How Do You Improve Clay Soil With Poor Drainage?
Clay soil presents a challenge for gardeners. It holds water, compacts, and cracks when it dries. Clay soil often is fertile, but plants may have a hard time accessing nutrients because the clay does not allow water to effectively reach the roots. Because water does not penetrate the soil well, only the strongest roots tend to grow deeply, and those usually are weeds. Improving clay soil with poor drainage requires work and a great deal of patience. Significant improvement may take years. Start a compost pile with leaves, grass clippings, weeds and kitchen scraps, which you’ll eventually till into your clay soil. Remove some of the clay soil with a shovel and wheelbarrow, and replace it with sand and lime, raking it into the clay for better drainage. Plant a cover crop for the first growing season, which could include alfalfa, clover, oats or winter rye. The roots of these plants will break up the clay soil. When the crop dies back, till it into the soil to add organic material. Till i
