Novice Gardening: Dealing with clay soil
Most of my gardening has been done in southeast Ohio. I grew up helping my parents in their huge vegetable garden in the back yard. They would pound stakes on each side and run string between them to mark a straight line. Then us kids would duck-walk the entire length, planting seed corn that left a pink residue on our hands that my mom made us wash off as soon as we were done. We would follow behind my dad as he dug holes for tomato starts, filling each hole with water before plopping in the plant and covering most of it with the recently tilled clay soil.
There were no stones in the soil, but the clay would form rock-hard clods that would suffice if the need arose to throw something at a sibling. Those same clods became a gluey mess when it rained, and would collect on boot bottoms until we were tottering around on “high heels” composed of multiple layers of goo. As a kid I didn't give it much thought; that was just what dirt was like.
As an adult I lived and gardened in New England for a while, in soils that were nearly the exact opposite. They were more grit and stone than soil, which made for good drainage in the wet climate, but also difficult digging. When I moved back to Ohio, I was happy to come home to the nearly pure clay that I was used to, despite the problems it presents for gardening.
Clay soil has a terrible reputation among gardeners, but I'd much rather deal with clay than any other soil. Unless you live in some soil Shangri-la, ( I don't know anyone who does) you're going to be dealing with something less than perfect. I prefer clay because it's what I'm used to, but also because it holds nutrients better than sandy or gritty soils, so more of the good stuff sticks around. I mean that literally— clay particles are small enough to have a chemical charge, and therefore important nutrients stick to it by chemical bonding, rather than washing away . This doesn't happen with sand and silt, the larger particles that also make up soil.
Though many die-hard tilling fans might not like this, I’m not going to mince words: To succeed with clay soil you must stop tilling. Though it seems to help at first, you're making more problems for yourself down the road by burning out organic matter, killing off beneficial critters, and creating a compacted sub-layer that hinders drainage. Bare tilled clay is a sea of mud in wet weather and an expanse of concrete clods in dry. My parents garden produced well for a while, but mostly because of luck and lots of child labor. Had my parents established permanent beds, and concentrated labor and resources into a reduced area, they most likely would have had equal or better harvests, even in a much smaller space . Luckily by the time I moved to the farm 21 years ago, I’d figured this out, did things differently.
I put down a layer of cardboard to kill weeds and covered my rich red clay with leaves and wood chips. I didn’t pile up raw material and hope to plant into it right away—that doesn't work, despite the pervasive belief that it does. I just started adding stuff on top, layering new material a little at a time as I acquired it. By not disturbing the soil, and keeping it covered, I began to build a magical layer where the clay and the unincorporated organic matter meet. Year by year this zone of rich dark matter has grown. It has taken time and work, but I now have an incredibly rich and productive spot. Had I spent those years tilling I would have a lifeless mineral expanse, a bare slate every spring, rather than the constantly evolving and improving site I now enjoy.
It is by stopping the yearly destruction of the soil by tilling, and making the long term commitment to building soil organic matter, that you turn clay into an asset. I have no need for chemical fertilizers. I don't spend money on gas or tiller repairs. I can plant as early as weather allows, because with a little preparation in fall, the beds are ready. It's a win-win-win situation. I hope readers have been inspired by my words and photos to give up tilling no matter what type of soil you have, because these benefits will accrue regardless. For my fellow clay soil gardeners, I guarantee you will grow to appreciate your soil as much as I do mine.
