What can I plant in my new allotment to break the clay soil up?

[RubyGoat]

I've recently got an allotment, and DH & FIL promised to help me with some of the hard work initially, ie digging the good but quite clayey soil. I hired a brushcutter & FIL helped me get the weeds down, they were up to 7 ft tall in places... I've got a good area down to the soil now, following several goes with the Roundup, but here is the problem. DH was diagnosed with a hernia shortly after I got the plot, and FIL is probably not going to be able to help much either, as MIL is suddenly rather ill. I don't want to ask them when it's clearly not their priority. But, having spent money on the brushcutter, tools, rent etc, I'm not giving up. How can I use the plot profitably without lots of digging? (Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of hard work but I fear the initial digging is beyond me.) What can I plant to break up the soil a bit - should I just resign myself to a daily diet of potatoes next year? DH has promised that once he's had his operation he will help, but that may not be till spring.

I planned my allotment into beds and then hired a small rotovator to do the hardest dig of each bed. I then did a lighter digging over of each area then raked smooth when I was ready to plant.

Might this be an option for you?

Not sure, I've looked up the daily hire rate online for the local hire place, which is pretty good, but it's expensive. Would cost me over £100 including fuel for a day.

I can do a small area of deeper digging & add compost or manure, but the plot is about 8x9 metres & it's clearly not been dug in years. So I need something I can plant (to eat) that will break the ground up a bit or, at least, will cope with the heavy clay. Hopefully by next year, DH will be well & able to help me sort out the rest of it properly.

I just got a clay allotment too! Happy digging

mint

Yes to mint: spearmint and applemint too- the roots break up the clay and when you are ready you can dig them all out. Not as invasive as other herbs like borage. chives, onions, garlic, brassicas and pear trees grow well on clay soil.

Don't have an allotment but we used a heavy duty rotorvater for our garden before Latin new turf and that seems very expensive. We had it for a week at 100 and that included delivery and collection!

Have a try with gypsum as you just scatter it on the soil and it gradually breaks down the soil.

I have had a clay allotment for the last 4 years.

If you want to rotavate it, see if there's anyone locally who can do it for you rather than hiring a machine. There are a few people on our site who own their own rotavators and will happily do other people's plots for about £30 - £40. Ask your allotment association, they may know someone.

Check which weeds you've got first and make sure things like bindweed and creeping buttercup are sprayed off as they'll end up re-seeding themselves if they're chopped and scattered.

Unfortunately there's no short cut when it comes to clay soil, it takes time, lots of organic material and lime but ours is markedly improved now compared to when we took it on.

In the meantime you need to be able to work with it. Do weeding/digging when the weather's right, ie not so wet you can't get purchase on the ground and not so dry it's set like concrete. Plant individual plants in a depression in the soil so it holds the moisture, I also use plastic bottles, chop the bottom off and bury them with the neck down next to the plant's roots. I then water the plant by pouring water down the bottle. This takes the water down to where it's needed rather than running off over the surface (a problem with dry soil in the middle of summer).

Agree you need lots of organic matter over time.

Leeks are good for helping the structure as they are very deep rooted.

Find someone with chickens.... they may have plenty of poo & bedding to get rid of - I used to put it all in bags and then do so much of the plot at a time.

It's worth hiring or borrowing a rotovator (someone else at the site may have one) to do that first dig.

I put "paths" on my plot - these were the places to walk and stopped other paths therefore compressed area occurring across the plot - useful with kids who forget! I used weed suppressant fabric strips but anything can be used to mark the paths.

Clay soil takes time to be made more workable - think of it as a long term project and plan accordingly. Don't get overwhelmed!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I'm going to mostly put alliums, brassicas & potatoes in. I fancy artichokes as well but we'll see what the plants cost.

There are a number of plots with chickens on, I will try that, thanks daisychicken. I also plan to mark out the paths with fabric or put slabs down. I know DH will step on things, he is lovely but not the careful type. DD is too young yet to get involved but I would love it if she could when she is older.