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20 Comments
Sound works now!
Don't worry works fine sound is great even less wind today!
Need gypsum?! I own a drywall company and will gladly sell you all my scrap board! 😂
Have you ever tried a broad fork? I love mine!
Sound is good on my end now
LUKE-Do you have trouble with voles?
Great points Luke! I have been converting my clay soil over the last years. I am always so shocked to see the number of worms working thru the hard clay. Its full of minerals. I dig a hole put clumps in a bucket of water and make a slurry, fill hole with compost/potting mix then pour the slurry over. Helps with water retention too.
I instinctively had done nearly the same to my six 4'x12'x12" beds about two weeks before seeing this video. I'm relieved hear you say I didn't harm my soil by doing this. I had noticed my beds were not as fluffy, and a bit compacted and had to do something about it. I took a shovel and dug out about 8" deep across the entire bed, broke it up, mixed in peat moss, manure, azomite, bone meal, & fertilizer. Then worked it in with my hands as if I was making a food recipe {wearing a mask, dusty} it was a workout. I smoothed the soil then planted, adding a tiny bit more fertilizer to each planting hole.
P.S. I learned something new today about adding 'Gypsum' to help aid in breaking up compacted soil, as always thank you!
I live in a city and recently received a plot in my community garden. After clearing the plot of the mess of a jungle that the previous gardener left, I found a garden bed so neglected, people thought I had paved over the soil! 😂 Through a lot of sweat and mumbled curses, I tilled and amended the topsoil with compost and coco coir. Now I have a beautiful nascent garden with rich soft soil that actually retains moisture and nutrients. Love this video and hope it helps others understand the importance of proper gardening soil.
I used the Charles Dowding no-dig method on clay soil that was under decorative rocks for 20+ years, and it worked great. It was so compacted, jumping on a shovel did nothing, and water just pooled on top. Just added a 3 inch layer of compost and planted tomatoes. A couple years later, the soil is so soft, black and fertile. The tomatoes even grew perfectly fine the first year.
Terrific that u did this video – I redid my sons yard from weeds to flowers – I needed to no what to do from scratch from clay to flower soil ..we took away all weeds ..thanks
Oh my goodness Luke. You always hit the nail on the head of what I need to do. I have a raised bed with compacted soil, even though I added compost recently. It rained a lot and I was wondering why it is so compacted already after adding compost. I am just going to dig it up with my rake a little like you just did. Thank you for always giving us great tips! I've been gardening all my life and you are my adult children's age, but there is always more to learn about gardening.
I used to have compacted clay soil until I started making compost and amending the top of the beds every year. That helped keep the soil moist and the worms and life moved in. Now the moles have tunneled EVERYWHERE eating the worms and I actually have to walk on the beds a bit to compress the tunnels or water just runs down the tunnels and goes sideways. Too much aeration! 😏💚
Planted a bunch of the migardener seed this last weekend. I'm excited!
Plant okra in that bed. It has very strong big roots that can break up tough soil. The roots are like a fast growing tree that can grow even in tough hard Alabama clay. You can pull them at the end of the season and it help break up the ground or cut off the tops and leaves the roots to breakdown.
We live in Clay county Minnesota. Guess why it is called Clay county. We purchased a new build home so our soil was top soil and clay but we attempted a 6×21 foot in-ground garden that first year and had success. We reasoned the garden would grow or not, be just had to try. Now three years later, that bed has beautiful soil and we added two more in-ground beds this year for our squashes.
Is it wrong to till your garden every year. I've been doing that for 40 years.
Thank you Luke many Australian viewers will find this useful, especially here in coastal South Australia where there is a lot of silty clay soils 🤩
PS personally I find leaf mould helps a lot in breaking down the clay.
I needed this video. Every year, the Chip Drop runs over the bed next to the driveway because the truck can't fit otherwise. Then a lot of the woodchips get dumped on top of the bed as well, so the soil gets very compacted as a result. I have plenty of leaf compost nearby, so it looks like I have some tilling to do.