Washed out soil
Living in the north we haven't had the standing water that has plagued some southern counties but have still had an enormous amount of rain. Could anyone tell me if I need to add anything to the soil, will any nutrients have been washed out? We garden on clay soil. Thanks.
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for once clay is your saviour. It holds onto nutrients very well, even after rain. It's the lighter sandier soils which suffer from " leaching" usually.
We're in London and have clay too. Plus enormous amounts of rain (though nothing like what these poor people in flooded areas have had).
As far as I know, clay is pretty fertile, but is normally plagued from poor drainage.
My garden is teaching eons to dry...
All I plan to do is rake in some good mulch once Spring is here, turn over soil a bit once spring bulbs have done their thing and add some manure to the roses.
You should be alright just doing that, I reckon.
lilly, have you ever done a soil test in your garden to test for PH values? The kit is pretty cheap, I feel it is worth doing in several areas.
When I first did my garden I had to get a digger in to level it, so ended up with top soil buried 2' down and heavy sticky Fenland clay on top. The soil test came out very alkali, but flowers and veg survive well, I have raised beds largely made from own compost, bought growing medium and sharp sand and of course horse manure.
If you are worried about soil nutrition for veg especially I would gently fork in some chicken manure pellets once the soil is dry enough to be treated.
lilly, there's no such thing as a stupid question, so ask away - that's what these forums are all about