I have a problem with a garden bed that gets really soggy in heavy rain.

I had assumed the soil had too much clay in it (we've a fair bit of clay
in the area) and had planned to use some gypsum to fix this. However,
yesterday I had a good hard look at it (and did some digging).

There's about 6-10 inches of nice, slightly sandy and obviously imported
topsoil on top of a sheer sheet of clay. Hence my problem with soggyness
after heavy rain! It just doesn't drain anywhere!

My question: would gypsum have any impact on this clay, 8 inches down under
the soil?

Second question: are there any plants gypsum will hurt? Concerned mostly
about roses, lavender, and ajuga.

adt.

Andrew Tune wrote:

: My question: would gypsum have any impact on this clay, 8 inches down under
: the soil?

It will if you dig it it.
Organic matter can also help with the heavy texture of these clay soils.

: Second question: are there any plants gypsum will hurt? Concerned mostly
: about roses, lavender, and ajuga.

If you dig it in you will surely damage the roots. Otherwise not so far
as I am aware. (???)

Chris


--
(:

Taking the "paranoid" out of "delusion".
icq #107970956

On Sat, 02 Nov 2002 22:41:14 GMT, Andrew Tune
wrote:

I have a problem with a garden bed that gets really soggy in heavy rain.

I had assumed the soil had too much clay in it (we've a fair bit of clay
in the area) and had planned to use some gypsum to fix this. However,
yesterday I had a good hard look at it (and did some digging).

There's about 6-10 inches of nice, slightly sandy and obviously imported
topsoil on top of a sheer sheet of clay. Hence my problem with soggyness
after heavy rain! It just doesn't drain anywhere!

My question: would gypsum have any impact on this clay, 8 inches down under
the soil?

Second question: are there any plants gypsum will hurt? Concerned mostly
about roses, lavender, and ajuga.

adt.

Gypsum will not hurt any plant. It is pH neutral. To make an impact on
clay 8 inches under the topsoil, you'll have to remove the topsoil,
lay the gypsum and put the topsoil back on top (or dig the gypsum well
into the topsoil). You'll need to apply it at the rate of 1 kilo per 1
square metre. If the clay is really, really heavy, you might have to
repeat this one or two times over the next 12 months.

Rita.