Gardening in a red state – red clay, that is
Good old North Carolina red mud. It stains your clothes, sticks to your shoes, mires up your car and generally makes a mess. Plus it is darned hard to garden in — rock hard when dry and a gooey mess when wet. But for many of us it is what we have to work with at least in some part of our yards. So what’s a gardener to do?
One answer is build raised beds wherever you wish to plant something, but this can be hugely expensive, especially on a large property. If you must plant things that require sharp drainage, however, such as daphnes, rhododendrons and heaths, containers or raised beds are your best option.
Otherwise it is necessary to amend your clay. For annual, perennial and vegetable beds where you are turning over the soil several times a year, amending with organic matter is the way to go. Aged, ground leaf mulch, grass clippings, compost, pine bark fines and aged manure are all good. They should be turned into the soil up to a depth of six to twelve inches.
Don’t use sand or peat. Sand and clay is the basic recipe for brick. As for peat, clay holds water; peat holds water. This makes for too much water for your plants.
For the more permanent parts of your yard turning organic matter into the soil is a problem. You can amend the soil when you are planting your tree or shrub, but as those plants grow and the amendments decay, you can’t turn in more without damaging the roots. In these areas it is better to spread your organics on top of the soil and let the worms, fungi and little bugs do the work of turning it into the soil for you. You can hide them under a layer of mulch, which will also feed your soil.
Digging clay is hard work. If possible pick your day to dig. Two or three days after it rains the clay can be broken up into smaller clumps which are easier to mix with your amendments.
Get a pickaxe and learn to use it safely. A hole dug just with a shovel has slick glassy sides that are hard for roots to break through.
Don’t sink your plant all the way into the ground. You are sinking it into a bowl of water whenever it rains. It should be sticking up above the edge of the hole. You can mound up soil and mulch around it.
Do not fill the hole with new ‘good’ dirt. Your plant will grow great guns until its roots hit the wall of clay, at which point they will circle helplessly, maybe for years, unable to break through to freedom. Mix at least half of the broken up clay back in with your planting mix.
Don’t be daunted by gardening here just because of a little bit (or a lot) of red mud. Embrace the soil, taking care not to get too muddy while you do.
(Pat Brothers is a local gardener who works at Atlantic Avenue Orchid and Garden Center.)
