I hadn't realized your soil had so much clay content. You've obviously done a brilliant job at improving it. Do you have any fruit trees planted in the clay? I had been wanting to plant an orchard in my backyard, but have just discovered that perhaps I should have taken up pottery instead of gardening, as we also have very high clay content, similar to what you showed. 🤦🏻♀️ I'd love to hear your advice on planting fruit trees on a site like this. Is it worth attempting to improve the soil if it's heavy and often waterlogged clay? I'm starting to think of importing some soil and building mounds right on top so it has some chance at drainage, but I'm worried about tap roots reaching hard pan and the trees dying a few years down the track. I really don't want to go down the raised bed avenue, but maybe I'll have to. Oh, hearing about your slug problems... I heard a great tip from Angela of Parkrose Permaculture on UA-cam (also a great channel!). She mentioned she'd had success with deterring slugs by putting hair cuttings down around your vulnerable plants. I've been cutting my family's hair since covid, so we get regular trimmings for the garden and the daisies and snow peas and sweet peas have all either avoided or seen a drastic reduction in their slug pressure. Hope it helps you too. Lovely video. Thank you!
Thanks Siobhan! So the only fruit trees I've planted have been feijoas. I had heard that they do quite well in clay and so many people around in our area have luck with them. Before we moved to the property, my grandparents had a lot of luck with citrus on the property, which also don't mind heavy clay as they uptake a lot of nutrients from the surface, and not too far down where the bulk of the clay is. Berries have also done brilliantly on the property. I think continuing to build soil around the base of the fruit trees as well as planting plants that are dynamic accumulators (such as comfrey and many green manures) also would help out the soil :) I"ll have to check out Angela's channel, thanks! And I'll make sure to try that out next time we need a haircut! Cool tip!
If this helps, potatoes are like tomatoes, they are determinate or indeterminate. You don’t need to top up the determinate kind as they only grow in one layer (just make sure they have enough cover towards the end so they don’t go green). The indeterminate kind will grow in many layers as you cover. Really enjoy watching your channel 😊
Love everything about this!
Lovely video as always Robyn. Hope youre all keeping well
Thank you!
Such a nice share.
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching
❤❤❤
I hadn't realized your soil had so much clay content. You've obviously done a brilliant job at improving it.
Do you have any fruit trees planted in the clay? I had been wanting to plant an orchard in my backyard, but have just discovered that perhaps I should have taken up pottery instead of gardening, as we also have very high clay content, similar to what you showed. 🤦🏻♀️ I'd love to hear your advice on planting fruit trees on a site like this. Is it worth attempting to improve the soil if it's heavy and often waterlogged clay? I'm starting to think of importing some soil and building mounds right on top so it has some chance at drainage, but I'm worried about tap roots reaching hard pan and the trees dying a few years down the track. I really don't want to go down the raised bed avenue, but maybe I'll have to.
Oh, hearing about your slug problems... I heard a great tip from Angela of Parkrose Permaculture on UA-cam (also a great channel!). She mentioned she'd had success with deterring slugs by putting hair cuttings down around your vulnerable plants.
I've been cutting my family's hair since covid, so we get regular trimmings for the garden and the daisies and snow peas and sweet peas have all either avoided or seen a drastic reduction in their slug pressure. Hope it helps you too.
Lovely video. Thank you!
Thanks Siobhan! So the only fruit trees I've planted have been feijoas. I had heard that they do quite well in clay and so many people around in our area have luck with them. Before we moved to the property, my grandparents had a lot of luck with citrus on the property, which also don't mind heavy clay as they uptake a lot of nutrients from the surface, and not too far down where the bulk of the clay is. Berries have also done brilliantly on the property. I think continuing to build soil around the base of the fruit trees as well as planting plants that are dynamic accumulators (such as comfrey and many green manures) also would help out the soil :)
I"ll have to check out Angela's channel, thanks! And I'll make sure to try that out next time we need a haircut! Cool tip!
If this helps, potatoes are like tomatoes, they are determinate or indeterminate. You don’t need to top up the determinate kind as they only grow in one layer (just make sure they have enough cover towards the end so they don’t go green). The indeterminate kind will grow in many layers as you cover. Really enjoy watching your channel 😊
Oh that's good to know! I'll have to do some more research into the varieties I planted :) Thanks!
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Ok, I’ll give it one more go, I do not have a good record with potatoes.
Yay! Let me know how you go! Let's hope we both have a good harvest :)
I did find it very helpful however, the sound was in speed volume, so I had to really listen closely to understand you