Ammending Rock Hard Clay Soil

[Talula Fairie]

After discovering one of my neighbors has a garden in her front yard (I didn't know that was allowed here, we live in a rental housing complex), I decided the sunny bald spot on the lawn in front of my house could be a pretty good garden bed. But the real question is, what to do about the soil?

We have rock hard clay soil. I presume I'd have to till the bejayzus out of it, so I'd have to rent a tiller. And then what should I ammend it with? Should I test it first? How much does soil testing cost? If I want to start planting in it next spring, when should I start doing this?

[JamieCatheryn]

First, think about doing a raised bed with all new soil stuff if what's there already truly is that bad. But if you just want to amend it, compost or composted manure would be great. Perhaps some peat moss in there as well. If you want to do soil testing, look up your local extension office (google it, should work), if they have a site look there or if you can get a number call and ask about soil testing availability and cost. I think it's $15 a sample here for the major nutrients and such. But you can get by without testing, just tilling in a lot of compost should do if you don't bother to test. If you've tried shoveling it while wet and they doesn't work then I suppose a powerful tiller would help you.

I've just recently been learning about doing winter cover crops, and since you have the time to start with that I'd suggest you prepare your bed by the time in between hot summer and the first frosts and plant something beneficial to the soil there over the winter, and chop it up and till it under next spring. Fava beans, hairy vetch, or winter grains are commonly used for that. It'll help break up your soil further and feed the soil too.

[Talula Fairie]

I already have a raised bed. And a container garden. But it's in the backyard, and the front yard gets a lot more sun. I want an in ground garden so I can grow those huuuuuge tomato plants and the like

And yeah, we're going to need a tiller. Literally like, this dirt is really, really hard. I can't figure out how the complex gets anything to grow at all, but I see rosebushes and hydrangeas and lawn and trees everywhere, so it can't be totally horrible

I also have found earthworms in my yard, so I know it's not completely devoid of all life.