{"id":2651,"date":"2019-08-02T00:02:59","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T07:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-441\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T13:58:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T20:58:57","slug":"on-amending-clay-soil","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/on-amending-clay-soil\/","title":{"rendered":"on amending clay soil"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>I have typical Seattle clay soil and I want to amend it before planting. I&#8217;m re-grading a large (~2000 sq. foot) area and have already added copious amounts of mulch, compost, overturned sod, etc. I&#8217;m planning on planting a cover crop of clover this summer, but before doing so thought it&#8217;d be a good idea to till in some sand. I was thinking about a level inch over the whole yard before tilling. Is there a particular chemical composition to use or avoid? How about grain size?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You may find <a href=\"http:\/\/extension.colostate.edu\/topic-areas\/yard-garden\/choosing-a-soil-amendment\/\">this information<\/a> from Colorado State University Extension on soil amendments useful. Excerpt: <em>Don&#8217;t add sand to clay soil&#8211;this creates a soil structure similar to concrete.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Professor Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University also <a href=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-puyallup\/uploads\/sites\/403\/2015\/03\/soil-amendments-2.pdf\">debunks<br \/>\nthe idea of adding sand to improve clay soil.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For good advice on amending the soil, see these links:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/casfs.ucsc.edu\/documents\/for-the-gardener\/fertile_soil.pdf\">Building Fertile Soil<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/casfs.ucsc.edu\/documents\/for-the-gardener\/choosing-cover-crops.pdf\">Choosing and Using Cover Crops for the Garden and Orchard<\/a> from the University of California, Santa Cruz Agroecology Program.<\/p>\n<p>It sounds to me as if you have already taken great steps toward improving your soil, and adding sand not only will not be necessary, but would not<br \/>\nbe a good idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have typical Seattle clay soil and I want to amend it before planting. I&#8217;m re-grading a large (~2000 sq. foot) area and have already added copious amounts of mulch, compost, overturned sod, etc. I&#8217;m planning on planting a cover crop of clover this summer, but before doing so thought it&#8217;d be a good idea to till in some sand. I was thinking about a level inch over the whole yard before tilling. Is there a particular chemical composition to&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/on-amending-clay-soil\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">on amending clay soil<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[281],"class_list":["post-2651","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-soil-amendments"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}