Question about soil quality for home gardeners

[ManitouDan]

I live on a bog clay mound , love to garden so I built a big raised garden , like 40-40 , had top soil poured on the clay , it's at least a foot deep . But 1/2 of it is pretty good top soil , 1/2 is more clay content of the top soil. The 1/2 with the clay is pretty hard and didnt grow tomatoes well at all , should I add a load of sand to loosen the soil or try to add a higher quality soil to that side of the garden . I grow tomatoes , different peppers , and okra . And garlic .

 

[the nail at the foul line]

The best material for topsoil is silt loam. Over 90% of the soils in Kentucky have silt loam on the surface. More than likely where you live was scraped beforehand or eroded, leaving what you're describing as clay. Adding sand to that will form a Sandy clay which is not much better than clay. Try to get silt loam topsoil material. Sand may help some but silt loam is far superior.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

 

[ManitouDan]

Thanks Nail .

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Thanks Nail .

The Goldilocks zone for soil moisture is in silt loam. Sands are too dry. Clays are too wet but they do not give up moisture causing them to be droughty. In other words, you can till clays that seem moist and the plants will be twisted from dryness . Silt and silt loam is just right.

Road ditches are typically full of silt. Creek bottoms are silty. Those would be your best sources, unless you're right on the Ohio River where there's thick silt materials in the uplands.

 

[ManitouDan]

The Goldilocks zone for soil moisture is in silt loam. Sands are too dry. Clays are too wet but they do not give up moisture causing them to be droughty. In other words, you can till clays that seem moist and the plants will be twisted from dryness . Silt and silt loam is just right.

Road ditches are typically full of silt. Creek bottoms are silty. Those would be your best sources, unless you're right on the Ohio River where there's thick silt materials in the uplands.

Yeah I'm on the Ohio , maybe I can get someone to scoop up a load

 

[55wildcat]

I trailered in quit a few loads of what they call garden soil. Topsoil, compost, and sand for my above ground garden. Not cheap but a 1000 times better than the clay hard stuff. The very best I have ever had, where I used to live there was woods behind me. I tilled in the woods enough dirt to fill about a 3x20 place for tomatoes. Never added fertilizer or anything for the time I had that there. That may have been the type of soil Nail is referring to.

 

[IkeCat]

Check your PH and what plants PH desire

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Check your PH and what plants PH desire

All fertility needs to be checked as well

Also, walnut trees can harm tomatoes.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

Don’t add sand. Amending the clay with compost or good top soil would be better than adding sand. I know no-till is the rage right now, but doing a till to amend that first year is a good idea. Then compost and mulch the area yearly.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

All fertility needs to be checked as well

Also, walnut trees can harm tomatoes.

Walnut trees can harm a lot of undergrowth.

Getting a soil test is a good idea.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

Companion planting early on may also be a good idea. Did anything grow in that area prior to you turning it into a garden?