Garden Full Of Clay

[quizzkid]

Hello, recently moved and the garden is clay. It is really solid and sticky. Can I grow grass on this?

[Chipchopper]

It can be difficult to cultivate heavy clay, but it is usually rich in nutrients and is also moisture retentive.
Sow seed in the spring or lay turf, once the frosts have broken down the clay a little, making it easier to manage and work.

[Buenchico]

Grass will grow on almost any type of soil. However, for the best result on clay, you need to choose the variety of grass carefully
https://thegrasspeople.com/grass-seed-different-soil-types
and to spend time improving the soil by, for example, adding grit
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=620

If the soil gets compacted down, you'll need to watch out for waterlogging
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=620

[Atheist]

Chip and Buen; would a dressing of lime help break down the clay?

[Buenchico]

^^^ Oops! Wrong link!

My last link should have been this one:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=204

[Buenchico]

Lime might improve the pH of the soil (if it's needed), Atheist, but it will do little, if anything, to improve its consistency.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=144

[Atheist]

I thought it had an impact on the 'sticky together' tendency of clay particles.

[quizzkid]

Thank you all for your help.

[woofgang]

Is the house new or newish? it sounds to me as though the topsoil wasn't replaced post build. I garden on heavy clay and sadly the only thing that I have found to work is adding organic matter in huge amounts. If you want a lawn quickly then dig in (or get someone to do it for you!) as much grit as you can afford then level and top off with decent topsoil then seed or lay your turf.

[woofgang]

PS I spent a fortune on Clay Breaker this stuff, might as well not have bothered Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[lady-janine]

Can I suggest you take up pottery as a hobby?

[Chipchopper]

Clay is usually on the acidic side, so adding lime may make it more alkaline and closer to neutral (6.5), at least for a while, but I agree, it would do little to alter the soil structure long term.
Clods of clay can be broken down to a finer tilth after the frost has had an impact on it, making better conditions for grass to grow.

[Palustris]

Sorry to disagree with some people, but adding lime to a clay soil does have an effect If, that is, you add the right amount as the right time. It causes the small flat particles of clay to stick together to make bigger particles (flocculation). This makes the clay more manageable.
The soil here is an acid clay and adding lime in the Vegetable patch has had a dramatic effect on the friableness of the soil. There are plenty of articles in various Journals which support the use of lime on clay.

[woofgang]

lady janine, when we moved here 30 years ago, you actually could make pots from the earth! The house was only a year old then and the estate had been built on open fields. A while later when we had the garden redone, the guys doing it dug up loads of rubbish including a whole steering system from a car. I wish I had taken a photo. I suspect that the topsoil had been skimmed off and sold, it was common at the time.

[quizzkid]

Hello Wolfgang, yes you are right it is a new build. The garden was full of rubble and huge clods if clay and nails all over the place. I could make pots out of this stuff. Been digging this week but it is hard work.

[Bazile]

//Hello Wolfgang, yes you are right it is a new build. The garden was full of rubble and huge clods if clay and nails all over the place//

Funny you should mention that .
Our house was built in the forties -some where round that time .

We recently had a couple of walls built in the back garden

You should see the amount of rubbish that was unearthed when the excavation was dug for the footings .

It appears that
when they built the houses ,they just buried the rubbish from the building works in the back garden

[woofgang]

Yup, you need topsoil quizzkid.

[satprof]

Many years ago, faced with the same heavy clay problem, my local allotment society suggested using Gypsum. It worked a treat, without heavy digging. I levelled the clay as best I could in the autumn and spread a thin layer of gypsum over the whole area.

By the spring, what with the winter frosts and the gypsum, there was sufficient tilth to sow grass seed. The resulting lawn was adequate rather than luxurious but covered the ground which was what was needed.

[woofgang]

satprof that is why I said topsoil. You can change subsoil into topsoil, I have done it, but its a long arduous process. Oh quizzkid, what is your drainage like? You might want to think about adding in french drains and a soakaway if there is any kind of problem.

[ubasses]

When we moved into a new house, we hired a small rotavator for a day which made turning the clay over a cinch. Then dug in compost/ manure (easy to obtain in the countryside). Covered with topsoil and laid turf, no waiting for seeds to grow with the problem of keeping the birds from eating them.

[quizzkid]

Thank you everyone got some good ideas now what to do. Sorry woofgang it keeps coming up Wolfgang but hope I have stopped that now.