Red Clay!!! Help!

[faithsstuff]

hey all you green thumbed geniuses! Hubby and I are trying to break ground in Atlanta for a community garden. The sod is coming up and directly under is red clay. We rented a tiller and it was less then effective, barely scratched the surface (literally) So far we've got a good chunk of sod up and some glow in the dark sunburns to show for alot of effort. Tips? Clues?? Anything???

[RomanCarmelMom]

We have red clay, and unfortunately there is no immediate cure. We are building our soil by laying hay over it once a year, and are about to start applying compost, vermipost, and compost tea(especially important!), we mulch our mowed grass and leaves, and are working on hugelkultur beds.

Tilling clay is rather useless because not much will grow well or fruit in it, I'm sorry. Your best bet is to do raised beds this year while you work on building up the soil and bringing it to life again.

[CariOfOz]

I saw the title of this and just KNEW you had to be in Georgia The pp is right, the only thing that will help is a MOUNTAIN of soil amendments... Georgia red clay is a nightmare (guess where I grew up? lol I know it all too well) Raised beds will work wonders.

[lmonter]

I was going to say compost, compost, and more compost. Until you're sick of seeing/shoveling it. And then a little more for good measure.

[jocelyndale]

Mounded beds, lasagna gardening, lots of compost.

Every so often, I take to the beds with a claw. By 'every so often', I mean every couple years.

I pretty much stick to no till gardening. If I want a root crop, I build a deeper raised bed.