Q: I have a yard that has hard clay soil. What is the cheapest solution to improve the soil?
We have just bought the property and haven’t the spare cash at present for the yard but it needs help. I also don’t water my plants because of the shortage and am lucky enough to have natives planted. Cheers. Tina – North Lakes/Mango Hill
A: The cheapest and easiest way to improve clay soils is to spread copious amounts of gypsum on the soil, and then to dig it in. It does take some months to ‘react’ and produce the required results.
Clay is composed of very fine particles which pack together very tightly and form a compact mass. Because the particles are so tiny there is very little air space between the particles. This means that there is very little oxygen in the soil so necessary for plant growth and, because of the compacted mass, the roots of plants find it very difficult to penetrate clay soils.
Gypsum is a form of calcium and it reacts with the clay particles, breaking the clay up and creating ‘crumb’ like structures. The crumbs provide the much needed spaces between the new soil particles, thereby allowing oxygen to get into the larger pore spaces thus created. The roots of plants will also grow more freely through the more open soil.
