Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jan 06, 2015 12:48 pm Hi All , Hope everyone had a good new year I just wanted some advice on the very hard clay soil that I have at my new house. I get the keys in about 2 weeks and the area I need landscape even tho it is small its very very very hard. I have read the guides in the stick and also youtube a few videos and it seems like I will have to break down the clay with a rotary hoe and re soil the area. I would like some advice on what I can do make this process smoother and if anyone has dealt with this hard clay. Thanks Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: clay soil 2Jan 06, 2015 1:10 pm Depending on how big the area is, my was a 12m x 2m wide area, I tried the pick axe and it was not as effective the posthole digger. The rotary hoe will be good for a larger area. I used gypsum and organic soil to condition the clay soil. http://boostaoakfordsa.wordpress.com Site works: 26/8/14 Trench: 2/9/14 Slab: 8/9/14 Frame: 18/9/14 Bricks: 24/10/14 2nd fix: 24/11/14 Handover: End Feb 2015 Re: clay soil 3Jan 06, 2015 1:21 pm boosta Depending on how big the area is, my was a 12m x 2m wide area, I tried the pick axe and it was not as effective the posthole digger. The rotary hoe will be good for a larger area. I used gypsum and organic soil to condition the clay soil. I have 12 x2 meters and 1 meter on both sides of the house then got like a 6x3 area I think I will go with the rotary hoe cause hand digging that sort of area will be torture clay soil 4Jan 06, 2015 3:16 pm Couple of options depending on your budget. 1. Break up the clay with whatever you have - crow bar, mattock, shovel, ripper on a small machine. Add gypsum then layer on top a sandy loam/loam soil containing compost. Aim for 200mm of loam top soil. It might mean raising the garden bed heights etc. 2. Escavate and 200mm of the existing clay and repeat above without raising soil height. Need a skip or two. 3. Rip break up clay, add gypsum and compost and mix with a rotary hoe to create a new 200mm min of "top soil". Re: clay soil 6Jan 06, 2015 8:13 pm Yep you do, also a lab soil test to determine nutrient levels & ph levels, along with a bolus and ribbon test to determine texture if you are doing it by the book.. Without seeing the clay firsthand there is a very high probability it has been scalped down, during the build, to the lower soil horizons which typically reactive to gypsum. Re: clay soil 7Jan 07, 2015 7:01 am We built new and did the soil dispersion test on our clay soil. We found we didn't need to add gypsum. Probably goes to show our builder didn't do much excavating! But it also meant we didn't need to spend money on gypsum. I don't know about getting your soil lab-tested but it seems pointless adding something that isn't needed and the soil dispersion test isn't difficult to do yourself. Re: clay soil 8Jan 07, 2015 9:18 am Yep lucky you builders make a mess of the soil. Lab tests are a great, I do them on most jobs they are cost effective now. No point correcting soil structure if for example, the ph is alkiline from the building waste (cement/concrete) contaimination.. Especially if you want to grow productive plants such as fruit trees or a nice lawn. Correct you are that it could be pointless adding gypsum, without a dispersion test. I made the wrong assumption the poster was from western melb where the soils are typically gypsum reactive. For the op; http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets ... ersion.pdf Re: clay soil 9Jan 07, 2015 1:19 pm Thanks a lot for your replies guys.... where can I get the soil test I am located in the south west of sydney. Also my plans was to rotary hoe the garden to dig up the clay and then to mix some compost with the initial clay to improve the soil. Would this be a good idea? Re: clay soil 10Jan 07, 2015 4:58 pm If you are referring to the simple soil dispersion test you can do yourself then this is it in a nutshell (taken from http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s131432.htm): EMERSON DISPERSION TEST: Drop a piece of dry soil aggregate, about 6mm across, into a glass of rainwater. Don't move the glass - just watch what happens to it after an hour and then after 24 hours. If it slowly disperses into the water, first forming a halo of clay particles around the aggregate, it will respond to the addition of gypsum to the soil. If it does nothing at all in the water, it would be a waste of time adding gypsum to the soil as it won't respond. The greater the cloudiness of the water and the more rapidly it develops, the greater will be the benefit of adding gypsum to the soil and the higher the amount needed. If you want the names of soil testing labs in NSW, you could try Mr Google. You can get your own PH testing kit from Green Harvest for about $30: http://greenharvest.com.au/tools/soil_t ... lpHTestKit Re: clay soil 11Jan 09, 2015 8:07 am Liliana If you are referring to the simple soil dispersion test you can do yourself then this is it in a nutshell (taken from http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s131432.htm): EMERSON DISPERSION TEST: Drop a piece of dry soil aggregate, about 6mm across, into a glass of rainwater. Don't move the glass - just watch what happens to it after an hour and then after 24 hours. If it slowly disperses into the water, first forming a halo of clay particles around the aggregate, it will respond to the addition of gypsum to the soil. If it does nothing at all in the water, it would be a waste of time adding gypsum to the soil as it won't respond. The greater the cloudiness of the water and the more rapidly it develops, the greater will be the benefit of adding gypsum to the soil and the higher the amount needed. If you want the names of soil testing labs in NSW, you could try Mr Google. You can get your own PH testing kit from Green Harvest for about $30: http://greenharvest.com.au/tools/soil_t ... lpHTestKit Ah thats some pretty awesome information thank you very much I shall be dropping clay in some glasses this weekend Re: clay soil 12Mar 07, 2015 11:42 am This is really helpful info/advice Can someone please also advise: Once you've developed a good garden base on your 'poor clay' soil by say adopting option 3 above (after the soil test) -- do you ever need to do it again? I imagine its just going to go back to what it was at some stage. And if so, you can't really go through all that again once you've planted out your garden -- especially if you have heavy clumpings of plants in storeys. So how do you keep guckie clay soil at bay good enough for a healthy, pretty garden? I've dug some footings to embed a post anchor into. My holes are around 450mm deep which I'll put a 200mm stirrup into. The bottom of these holes seem firm enough. … 0 3315 I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 13098 We were lucky in that our old house was so small (86 square metres) compared to the new house, they were able to take enough readings around the old backyard house before… 8 37142 |