[JayG]

My soil is very light and sandy; great for drainage but terrible for retaining nutrients. I know that adding compost is good for improving all soils but it is hard to make enough of it and even that washes away over winter in my plot.

Has anyone tried adding clay (powdered?) to improve the structure and moisture retention of such soils? It's something which would seem to be a fairly obvious idea but I have never seen clay being sold in any shape or form in garden centres as a soil improver.

[Brambles]

I am by no means an expert and not a very experienced gardener... But if it were my plot, my instincts tell me to get a LARGE LOAD of manure and lay it over the site.  The manure would be full of worms (hopefully) and they would pull all the manure down into the sandy soil.
Maybe do this annually, digging in compost whenever you have some available.
I would be very interested to know if this is the right thing to do....  I have never heard of anyone selling clay to help the soil.

[Pompey Spud]

Over winter green manure to add humus?

Lots of posts on this subject in the past plus look at the info part on the site.

[JayG]

Thanks for your replies; I don't seem to have successfully made the point that no matter how or how much organic matter is added to sandy soil it is still basically sandy soil which will lose its humus and nutrient content quickly.

Googling "loam", (which of course is what we all would like) defines it as an approximately equal mixture of sand, silt (clay) and humus. This is why I was wondering whether adding clay as well as humus would permanently improve the structure of the soil.

[gillie]

Maybe, but where are you going to get your clay from?

Most of the best gardens are made on fairly poor sandy soil.  Count your blessings!

Gillie

[Salmo]

Marling used to be done by farmers years ago. They would have a marl pit where they dug out clay to spread on to sandy soils to improve them.

An old saying that applies to your soil  "needs a shower of rain every day and a shower of sh** on a Sunday".

Keep piling on the muck and compost. Grow green manure to take up nutrients and release them again as they break down.

[zazen999]

If you really want clay; find out the location of your local soils testing laboratory - all county councils used to have them.....they dispose of tonnes of the stuff every year and a quiet word might get you a few wheelbarrows full.

[tode]

I've got a sandy/stony part of the patch, and this Spring dug in Grass cuttings, compost, and added a few wheelbarrows of mud from pond. Seems to have helped: the beans love it. Don't know where you are, but if its possible to get some, thats a solution. Full of fish poo as well.

[PAULW]

When I took my plot on it was absolutely gutless it was like digging talcum powder over three years I have collected tons of manure and spread over the plot in the winter with composted leaves this is then dug in in the spring, the spuds and onions are covered with a mulch of straw which is then after harvesting is dug into the ground and the cycle starts again, the depth of soil has increased and it also hods the moisture much better, lots of work and effort but well worth it.

[Aidy]

I have been growing on sandy soil for years, never been a problem for me, loads of muck in spring and during the winter months I let the chickweed grow on the bare beds to help lock the goodness in, dig it in around Jan ready for the muck end of Feb. I cannot see the point of adding clay. As an after thought while typing, you could do what we do for our brassicas, we have clubroot so I dig a hole, lime around the edges and fill with compost for the transplantees, you could mix your clay in the compost when you transplant rather than the whole bed.

[Abund. Edible Landscapes]

I think most of yal are crazy. In Florida organic matter washes through in a couple seasons.  Nitrogen and potassium generally wash through faster.  We added ballpark clay to one of our clients gardens and my partners garden and the only gardens I've seen in healthier shape was near a very large bat house.  Aim for 20% clay, but any clay is better than no clay.

[Yorkie]

I think most of yal are crazy. In Florida organic matter washes through in a couple seasons.  Nitrogen and potassium generally wash through faster.  We added ballpark clay to one of our clients gardens and my partners garden and the only gardens I've seen in healthier shape was near a very large bat house.  Aim for 20% clay, but any clay is better than no clay.

Nice way to start your first post on these forums, AEL, by insulting the long-standing members who have already posted   

Is ballpark clay an American term, I've never heard of it here in the UK?

Feel free to pop back into the Welcome forum and tell us about yourself  .

[JayG]

Thank you all for your contributions; I know that worms are good for the soil but I seem to have opened a whole can of them! 

I started with the idea that if sand + humus + clay = good loam then I should be able to permanently improve my sandy soil by adding clay. I was also aware that nobody seems to actually do this these days, and that sourcing suitable clay was likely to be quite difficult.

As Salmo pointed out (marling) and also AEL in a quite forthright fashion  it clearly used to be or can be done; think I will try a small-scale experiment when I can find some suitable material to see what happens. Will keep you posted!

[tode]

ps JayG: whether or not you add clayish material, would definitely get as much compost/strawy matter in as you can. Good luck anyway.

[pushrod]

Carting in barrow loads of clay will not improve the nutrient levels in your soil. Although it may well reduce the rate at which nutrients are leached out.
However, incorporating organic matter will improve nutrient levels and
improve moisture retention.
What most people fail to appreciate is the huge amounts of material that are needed to significantly change the nature of your soil.