Customer Reviews

Gardening in Clay Soil: Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletin A-140 (Storey Publishing Bulletin)

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This small, easy to read pamphlet lays out the exact how to's and what not to do working with clay soil. Clay soil can be so frustrating to work with but with the help of this book I feel that I can be much more successful in improving my soil thereby enjoying greater success in my gardening.

I was not sure about these Storey County pamphlets, since they obviously enjoy a high profit margin despite their lower cost. But I haven't been able to reproduce this information on clay soils after looking in several longer texts.

This bulletin is pretty short, as all Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins are. If you are looking for a thorough, complete, exhaustive guide, glance at the page count for this booklet and move along.

That said, there's a lot of useful information in this book. It discusses the various soil amendments you can use to change the texture of your soil, including how they'll affect the soil pH and how often you'll need to re-apply them. (And yes, it does say that one option is to truck in a whole new layer of top soil, because it is one way to deal with the problem, but it also mentions how expensive that would be.) It also discusses when and how to work with the soil to avoid turning your yard into a giant brick.

One thing i didn't like, though, was the suggestion to grow things like mint in order to break up the soil. The author suggests that you can simply pull the mint out when you're ready to plant something else there, but in my experience, getting rid of mint is much harder than that.

Don't waste even the $4 for this pamphlet unless you are a complete idiot. Let's see - the best way to deal with clay soil is to cover it with over a foot of good quality top soil (at major expense). Gee - I never would have thought of that! I'm surprised that moving to an area with better soil wasn't a suggestion as well.