Senior Connections Senior Connections Mar 2019

Dealing with Clay Soils CHRISTIE SCHLUETER Clay is a very common soil type for Minnesotans, me included. To help a reader with their clay soil here is information that will help get you started towards a better soil. To be classiﬁ ed as clay soil, it should be made up of about 50% clay particles, the ﬁ nest particles found in soil. As far as the gardener is concerned, clay soil can cause a number of problems. On the positive side, clay isn’t necessarily all bad. It has good moisture and nutrition retention. But that same “good” mois- ture retention can also be a problem. Clay soil drains slowly. So, as snow melts and rains set in, clay soil tends to remain saturated long after average or sandy soils have drained. It is also much slower to warm up in spring. Clay compacts easily making it hard for the roots to penetrate, resulting in stunted root sys- tems. With clay soil, there are often problems with frost heave and root damage as the soil freezes and thaws during changing weather. More often than not, clay soil is alkaline (has a high pH) and that can be hard on plants too. And worst of all, the stuff is heavy, sticky and extremely hard to work up. Knowing just how much clay is in your soil can be confusing. And it can vary in different parts of your yard. This is especially true in areas of new con- struction in suburbs in our area. Too often the subsoil is heavy clay that has been severely compacted by heavy equipment. Then, as if it undid all that damage, a layer of top soil is spread over the compacted clay. If you’re lucky, this layer may be a foot deep. More likely, it will only be a few inches. It is important to know if this is the situation since it will affect the drainage and the rooting of the plants. Because soil types aren’t always consistent around the yard, it is a good idea to test several samples. Since the clay layer may not be very deep (or there may be a layer of clay hidden beneath a layer of lighter top soil) it is also a good idea to check for drainage with a percolation test. There are several easy, inexpensive ways to de- termine just what type of soil you have. First, take a handful of moist soil and feel it. Rub some between your ﬁ ngers. Sandy soil is rough and gritty and breaks up easily. Clay soil is sticky and feels like plastic. Silt is the middle ground, with much smaller particles than sand and it feels slippery when wet. A heavy clay soil will form a solid lump that is difﬁ cult to crumble when it’s squeezed together. It’s hard to get sandy soil to form a lump and it easily crumbles. Another easy way to check the soil is with a quart jar ﬁ lled about half way with a sample of your soil and then topped off with water. If you have it, add a teaspoon of Calgon. Put the lid on the jar and shake it energeti- cally until everything is swirling around. Then set it aside and let it settle until the water clears. The sand particles are the heaviest and they will settle to the bottom within a few minutes. Within an hour or two, the silt will have formed the next layer. The ﬁ ne clay particles will ﬁ nally settle, but it may take a day or so. Organic matter may remain ﬂ oating around on the top. Looking at the layers, you can now see, compara- tively, just how much sand, silt and clay make up your soil. If the clay layer makes up half or more of your sample, you have a heavy clay soil. Soil that is equal 10 parts of clay, silt and sand is called loam. Sandy soils have very little clay. The best way to do a percolation test is to dig a hole about 2 feet deep and a foot wide. Fill that hole with water and let it drain completely. Now ﬁ ll it again and keep track of how long it takes to drain. If it drains in less than 12 hours, the soil should be able to support plants that require well-drained soil. If it takes 12-24 hours to drain, the soil is best suited to plants that tolerate heavy or clay soils. If it takes more than 24 hours for the hole to completely drain only trees that withstand occasional ﬂ ooding will survive. What can you do if you have clay soil? The ﬁ rst option is to decide whether to work with it as it is or try to change it. The easiest and best course of action is to simply select plants that are suited to such a site. There are quite a few attractive landscape plants that do well in clay soil. Some of which include Bee balm, purple coneﬂ ower and asters. These are native plants and used to growing on the prairie in any type of soil. Some trees would be apple, crabapple, Swamp Oak, willows, Kentucky coffee tree. Many more sugges- tions can be found at the University of Minnesota, www.extenstion.umn.edu. Two of the best amendments for clay soil are coarse sand and coarse organic matter such as compost. Coarse sand is also sometimes called builders’ sand. The particles are relatively large, especially when compared to the ﬁ ner sands used for sandboxes and such. The ﬁ ne sands may actually make your prob- lem worse. There are lots of types of organic matter available for gardening but not all of them will help improve clay soil. It needs to be coarse. It should be amended at least 12 inches for gardens and ﬂ owers. Peat moss and perlite also can be incorporated. If possible, ﬁ nd a source for a coarse compost or ma- nure. I highly recommend you test your soil through the University; it may have a high Ph factor as well. Recipies Sandwiches are a quick meal that can be made with good ingredients. Use top quality meats and nitrate free are healthier. You will enjoy how tasty these sandwiches are and they can be made very quickly. Italian Monte Cristco Ingredients ½ cup seedless red raspberry jam 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard ½ teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary 8 slices brioche bread 8 thin slices Swiss cheese 16 thin slices prosciutto cab substitute bacon 4 large eggs, at room temperature ¾ cup heavy cream, at room temperature 1 / 8 teaspoon kosher salt 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons powdered sugar Instructions 1. In a small bowl, mix together the jam, mustard and rosemary. Lay out the slices of bread. Divide the mustard mixture evenly over the 8 slices of bread and Senior Connections HJ.COM

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