Hello, my allotment is a tale of two halves, one end is clay and gets waterlogged in the winter, but dries into a concrete like substance in hot weather. I’m trying to lighten this up with horse manure and other manure I am creating from a mixture of horse manure / wood shavings and leaf litter mixed.
The opposite end is lighter / stony soil.
Can anyone advise what I would be best to grow in the heavier clay soil, and similarly in the lighter soil at the other end.
Hi David,
Interesting situation! Potentially very useful. Over time the organic matter will help the two balance out and I’d imagine the clay side becoming more useful in summer being more water retentive than the sandy side. My allotment is mostly sandy silt and the organic matter seems to vanish very quickly!
Anything that can tolerate or prefers free draining soil will like the sandy side. Root veg in particular will really like it. Chillies. I find legumes really like my sand soil, especially broad and french beans.
On the clay side, rhubarb, fruit trees (small dwarf varieties) and bushes, brassicas, tomatoes, asparagus.