| Clay soils are stiff, wet,
heavy
and usually "cold." For garden purposes, until properly transformed,
they
hold too much water, are difficult to handle, and they are "late." You
don't have to be discouraged by clay soils. By proper treatment it may
be brought into excellent condition for growing vegetables, and will
produce
some sorts better than any warm, light, "garden" soil.
The
most important thing
to do with the clay soil garden, is to have it thoroughly drained.
Because
of the small amount of ground usually required for a home garden it
should
not brake up the budget.
The
first way to improve
clay soil is to use draining system. This will entail no great expense
and it will increase the productivity of your garden at least 50 to 90
per cent. Such an increase, as you can see, will pay a very handsome
annual
dividend on the cost of draining. Moreover, the draining system,
if properly put in, will practically never need renewal.
The
second way to improve
clay soils is by using coarse vegetable manures, large quantities of
stable,
manures, ashes, chips, sawdust, sand, or any similar materials, which
will
tend to break up and lighten the soil mechanically. Lime and land
plaster
are also valuable, as they cause chemical changes which tend to break
up
clayey soils.
The
third thing to do in
treating a garden of heavy soil is to plow, ridging up as much as
possible,
in the fall, thus leaving the soil exposed to the pulverizing
influences
of weather and frost. Usually it will not need replowing in the spring.
If not plowed until the spring, care should be taken not to plow until
it has dried out sufficiently to crumble from the plow, instead of
making
a wet, pasty furrow.
The
good thing about clay
soil is that it will not let any plant food go to waste. It will hold
manures
and fertilizers incorporated with it longer than any other soil.
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