Clay soil.

There might be another plot coming up on our site that I might have dibs on.  I’ve been tipped off though that it has very ‘clay’ soil.

Having just read some advice on the matter, I wouldn’t want to construct deep beds, as this, to me, defeats the object of working with the ground you’ve got - unless of course, there’s no other way around the problem.  I’ve heard gritty sand helps loosen the clay which is made of much finer granules and mixing compost in will be good for it.  Adding lime is also supposed to help raise the pH level of the soil.  Finally, horse manure is meant to be better for it than cow’s manure as well as it’s drier.

What I’d like to know is would there ever come a time when applying these techniques that the issue with the clay will go away, or would the problem present itself again if I were to stop adding lime and sand etc.  Sand, does not come cheap - unless you live near a beach I suppose.  I know spuds don’t like lime and I daresay there are other things that don’t, or that there are things that don’t grow well in clay soil.

If I weren’t to take the plot on, I’d go right to the bottom of the list and I’m trying to weigh up whether it’d be a good idea or not as I might not be able to take anything new on for a few years 

I'd always rather start with clay, as long as you are not at the bottom of a slope, so that it stays soaking wet
As Jay says clay is fertile soil and it holds water well, but it can be claggy without the addition of bulky manure and compost, and grit in places can help.
Winter digging is quite important IMO to improve the soil structure and drainage.

Put it this way............ I'd rather start with clay than I would sand 

The first year was especially hard work trying to do the first dig and adding some grit, but every year after digging in compost and manure, the soil really does improve the more I work with it as those clods gradually break down into smaller and smaller units over time and is now lovely.

Just a couple of things I've had to resort to and that is digging trenches and filling them compost (either fresh or from used growbags etc) and manure when planting potatoes, and then using the soil to cover.  It made it a lot easier when digging the crops up.  Beds where the clay was still pretty heavy but running out of time to dig over thoroughly - a planting hole filled with manure for courgettes and sweetcorn worked well.  When the crop is lifted, the beds seemed much easier to dig over.  I've gone for raised beds because my plot is at the bottom of a hill and prone to waterlogging especially during a wet season and over winter.  As there are permanent paths between beds, my boots don't collect as much clay as they used to (no need for special ankle weights with 5 lb clay weights stuck to the treads  )

Lime - I've not really used it except for brassica beds as I found some potato varieties are more prone to scab.

Our plot was solid clay with many many flints 18m ago.

Tip no 1: make paths while you can and cover these, as once the ground gets wet it turns into slippy slidy gunk

Tip no 2: Keep off the soil when it is very wet

Tip no 3: Everyone else has given you these, about sand, organic matter etc

18m later we have most beds with lovely friable soil, and safe dry paths underfoot throughout the plot too 

PS Still collecting stones though 

we are not far from the river so we have a clay soil although not as bad as we thought but it amuses me sometimes when i'm digging to find shells, not often, but they are there

its our first year and like others we both had 6inch heels on our wellies when leaving in winter and then as soon as the sun shines as dry and cracked as the bottom of a dried up river bed, kind of disheartening at times especially when you want to dig and it sticks to the fork or when dry, like digging through concrete!!

but we went for it and potatoes were huge ,for new pots, sweetcorn has grown along with most other things beans, cabbage, strawberries didn't do well but are still going, onions loved it, massive, peas didn't like it much, sprouts are hit and miss but just went for it

but when all is said and done need the insects, everything had compost chucked in when planted, watched the weather to plant and water and our plot has not been touched in 30 years. didn't have time to use manure although next door did and his soil is better than ours now.

good luck you can make that soil better with time, you sound like you know what your doing 

Thanks all, how many years have you been working it BabbyAnn?  Where did you get the grit?  Not sure how the trench thing works either?

This will be my 5th year.  The grit/sharp sand is from a builders yard - I did notice that I also introduced new weeds to my plot    Just remember that sand/grit has no nutrients so when you add it to the soil, you are diluting down the nutrient content of the soil - I definitely noticed the difference when I compared a bed with sand with a bed with no sand added and lesson learned to add the compost/manure or fertiliser as well.

The trench is about a spade depth down and about 18 inch wide (about 45 cm in new money) and filled with compost/manure and I used the soil to earth up (also acted like a good cap to keep moisture in during the dry spell).  I found that if I planted potatoes straight into the clay soil, it took me forever to find them again and if it was wet clay, my gloves would end up with sticky blobby clods on each finger    After clearing the potato crop, the compost and soil is already part mixed up from digging them up, and therefore easier to work the soil for the next crop.  Digging a trench also gave me the depth for root crops such as carrots and parsnips, whereas beds where I'd only turned the soil over was still claggy and the lumps affected their growth (and shape). 

Tip no 1: make paths while you can and cover these, as once the ground gets wet it turns into slippy slidy gunk

Yes - I agree with that.  Fabric weed suppressant unfortunately quickly rots as the clay stays wet, and plastic - lethal to walk on when wet with boots that have clods of clay stuck on the treads (but interesting arm flinging and waving to get your balance - certainly keeps you awake LOL)

Dont know if this helps, but apparently seaweed helps to break up clay soil.
Might be worth a day trip to the coast 

And therein lays another problem.  Gathering seaweed is not as simple as you might assume and is resricted by law.  This has beeen discussed at length on here.