- Author: Betsy Buxton
I don’t know how your yard is surviving in this series of storms, but mine is doing rather well, thank you. Because the soil in Solano County is primarily clay – good for making adobe bricks and growing plants when you finally get them established- we have a tendency toward lots of run-off water.
To get the clay soil to hold water and not flood, we need to water slowly and in several “bumps” of water. Too much at a time and the water sheets off the soil surface, but too many “bumps” or prolong watering and you end with mucky, sticky mud which takes forever ( and sometimes a day) to dry out. How to get the right combination of water/soil/ air spaces is the trick.
Some folks put in French drains which is way of saying: 1) dig trenches where the water collects on their property; 2) put a bed of coarse gravel, road bed gravel which is large (1-2” pieces is preferred) several inches thick in the trench; 3) lay perforated pipe ( has holes evenly spaced along all sides) covered in weed-block fabric or buy the already bagged pipe in the trench;4) cover pipe with more gravel within 3 inches of the trench top and cover with soil. Remember to install a grate at the end of the pipe, preferably downhill so that the pipe drains out and to the street. In my case, I attached all the down spouts from the house gutters to my French drain which allows the water that would be standing on stop of my back and side yards to drain to the front street gutter. However, a caution: do NOT use chemicals during the wet season as the drains allow these products to leach into the storm drains where they do not belong!
I refuse to let my back fence which is falling section by section (repair one section and the next takes a dive in the (wind) to disturb my serene and unflappable self -- Today is my 1st day of retirement. I shall enjoy immensely! Actually, my serene mood changes each time I pass my neighbor’s house. A “trained” man with a chainsaw cut the green ash tree in front of it back to stubbed limbs and then cut out the lawn with a Bob Cat tractor. Serenity to the eyes it is not, but I shall learn to close my eyes when passing by.
- Author: Cheryl A Potts
Soil texture is an important factor in determining the success of your gardening venture. Texture is determined by the proportions of sand, silt, and clay minerals of your soil. Clay, predominate in this geographic area, is very fine-textured, and referred to as a 'heavy soil'. Clay has one thousand times more surface area per gram than silt, and almost a million times more surface than course sand.
Sandy or silt loam is said to be the best soil for home gardening, as this provides a mixture that retains water and is able to percolate and infiltrate. Clay can become hard as rock and does not drain well.
Several things can be done to deal with our clay. One is to add raised beds to your garden, bringing in good loamy soil from a reputable source, and placing it on top of existing soil, where you want to plant.
Secondly, you can amend your existing clay soil with organic materials. Two common methods for doing this are: one, to add compost to soil and work it in. This is best done with hoes and or shovels, as tilling can destroy living organisms, such as worms, which are most beneficial to the garden. Severely compacted soil may require tilling. Of so, till down 10-12" deep. Allow soil to dry out--two to three days prior to adding amendments. Remove rocks, roots and debris. Break up any large clods with a hoe. Place two to three inches of compost on the area and work in. Do not do this when the soil is too wet or to dry. Peat moss would work as an amendment, but is expensive. Compost and well rotted manure both are organic and ideal for garden plots. A second method is to cover the area with 4-6" of rotten hay or straw and let it sit for up to a year, as this will slowly break down the soil. Easier on the back but takes much more time.
A third approach is to accept the clay and plant items that do well in that texture of soil. Here is a partial list of some flowers that actually will do fine: Black-eyed Susan, bluestar, aster, baptisia, coreopsis, purple cone flower, sea holly, perennial geranium, false sunflower, daylily, coral bells, blazing star (great for a butterfly garden), bee balm, Russian sage, yarrow, and switch grass, said to actually thrive in moist or dry clay.
So clay does not have to be a gardener's four letter word like mole, weed, or mold. Work with it, amend it, accept it.