Beginner Gardening: Marine bulkhead construction completion and soil prep?, 1 by NancyGroutsis

NancyGroutsis wrote:
physeek, if I was you I would wheelbarrow the clay to a place where I don't intend to plant anything, haul it away, or use it to make garden sculpture. I tried using clay cat litter as a soil amendment and I poured water over it to remove the dust and after a few seconds it turned into clay so heavy I could not pick up the mixing pot. I couldn't even scoop it into another mixing pot because it was so thick trying to scoop it was like banging against a wall. That was my first experience mixing clay with planting media and I realized why so many gardeners dread clay.

Clay has a way of taking over the soil. I've read of people mixing clay with organic matter every year for decades and it had no effect at loosening the clay. I ended up throwing out most of the clay mix, but I did use a small part of it to develop a successful begonia planting mix using the following formula:

(approximate)
75% perlite (washed to remove dust)
15% bark dust (mulch)
10% clay cat litter

The wax begonias like this mix (see attached picture). I put extra begonias from planting trays in a box and I keep thinning out the begonias but they grow fast and take over the extra space. So clay in small amounts like 10% is fine, but even with 10% clay the media has a heavy consistency and never seems to dry but it's porous enough to drain water well enough for the begonias to be healthy. I'm only a beginner gardener but my experience has taught me to use clay in small amounts with extreme caution and never try to amend large tracts of clay soil. - DoGooder