Backstory: My wife and I purchased this house in Jan 2019. At the time, we knew she wanted to put a garden in this spot in the front, (3.5' x 12') so we had them NOT fill in with topsoil. I knew I'd have to break up and take out a lot of the rocks that were used to create the sidewalk and porch. Now, we come to my wife choosing plants. (Yes, a long time, we've been saving money)
To the Issue: My wife wants to put in Roses and other perennials. Her knowledge of them tells us that they need a good deep root system. When I dig down I find a clay like support that I am concerned with being good enough for her roses to get a nice deep root system. I'm also concerned with keeping enough rock under the sidewalk and porch so as not to cause issues later.
Ok, so how to do this? I'm thinking I can dig down the middle and take out all the rocks leaving a slope of rock to support the sidewalk and porch. Next comes what to fill it with. In my rural area, I can get bags of Topsoil, but that won't be enough nutrition for the roses, so I'd consider adding in Scott's Topsoil conditioner or a landscape soil as both ad additive to all the topsoil and a base for the roses to 'find' above the clay. Would this be a good way to do this? Again, budgetary constraints but am interested in getting these roses in the ground soon, so they can send down roots for the fall.
I would check with local nurseries (not big box home centers) for good quality topsoil. One yard will be plenty for that area and still leave you some left over.
How many hours of direct sun does this area get each day ? Why not dig down a foot or more with a post hole digger or shovel and see exactly ....what you are dealing with. Clay soil has lot of minerals that roses like.
Depending on the soil you likely could just lighten it up (clay soil is heavy/dense) with some compost. Often cities have free compost at yard waste drop-off sites.
Starting a new (our first) small veg garden.here in the Willamette valley in western Oregon. I did a little excavation with shovels and a mattock to discover the soil where we are intending to build the garden is clay based and very heavy but is full of earthworms. According to the OSU extension office this isn't an entirely bad thing as, according to them, compacted clay holds fan more nutrients than sandy or silt soils. Okay fine, and I understand that the conventional method to loosen up clay soils may take a few years. My better half wants to get started growing tomatoes and radishes soon, but I think my only option for this season would be to dump a load of garden soil into the bed to get away from the clay. I have just begun root growth in a seed terrarium today. Our soil temp is now approaching 50* F in both the terrarium and outside. I'm hip about blending in gypsum to clay and I have only a pitchfork to do so as I don't want to till up this small 4x8 plot. Any insights to accomplish loosening up this clay by other means?
Hi Everyone,
I'm pretty new to gardening.. and I can't tell when the seed is ready to be moved to it's final pot. I heard that you're supposed to wait for its two "real" seeds, and i did that with my butter lettuce and they're dying.
05-12-21, 10:29 AM
