How to till clay soil?

[Bryce Thomas]

I am starting a garden that is pure clay soil, as is all soil here in AZ. I am tilling horse poop into it so it has organic matter, then I wont till again because I believe in no-till gardens. The only issue is that the clay soil is rock hard after half an inch and the garden is 1 and a half feet deep. All I have to till with is a metal rake and im tilling in horse poop for organic matter and lots of twigs and crushed up leaves for drainage. Any ideas??

 

[TwoCrows]

We have quite a bit of clay soil here in New Mexico as well and yes its rock hard! You need to add 6 to 8 inches of organic material like grass clippings, dried leaves, compost. I added purchased top soil as well to my garden, even wood stove ashes. I threw everything in there. Till it in well, my garden produced SO well after improving it.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

A hope and a prayer


My property is all clay once you get past the top soil. When I was setting up the gardens, apart from one plant that never was able to break out of the peat pod, they all ended up dying when I added then directly to untouched soil. It just doesn't allow their roots to grow.

The rest of my plants that survived were either in totes I filled with bought gardening soil or in sections that I mixed bought gardening soil in with the clay, keeping the native soil less than ⅓ of the total amount and well mixed

 

[getaclue]

I'm no expert by any means, but in your situation, I'd recommend raised beds. It's not just that the clay turns to rock when it's dry, but it also has a tendency of turning somewhat mushy if it stays wet for any length of time. Yes, with some sand, soil, and serious tilling, the existing clay soil can be conformed, but in the long run, it's easier to do raised beds.

 

[DLA]

I have pretty heavy clay soil. If you don't have a powered tiller then get a shovel and work in organic material and after a few years the soil should be a little better, maybe use raised beds till then. Just a rake probably isn't going to do much. I wouldn't recommend adding too much sand cause that will just make concrete but a little mixed with other organic stuff should be ok.

 

[Awaytome]

It sounds like you've hit caliche, which is essentially a layer of calcium and magnesium carbonate cement. It could be a very thick layer. AZ soils are highly alkaline anyway. I'd grow in raised beds.

 

[Bryce Thomas]

UPDATE: I should have mention that this garden is a raised bed, but 1.5 feet raised. Its just full of clay soil since that's the cheapest soil that companies sell out here. I used a shovel to till and while it will be a long process, i'm definitely getting much more progress with the shovel than a rake

 

[Sally PB]

Look up hugelkultur. Can you post a picture of your raised bed?

The only thing I can recommend is LOTS of organic matter. As someone said, don't add sand, you'll just make cement.

If you can build another raised bed, start with lots of organic matter, and logs (see the hugelkultur idea) are a great base to work with. Wood chips, leaves, kitchen waste, and of course, chicken or other maure. Put in shovelfuls of your clay in layers with the other stuff.

Pay some attention to your pH too, and amend for that as necessary.

Good luck!

 

[azurbanclucker]

UPDATE: I should have mention that this garden is a raised bed, but 1.5 feet raised. Its just full of clay soil since that's the cheapest soil that companies sell out here. I used a shovel to till and while it will be a long process, i'm definitely getting much more progress with the shovel than a rake

You're going to want to amend that clay with some more sandy substrate like playground sand mixed with manure/potting soil. The clay will hold in too much moisture if you don't break it up, and you'll end up with root rot and kill everything off. Some clay as a percentage, good. Mostly clay, bad.

Source: Mesa. Lived in AZ my whole life.

 

[RoyalChick]

Heavy clay soil here too. Red and rock hard when dry. Slippery as ice when wet.
Lots and lots of organic matter as others have said.
Hugelkultur as @Sally PB said (though you may not have the depth without some heavy digging).
One other lazy approach and it takes time. Sow some cover crops like clover - they will break up the soil a bit. Then take your chickens on a field trip and pen them into your bed for a few hours. They will enjoy the clover and work the organic matter into the soil and leave some nice fertilizer as they work.
They aren’t as fast as motorized assistance, but they are very effective.