What can I plant in a clay bed?
NewGardener2021
Posts: 8
Hi all!
There is a walled bed in my dad's garden, which he built some years back. He has no interest in gardening though, so all it does is grow weeds. I've decided I'd like to grow something meaningful in it, but I'm a very inexperienced gardener and need some help.
Unfortunately the soil is quite a heavy clay.
The garden is south-facing, and this bed is on the eastern fence. It gets a fair bit of sun during the day, and in the summer the soil can really dry out and go hard.
When there's a lot of rain, it gets waterlogged.
Is there anything I can do to improve the soil? I've read about turning it through and adding grit. Is that worth a try, or do you think I'm on a hiding to nothing trying to grow anything in a bed that seems to face such extremes in moisture?! Should I even dig everything out and put potting compost in?!
If it's worth a go, what plants would you expect to do well here?
They'll need to be low maintenance - I'm around at his a lot, but sometimes I'm not there for weeks at a time and he won't do anything other than water.
Thanks for any advice.
There is a walled bed in my dad's garden, which he built some years back. He has no interest in gardening though, so all it does is grow weeds. I've decided I'd like to grow something meaningful in it, but I'm a very inexperienced gardener and need some help.
Unfortunately the soil is quite a heavy clay.
The garden is south-facing, and this bed is on the eastern fence. It gets a fair bit of sun during the day, and in the summer the soil can really dry out and go hard.
When there's a lot of rain, it gets waterlogged.
Is there anything I can do to improve the soil? I've read about turning it through and adding grit. Is that worth a try, or do you think I'm on a hiding to nothing trying to grow anything in a bed that seems to face such extremes in moisture?! Should I even dig everything out and put potting compost in?!
If it's worth a go, what plants would you expect to do well here?
They'll need to be low maintenance - I'm around at his a lot, but sometimes I'm not there for weeks at a time and he won't do anything other than water.
Thanks for any advice.
0
Posts
No drainage holes, regrettably - all drainage is just down into the earth!
Clay is a brilliant growing medium, but unless it's amended to help with drainage in wet seasons, and moisture retention in dry ones [if you have them] it makes planting more difficult.
Grit is largely a waste of money, even in a small bed, unless you only want to grow plants which like very sharp drainage, and you have tons of it.
When you say 'on the eastern fence' do you mean the bed faces east, or the fence is on the eastern boundary? The latter would mean the bed faced west
So to give anything the best chance of growing here I need to dig lots of manure through it? What else can I add? Home-made compost? Straw? Bark chippings?
I've read the latter can take too long to break down.
Thanks for your advice!
Plenty of things will be happy enough there too - it's a question of deciding on whether you want shrubs or perennials etc. You can plant bulbs later, for spring, as well.
Your general climate is a factor though. If it's on the drier side, don't pick plants that will prefer lots of watering, and vice versa. There are lots of fairly easy plants though
I grow a lot of plants in my clay soil; so too does my sister who has more sun. Fuchsias, hydrangeas, viburnums, clematis, trachelospermum, Phormium, Daphne (not the rock garden ones but D. odorata, D. bholua), Agapanthus, hardy geraniums, hardy begonias, Crocosmia, Thalictrum, Doronicum, Rudbeckia all seem very happy there. Once you've established a perennial and shrub fabric it will require little weeding, and the mulch discourages weed seedlings to an extent as well. I never bothered digging mine deeply--instead I went only for plants that liked my conditions.