Try adding horticultural grit, as well - and every time you plant anything, dig the hole larger than normal, and back-fill with home-made compost.

Yes, organic material and compost plus grit and spent mushroom compost as well as well-rotted manure will condition the clay soil well. It will always be basically clay, but will improve over the years with working it.

Beware of bought-in topsoil - it can have pieces of weed in it - one of our members got Japanese Knotweed in his load!

Have you done a soil test to check the pH level? You can get a little kit from a Garden Centre for just over a pound. Clay can be acid or alkaline - so you need to know. There are lots of plants that will thrive in clay! Roses love it, for a start...then there's Aquilegia, Bergenia, Campanula, Astilbe, Hemerocallis, Hosta (shade), Paeonia, Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', Astrantia, Solidago, Polemonium, Inula, Persicaria, Heliopsis, and that's just a few.

You can have an educated guess at the soil pH by having a look at what your neighborus are growing. If they have Rhododendrons and Camellias, then you can be pretty sure you've got acid soil. You could in fact ask a nieghbour who looks to have a decent garden - they will probably be very flattered that you singled them out!

I agree with Spritz about so-called top-soil - you could import not only weeds, but also pests. And you can never really be sure whether it is in fact topsoil or subsoil or something a builder has dug out to get in some foundations somewhere!

Clay soil is not as bad as people make out - in fact it tends to be very fertile. My advice would be to add loads of organic matter (well rotted manure is best) and that will open the structure of the soil, allow better drainage in winter and better moisture retention in summer. I would differ from Spritz in that I personally wouldn't bother with adding grit (sorry Spritz ;-) ) as that does not actually open up the pores in the soil, but that's just my opinion ;-)

thats wot we have dun and we have all those plants growing well

Thanks for the help folks - my bro went and got delivered a TON of topsoil for my garden today with him saying 'He knew what he was doing - Sigh! He says I now add the compost when planting individual plants but, I thought you mixed it all in with all the soil in one big go then added a bit when planting?

You can tell I'm new to gardening - Good idea about looking at neighbourhood gardens - But othing but conifers and greenery

Shall buy the soil test and do it in a week or so.

To avoid possible 'nasties' in your garden, you should really leave that topsoil alone at least until you see what seedlings appear, Annelise...it's not going to solve your clay problem anyway.

As we said above, you need to do both - digging organic material into the beds, AND backfilling every plant you dig a hole for.

Why is it that your brother says he knows what he's doing? Has he read up on it/been there and done it/knows a man in the pub who told him? lol.

Bless - he was only trying to help!

Ah thanks for that Spritzhenry I really appreciate your & other folk's help on here.

My bro is a know it all and has been arguing he's right, all day today in the garden. (granted he does have a nice garden but not much of one)

The neighbours must have a great laugh when they saw the ton of Topsoil being delivered as found out today they've all just added compost as well as all you experts on here! - I really could just sob, as been to the tip a hundred times today getting rid of the old soil

Sorry what do you mean leave the topsoil alone ...... I was all set to start work again tomorrow and what NASTIES!!!!!

Just in case it does have weed roots or seeds in it, that's all...they'd show themselves quite quickly if you were able to leave it in a pile. If you spread it out or dig it in, you'd be spreading the weeds out in your garden, wouldn't you -so what I'm suggesting is a precaution. to save you possible trouble.

Try to 'think positive' - we're NOT all experts...we're amateur gardeners, some with more experience than others. We do try to help each other, and it's lovely that you've joined us.

Do please carry on with GOY - and ask anything you want to - there's usually someone who knows! :-))

EEEk Spritz, I've got to get a few tons (they tell me 10) of topsoil which needs to be in my garden in the next few weeks. Is there any way to find a supplier with clean, good topsoil? I've never bought any before or is it all hit and miss?

A reputable supplier should be OK - is it possible to get a reference or the name of a previous customer? OH said, rightly, that 'cowboy' suppliers could get this so-called topsoil off a building site and it could even be sub-soil. You certainly don't want that, Ba!!!

Ask where the topsoil is coming from.

