Soil Types

[williamslawn]

We do installs in mostly sandy soils. But, we are bidding on a job where there is mostly clay. The ground is very hard, we have'nt gotten much rain. They installed a pool and they backfilled around that area with the really hard clay. Any suggestions?

[stslawncare]

take a soil test, see what nutrients you are lacking, take that along with a description of the existing dirt and have a soil company do a custom mix for you, i would reccamend a high organic mix.

[greens1]

If you are dealing with solid clay then I would plan on simply removing the clay in the areas which you are planting and install a screened top/organic mix.

Jim L

[stslawncare]

or till it in

[Lanelle]

Are you installing plants or hardscape?

[williamslawn]

We are planting plants and hardscape both. I want to give a fair price but I belive this will be allot more labor than we are normally doing.

[Lanelle]

For planting, incorporating lots of organic matter and a little sand or gypsium will make a big difference. For hardscape, remember that the dry, hard clay will become very plastic soft clay at some point when it rains a lot. Therefore, more base prep is needed for hardscape projects. We deal with clay on a regular basis. I normally put down a geo-textile fabric to separate the clay from the base crushed stone. Increase the depth of your base by at least 2 inches. If you are putting up a tall wall, (over 4') have a soils engineer test the soil for strength and make recommendations. Your client should pay his fees. Oh, last point, pray that it doesn't rain because clay takes forever to dry out in cold weather.

[williamslawn]

Thanks for the info.

[marcie]

once you have the soil tested and know what you need to amend it........... make sure to till it in deep ( 6-8" ) if not the plants will not last once the roots out grow the mix and start to grow into the clay they will shock and start dying out same with grass seed if you just throw peat moss down over clay without tilling in the seed will grow beautifully until the roots hit the clay and then it dies.