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soil New Garden Soil Challenges

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wojobhut

An old play-set area has become my new garden*. Sun-wise it's perfectly positioned, slightly raised, but I'm wondering what 10 years of hardwood mulch has done to the soil. Tilth-wise it's incredible for about 4 inches till it hits the clay hell of new subdivision back fill. For the last two years I have added quantities of composted horse manure; any ideas what I may be lacking (or have too much of) due to the hardwood mulch? The ph = 6.7

* It was rather sad, cutting up the swingset and fort. Someone was getting older, and it felt most like me........
 
man a clay layer is a big problem
i would attempt to punch through it
and double dig at least down 18"
if you are fortunate you can find something below
that clay that will allow drainage
(northern illinois sounds like a cornfield to me)
i am from kalifornia and do not know your soil's particulars
{grandma lived in sycamore years ago}
 
My backyard is pretty dense clay soil and some liquid gypsum loosened it up enough to get the plants going a bit better. It's still not perfect but it's way better than the rocky mess that barely allowed a shovel to penetrate. Personally I'd recommend adding good soil and mixing it in deeply with the soil that's already present.
 
Unless it was cedar mulch, then i'd say it will do wonders to whatever soil mix you end up with. Keep all of the mulch, raise some of the clay from underneath and turn it all over so the mulch loosens the clay. Add powdered or liquid gypsum and it'll loosen the clay up even more. A cheap 40lb bag of powdered gypsum can be spread out pretty far and still be affective. I would also further amend it with composted manure. And when autumn comes you can stack a ton of leaf debris on it, let it sit there all winter, then turn the dirt over it in the springtime. Oak leaves take longer to break down so maybe use a little less of it, or chop it up somehow so it breaks down faster. Here's a recent thread where the benefits of mulch and leaves are discussed.

Of course you combine napalm's advice and swap out some of the clay soil with regular topsoil. This may be the best idea. Nitwit's idea about digging deep is a good one also in my opinion.

Personally i don't find clay soil that bad to work with since it can be amended so easily. I prefer it over sandy soils and it has a lot of good stuff in it for plants. I have seen some really really bad clay soils though, and could understand why some people would want to swap it out.
 
I had read somewhere that decomposing mulch robs the soil of nitrogen...does it ever give it back? Maybe one of those cheapie Home Depot soil test kits would tell. Anyone use those before?
 
wojobhut said:
I had read somewhere that decomposing mulch robs the soil of nitrogen...does it ever give it back?

Maybe one of those cheapie Home Depot soil test kits would tell. Anyone use those before?
Click to expand...
From what i understand, the nitrogen is tied up for a certain amount of time, and is then given back, i may be wrong. Adding some manure/compost every year ought to fix that easily though. The links in that discussion thread i posted earlier ought to explain mulch use a little bit better.

Not sure about the home depot test kits, what i would do is find out the brand name then google search it to see what others have to say.
 
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