Thanks Spritz, I've just been googling it and it costs a fortune, time for another eeek! Have you seen my pic of 'texas'? :-)

The textbook definition of topsoil is, the top few inches of soil that contains humus and soil biota (that is the worms, bacteria, microbes and fungi that are essential for plant growth). One could argue that, strictly speaking, when you sterilise topsoil and bag it up and leave it lying around in sacks for months, it ceases to be topsoil in any event!! Whichever way you look at it, it's much better to work with what you've got.

I sourced mine before ordering and it was from a reputable family run nursery - nearly a week now and no nasty suprises - my original soil was awful to work with sticky stuff like playdoh - Lol!

Got my organic compost today from the same place - just not sure how much to add to the soil, ie bit by bit when planting my plants or mix it all in, in one ago.

Sorry, meant to say that although I know you add compost/organic matter when planting, but because of all my new topsoil do I now mix it all through my borders of soil as well - Doh!!!!

Weeeellllll, I've never had to do anything like that, but I recon I'd dig it in all over but reserve some to put into the individual planting holes with the plants. Sorry if that answer sounds a cop-out! lol To a degree, simply mulching the surface would have a similar effect, as worms and such like would gradually draw the organic matter into the ground. Forking in would accellerate the benefits tho I would think.

I back-fill with a mixture of home-made compost plus multi-purpose with a handful of chicken manure pellets to get a plant off to a good start at this time of year. So if you haven't yet got any home-made compost, I'd save some of your new soil and use that instead.

So - I agree with Sid on this one, Annelise. Fork some in, and save some, preferably in a bin with a lid if you can.

sounds like u got a lot of work ahead of you. hope it goes well

Phew!!! Got it finally. Thanks everyone.

It's been a case of 'Too many chefs spoil the broth' syndrome with friends and relatives giving me their different opinions which all seemed to differ. After hearing their horror stories of spending a fortune on plants and getting wilt on Clematis and others plants not flowering and dying etc I wanted to get the soil right.

Now about these chicket pellets, they seem very popular on here?. Was just going to get some growmore (even that's complicated as they have different types).

Really Annelise, I think you should buy some chickens and all their apparatus....just kidding lol, I've wondered about chicken pellets, I suppose they can be bought at garden centres?? I know gardeners who just use miracle grow or some such and have great gardens, better than mine, I suppose some people have green fingers, or maybe they've already got good soil, I've had such a lot of good advice on here that I know my garden will be fantastic this year. Good luck with all the hard work, it will be worth it in the long run:-)

When I plant anything, I add a *few* chicken manure pellets (small handfull say) and a *pinch* of blood fish & bone meal, mixed in a bit with the backfill. That seems to put a firework under their seat so to speak!! HOWEVER, I would advise against overfeeding your plants as they will grow faster but will tend to be weaker as a result. An overfed plant will likely be over-tall and leggy, more prone to damage from wind and rain, more tempting to would-be pests and more easily damaged by frost.

To avoid expensive mistakes, why not browse plant pics on here and ask members what sort of conditions their plants like and how easy they are to grow.....MOST plants are dead easy and WANT to grow!! - you can't stop them! lol

I use chicken manure pellets mixed with my back-fill when I plant anything - I have a 'magic mixture' which works for me and my plants...not in late season, though, as Sid says, the growth then would be too 'soft' for the colder weather.

I use home-made compost with a few scoops of multi-purpose, and a handful of chicken manure pellets. :-)))

Thanks for the chicket pellets help folks! Nearly ready for the 'off'. Better late than never!

Have been browsing other members plant pics Sid - Have learnt quite a bit in the last few weeks on here.

Now then, do I have to do anything to my much prepared borders whilst I am pondering over which plants I want to put in. Getting worried the soil will turn all hard or worse birds dropping seeds ? Thinking of putting some mulch on top.

Nope - just hoe it occasionally when you see little green weeds appearing. 10 minutes with a hoe to slice the tops of the weeds is all it needs. Keep them down is the secret.

If you add anything else, you'll still get weeds, after all!

Yup, agree with Spritz ;-)