New yard, clay soil under established sod- advice?

[jenn]

Leaving my 16 year project- where 50% of the hundreds of things I planted made it, and about 1/4 of those are now in bloom! Moving from 3 to 1/3 acre and even with a smaller house on that small a lot it takes up a lot of the yard. And the yard- native or maybe the top soil stripped off in construction- under the grass is thick sticky clay, with low wet spots every rain. Clay soil gardeners, what shall I do? Raised beds? Till deeply?

To complicate things there is a rainbird system in. Haven't even turned it on to see where the heads are and so far- removing hollies from the foundation plantings- have found one conduit for the electric lines to it, I guess. Seller not too helpful so haven't yet asked for guidance on the rainbird- thinking I may never use it so dig away and who cares if I break it (and since it costs extra on water bill, maybe turn off that account).

Advice please?

[mogal]

Missouri has a program where a homeowner can have someone with fancy tools to come locate lines--water, electrical, gas--and that would be my first step so you don't have to redo your hard work later if you put beds in the wrong place.

Second, I think it's funny that every soil issue I see except for large rocks as in southern MO is remedied by adding compost or OM. Got sandy soil? Amend with compost for its nutrient and water retaining qualities. Got clay soil? Amend with compost for its ability to break up clay particles, hold water and provide nutrients. I think that will take some time and a lot of material to accomplish in a flat garden so I would defer to your idea to go with raised beds or even largish containers where you could build the type of soil you need now.

Good luck.

[Jolly]

Raised beds.

I've been really impressed with what LauraZone5 has done with her raised beds on a town lot.

[jenn]

I always got plain lumber and built from that when I was younger but now money is more available than back, and pulling out all those woodscrews over the years as the boards rotted got old, so I'll get Greene fencing (the compost bin kits, to save a few$) to make the beds like I did last place. Maybe even make a few compost bins since the fence will rot if I use it as a backstop for leaf piles. Just gotta source and price the filler before I decide how many raised beds to build, oh and give DH a few square feet in the yard for boat trailers and kayaks MAYBE. There's a garage, just sayin'. Everyone talks about tilling, no thank you, guess I'll research those lasagna beds again sometime. But maybe I'll try planting soil busting crops like radishes? Oats? I'll see what local garden experts advise.

[Maura]

Plant deep rooted things. The deep roots will break up the clay, then die and add organic material. If you have 8" of top soil that will do you. It is what we have. If you only have an inch or two, it will be tough. However, clay soil has minerals, which is something positive.

Make paths where you want to go because that clay will hold onto water like a robin with a worm. Put down straw to walk on and keep adding as needed.

I would have raised beds, at least to start. Even a lasagne bed needs some soil to start with. Say, 4 Inches over the grass. Begin vermiculture- composting worms- to turn all of your garbage into soil. You can also plant in containers to start with- to have control over your garden while you are working up your soil. I would plant potatoes the easy way, set potato on grass, over with soil, continue to cover as it grows. The potatoes will bring up minerals, so use a potato meant to do that, like the blue or purple kind.