Help my plants just wont grow

[ris03]

I have a small narrow flower bed in my back garden and the soli is very clay based. I have put a skimming of compost on top but no matter what lovely plant I plant they die. any advice? should I did all clay out and start again with compost

[rainbowgardener]

Welcome to the Forum! To start with, it always helps to tell us where you are located. There are hardly any garden questions that can be discussed without regard to location/ climate. And then it would help to know what kind of plants you are talking about. You put this in the vegetable gardening forum, but then you said it is a flower bed. So, flowers? veggies? any particular kind you are interested in growing?

But NO, don't dig the clay out, unless you are willing to dig the whole bed out at least two feet deep. If you dig say 6" of clay out, in the process of your shovel going down the side of the hole, it smooths the clay out and compacts it. You end up with something like a bathtub. The dirt you put in there will just fill with water and everything will drown.

But a "skimming" of compost on top isn't likely to make much difference either. You have at least three choices: 1) work patiently on amending your clay soil a bit at a time for the next few years, until you have finally created a bed of decent soil ; 2) put some sides on the bed, say 8-12" inches high, making it a box and then fill the box with good loose enriched topsoil, at which point the clay under there won't matter so much; or 3) do a little bit of amending / enriching and then make sure you are planting things that like clay soil (yes there are some). Is your flower (?) bed in sun, part sun, shade? You also have to make sure the things you are planting like the conditions of your bed. Each plant variety has its own requirements of how much sun, how much water, soil type and fertility, soil pH. If you provide that, they will be healthy and thriving and require very little care. The farther away you get from their optimum conditions, the less they will thrive and the more prone they will be to pests/ diseases and the more care they will need, until finally you get to conditions they can't tolerate and they die. You need to know your soil pH (acidity). You can buy a pH meter or you can send a soil sample to your local ag extension to be tested.

So if you tell us which option you want to try and we will give you more specifics on exactly how to do it.

Asters, goldenrod, black-eyed susan, daylilies, yarrow, ironweed, baptisia (false indigo), coreopsis, purple coneflower, heliopsis (false sunflower), gayfeather (liatiris) , bee balm, sedum, milkweed/ butterfly weed are all tough, hardy, mostly native, perennial flowers that are not picky about soil types and will handle pretty dense clay. They have the added benefit of being attractive to honeybees, butterflies, beneficial insects.

[GardeningCook]

I have a small narrow flower bed in my back garden and the soli is very clay based. I have put a skimming of compost on top but no matter what lovely plant I plant they die. any advice? should I did all clay out and start again with compost

Just a "skimming of compost" won't cut it. Our soil here is 100% clay, & nothing grows unless heavily amended/worked in with organic material. Clay soils are frequently nutrient-rich, so no need to dig it out. What you need to do is dig it up to a foot or two & then work in looser organic material with it - compost, etc. No need to really overthink it.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, when amending your clay, you want inches of compost/ organic materials worked in.

[HonoluluGirl]

I have heavy clay soil, and raised rows work well for me. I tilled the clay soil (when it was dry) to break it up. Never till clay when wet. Then I mixed a lot of compost in. Then I mounded the soil into raised rows (similar to raised beds, but without the walls). This has worked well for me. When harvesting, I walk between the raised rows, so the rows are not being compacted. Also when it rains a lot, the raised rows don't get flooded.

[imafan26]

I have heavy red dirt clay. It has taken years of adding compost to get it nice and workable. But things did grow in it before, it just required a lot of digging, fertilizer and water management. It also helps to choose the right plants. Clay is not nutrient rich but it can hold on to nutrients especially if you add compost ( like 4-6 inches of it) to increase the CEC.

Unfortunately when people first plant anything they just clear the soil and plant the seeds and water. If the soil has some nutrients in it, and your plants are not heavy feeders it can work, but water isn't always enough and sometimes too much water isn't that good either.

[jal_ut]

Clay soils will grow some good plants. One must be careful to never work clay when it is too wet. If you do, you just
get hard clumps that won't break down all season. I would add a little sand and some compost to the bed and dig it in, down about 8 inches deep with a digging fork. When you transplant plants into the bed, always water them right after planting. This helps to bring the soil in around and in good contact with the roots.

[imafan26]

When you plant make sure you plant the same level as the soil in the pot of a quarter of an inch higher. Only tomatoes like to be planted deeper.

[Gary350]

cover your soil with 6" of peat moss then till it in.

[gumbo2176]

OK, this new member posts on the morning of the 15th, gets 8 replies starting on the 15 and up to the 24th to address his/her problem and doesn't respond once. Am I missing something here???

I'm not saying we have to have an ongoing chat like a chat room, but to acknowledge help and advice from members who take the time to respond would be nice--------or am I just being too picky???

[GardeningCook]

While there could be many legitimate reasons why the OP hasn't replied, it's an unfortunate fact that this sort of behavior is extremely common on BB's everywhere.

[rainbowgardener]

OK, this new member posts on the morning of the 15th, gets 8 replies starting on the 15 and up to the 24th to address his/her problem and doesn't respond once. Am I missing something here???

I'm not saying we have to have an ongoing chat like a chat room, but to acknowledge help and advice from members who take the time to respond would be nice--------or am I just being too picky???

I always think it would be nice if they did and is a bit rude never even to come back and acknowledge the responses, but it happens ALL The time. Some big proportion of the people who sign up, post once and never come back. It is especially irritating when they make a long post, ask a whole bunch of questions. Then I spend a bunch of time answering/ explaining, only to have them never come back. Perennial problem. I'm trying to train myself only to give brief responses, until the person has come back at least once.

[GardeningCook]

I agree. I used to go whole hog doing all sorts of research for people, & then I thought "WHY am I doing all this book & online research that the OP could & SHOULD be doing themselves???". Felt like I had "Sucker" branded on me. Now, while I'm more than willing to help obviously interested parties, folks who just stop in here for basic info easily accessible elsewhere with just a little bit of personal work that they obviously haven't even remotely tried to do, I send them in the self-research direction.

[applestar]

It helps to remember that even if the OP wasn't interested in our replies, others may cone along with same or similar question and derive benefit from what we posted.