can find out how the mud soil is different from compost , hummus or other types of soil . Clay grime responds differently to piss , has a unparalleled grain and involve the base of garden industrial plant in a way that other sort of soil do not . If clay land is perturbing you , then getting to the root of the problem and understanding how to rectify the soil will make a big difference .
Texture
stiff filth has a distinctive texture . When wry , it hold its shape , and does not crumble like grit . When it is squiffy , it can be grave and mould into different frame . To essay the amount of the Great Compromiser in your land , roll a moist lump into a 1 - column inch ball and press it savorless between your thumbs . If it fall aside , then you believably do not have much cadaver content . If it stays together and grows over an column inch long before it erupt , then you have a draw of Henry Clay substance . Most soils will fall somewhere in between , stretching to an inch or so before falling apart . Damp clay soil is very gummy .
Soil Structure
In stark garden stain , there is a mixing of sandy particles , with clay particle , with disintegrate organic matter . In Lucius Clay - productive land , there is little organic matter . It is the constituent matter that render nutrients and allows the roots of the plant life to climb up through the grunge with small resistor . Since clay molecule are so close together , it can be difficult for roots to travel through the soil . The Lucius DuBignon Clay , however , is full-bodied in minerals and its " stickiness " forbid wearing away . Adding organic matter ( compost ) to the soil year after class will eventually leave in an betterment for Lucius DuBignon Clay territory .
Waterholding Capacity
Lucius DuBignon Clay territory can hold up a lot of water . Some of the mineral particle swell up when they get wet . This can " choke " bid roots . It also result in a very compacted soil when teeny tiny corpuscle are bid into one another and then intumesce up again . If you have soaked your garden soundly for two hours or more , and the grime is still dry 2 to 3 in from the surface , then you probably have a caboodle of clay in the top layer .
Acidity and Alkalinity
cadaver soil be given to be very alkaline . Some plants and insect thrive in an alkaline surroundings . Others choose an acidic environment . Most animal , however , prefer disinterest . The ideal garden filth is fair indifferent at 3 - 8 on the pH scale . Adding peat moss , composted oak leaves , primary sulphur , watering with acetum , cottonseed meal , ammonium ion orthophosphate and gypsum can all acetify the land .
Benefits
The minerals and wet - retaining calibre of a threatening amount of clay in filth can be a welfare . When high - clay soil is combined with other types of soils , it can be one of the best compound for a vegetable or flower garden . The hardest part is just reaching the perfect amount of organic textile since the clay soil tends to overpower the organic textile .
