Clay soil, how to amend?

Hi! I am a complete novice.

Can someone help me out with really, really clayey soil? It's either rock hard or gluey glompy, stick to my shovel when wet. I tried to dig it dry, I physically can't do it. I tried wetting it down, and I could dig, but had to scrape off the shovel every dig. I went to mix in manure I got from home depot, but it was kind of difficult...I felt like I was mixing dry and wet ingredients together for a cake. And I don't know how much of that I should add. I can't possibly make enough compost for my whole property.

Any advice on how to proceed? I want to plant hostas and other shade garden things. Absolutely nothing grows there now.

Thanks!!

Oh, another dumb question. When I encounter roots, they must be from either my sycamore, maple, or boxwood which are all nearby. How can I tell who they come from? I am taking the boxwood out of there next year anyway. Can I cut the roots? The biggest I've encountered have been about the circumference of my little finger, with lots of little teeny ones coming off it.

Thanks again!

I know exactly what you mean!

Half of my bed was like that. The contractor who built my patio got me dirty-cheap soil with dirty-cheap quality. Never again!!!

It took me hours to amend the planting holes by hand. Hours! Can you rent a tiller, razzie? I add hard wood mulch, peat moss, compost, etc and use the tiller as a blender to mix everything into the soil. Amazingly some of my annuals exactly survive this soil. Wait until they die down, I would really have fun improving the soil for the next season.

The best way to dig in clay soil is to give it a good slow, thorough soaking (or let mother nature do it with an all-day gentle rain), and wait a day or two (or three) to dig or till. It won't always occur at a time that's convenient for you, but it's the only way I've found to dig without breaking the shovel or creating bricks.

Ugh. Clay can sure be trouble, in the beginning anyway.

Water will loosen it up but do as Terry suggested and wait a couple days to dig in it...the worse thing you can do is try to work wet clay.

If you can till it up good (or shovel it then break it up) peat will certainly help the texture of the soil. (Till/mix it in after the initial breaking up of the clay.) There is also a product called Permatill they can be tilled into the clay (again add some compost or peat with it) and it will do a good job of making good tilth.

As for the roots, you'll just have to follow them to back in the direction they came from. Personally, if you're gonna take out the boxwoods next year anyway I wouldn't worry about cutting the roots. (Cutting those small roots won't have a bigtime immediate affect on the boxwoods unless you are cutting right up to the trunk.) Besides, why not take them out now? That will give you more room to manuever while amending your new beds.

Why don't you copy this over to the "Soil" forum...there will be lots more people looking for this over there and lots of advice! When I was new, I posted a soil question elsewhere and they moved it for me.

Very helpful people around here! I love this place.

Good luck with your play-doh....I have the same problem! LOL

Oh, I didn't know there WAS a soil forum!! I'll post it there, too.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to rent a tiller, this is just so much work, which I wouldn't mind (just finished digging out an azalea stump...well, me and my truck!!) but it is so difficult, I don't feel like I'm getting any progress.

Yup, I didn't know there was one either, when I posted my question about rocky soil. It's incredible how many specialized forums there are here!

Hope you can get it done without too much backbreaking work!