Improving heavy soil

farawaytoo, Oct 21, 11:28am
Our new garden has a heavy soil . what can I do to improve it. I had similar soil in another place I lived and we put loads of compost from Mitre 10 etc on it, and general fertilizerand it improved the texture but I think it made it too acidy or something as our vege garden was not a success. so please any suggestions !

loadmaster2, Oct 21, 11:40am
Compost, peastraw and plant some potatoes as you always end up with good soil after having spuds in the ground

tonijo, Oct 21, 12:00pm
lots of gypsum

flier3, Oct 21, 12:05pm
Agree - lots of gypsum, plus compost - good luck!

wendalls, Oct 22, 7:00pm
How long does gypsum take to break down clay! I have a retained wall with nothing in it and i would love to grow veges there if i could improve the soil.It is behind a shed but gets a fair bit of sun. Could i plant some sort of crop to later dig in! Or just gypsum. it is currently weedmatted and barked.

lythande1, Oct 23, 5:39am
Just keep adding compost. If it's too acid, (check with a soil PH kit), then add lime, Dolomite lime is best.

mrfxit, Oct 23, 7:14am
Good grief ppl, the start of improving soils THAT BAD, is pretty simple,
Dig in pretty much ANYTHING that will rot, keep turning it once a week for a month, leave it for a month & THEN get it tested (IF you must test it).

Sorted a few gardens over the years & thats all I have ever done.
Kitchen scraps/ garden rubbish (Oddly enough, known asa comprehensive compost mix)

tonijo, Oct 23, 2:47pm
I had horrible clay soil at a previous house.Dug it over, threw HEAPS of gypsum on, watered it in lightly.Wait 2-3 weeks and do it again.Did that through winter, mixed in HEAPS of compost and planted in spring.

wendalls, Oct 27, 5:15pm
Ok thanks. i will have to dump some of the clay somewhere tho as there wont be room to dig anything in.