Soil full of hard clay

tariq.signify

Hello.

beginner gardener here just looking to grow some bedding plans in my garden with this large wooden planter in the image below, but when i come to turn over the soil there just seems to be massive large clumps of clay i have tried to break it up like you see in the picture below but its hard and there is loads of it, would it just be okay for me to just cover it with top soil and dig my planter into this or would flowers struggle to grow through this? Any help much appreciated.

Thanks

Busy-Lizzie

Add lots of compost to it. Clay is usually quite fertile and it holds on to moisture. The compost will help lighten it and make it easier for plants to get their roots down. Several bags of ordinary multi purpose compost should do it and if you have any home made then so much the better.

bracken

As above  add loads of compost, sand and grit.

Greenbird

I've had two gardens with clay like that.

Work in manure, any type of compost, bark - and mulch often. 

tariq.signify

thanks for your help everyone I just carried on turing it over nad used loads of compost like suggested. Final result not too bad. thanks