Soils for Great Gardens

Heavy Soils in Home Gardens

Clayey and other heavy soils may be made lighter by adding vegetable matter such as manure, leaf mold, compost or cover crops; by digging or plowing in late fall and leaving the clods or furrows unbroken for the frost to break up; by adding sifted coal ashes, especially during winter; by applications of "agricultural" (hydrated) lime or hardwood ashes to the surface after plowing or digging but before harrowing or raking (1 pound to 10 sq. ft.) and by mulches of fine materials such as buckwheat hulls, commercial humus and shredded peat moss during the growing season and turning them under when the ground is dug or plowed.