[SueG]

May i ask for some advise please?

I am a first time veggie gardener, previously i just bought flower plugs, planted and hoped for the best.

My soil is heavy clay and so gets water logged. To overcome this i made a large border, dug down about a foot, laid plastic bags and filled over the top with compost.

This has worked well for a couple of years but now i want to expand the borders and make 3 raised veg plots about 3/4 foot deep. My question is, after removing the plastic sheeting do i have to dig over the earth including a layer of clay, or can i just fill the raised beds with additional compost then plant. I will be planting root veg, salads and herbs.

Any advice will be greatly received

Thanks Sue

[blackbob]

May i ask for some advise please?

I am a first time veggie gardener, previously i just bought flower plugs, planted and hoped for the best.

My soil is heavy clay and so gets water logged. To overcome this i made a large border, dug down about a foot, laid plastic bags and filled over the top with compost.

This has worked well for a couple of years but now i want to expand the borders and make 3 raised veg plots about 3/4 foot deep. My question is, after removing the plastic sheeting do i have to dig over the earth including a layer of clay, or can i just fill the raised beds with additional compost then plant. I will be planting root veg, salads and herbs.

Any advice will be greatly received

Thanks Sue

i'd leave the clay where it is, and concentrate on building up a good fertile soil above it.

[SueG]

Phew! thanks Bob, thats just what i wanted to hear

May i ask another
I have compost, top soil and loads of well rotted horse manure to go in the raised beds.

Should i put equal amounts of each in and then mix. If so, once done, can i then plant straight away or do i have to leave it a while?

Thanks

Sue

[penance]

I would get the plastic out, it will act as a pan layer.
Dig over clay adding grit much compost etc, then build up ontop of that.

[griff]

My answer would be dig over the clay then add a good layer of sharp sand then your compost

[mumofstig]

I'd have to agree......ibut,f you can't face actually digging it could you at least get the fork into the clay and wiggle it about a bit, to loosen it up. Anything to stop it being a layer that stops water and roots from growing downwards.

[griff]

You can use one of my clay forks if you wish

[fastmonkey85]

Hi

I have raise beds and firstly I dug down in my clay soil to losen it up and then added about a foot of ell rotted compost into it. I cropped the bed that yeear and then added another layer of mulch to it. Overe the years you end up with a deep no digging system that works well for me

Hope it helps