Working with clay soils in Townsville

Written By:

Mark Woodman

Here at Project Plants we often get asked about how to deal with and plant in the clay soils that are everywhere in our region.

Our answer to that question is organic matter and more organic matter!  Not the certified Organic produce you buy in the shops though?.  What we mean by organic matter is composted materials. Things like manure, plant matter and food scraps.  The key being composted, not fresh.  An easy way to get the organic matter is to purchase a bag of soil amendment from us when buying your plants!

When digging the hole, do your best to make it 3 times the width of the pot and 1.5 times the depth.  From here, you mix the compost in with the existing soil (clay) and then fill the hole in around the plant. Typical mix ratios are 1/3 compost to 2/3 original soil or Half and Half.

The second best thing you can do is to add Gypsum prior to or when planting.  This is well known to improve the soil structure.  It does take time though.  Gypsum comes in a powder and a liquid form.  The liquid form does act much quicker.

The third and equally important step is to mulch mulch mulch.

You’ll be surprised how quickly mulch improves the top layer of soil in the garden as it decomposes.  What it also does is improves water retention during the hot and dry periods to give the plants that extra resilience to get through.   Just make sure that the mulch is kept away from the trunk of the plant to minimise pests and fungal infection.  Oh yeah, it also really reduces those pesky weeds from coming up in the garden, so mulching is an essential step.  One that needs to be done annually.

After all of the above, there is just some plants that can’t handle the affects of water sitting during the wet season.  Some plants that come to mind are the Grass Trees and Avocados.  In these cases it is best to mound up the spot that you are planting in with some garden loam from a Landscape yard or bagged garden soil for small areas.  You should also plant these plants away from low lying areas in your yard for best results.  Don’t forget, some plants don’t mind living their life in a large pot too.

Hopefully that has given you some handy tips for dealing with clay soils.  Until Next time, Project Plants.