Friday Night Links
Gardening in clay soil – this article may help. Or this one. And if all else fail you can always try this.
Mexican President lies about guns – who would have thought? I’m shocked. Well not really.
Why are anti-gun activists so violent? Threatening to shove a gun up a reporter’s butt, now that’s classy.
Ten Most Disturbing Scientific Discoveries – some things are better left unknown. What next?
Sell Everything Liquid, You Won’t Recognize America By The End Of The Year – somehow hording paper money seems like a bad idea.
Finally, today my favorite radio program was hijacked with news about someone named Lindsay Lohan. Does anyone know who this is? Or even care?
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May 21st, 2010 at 6:38 PM
Clay soil article had some really useful points – Thanks!
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May 22nd, 2010 at 5:33 AM
I grew up on a small coastal NC tobacco farm. Our land was sandy loam but we occasionally leased farms that were heavy clay. Clay land will grow really great crops. You just have to know how to handle it. Don’t even attempt plowing or tilling if your clay is dry or wet. You have to wait until the soil moisture is right. This means you have to pay attention to your clay every day and be prepared to get your work done when conditions are right.
Grab a hunk of your clay. If it breaks like a brick it’s obviously too dry. If you can ball it up in a sticky ball it’s too wet. You are looking for that time period when you can ball some of it up and get the ball to crumble by working it between your fingers.
Clay holds water and if it’s too wet there isn’t much you can do but wait for it to dry out. For a small garden plot if it’s too dry you can possibly get it into condition by wetting it down just a little each day with a hose or some sort of irrigation system. When the water stops soaking in stop watering. The idea is to get it damp, not wet, and let the dampness soak down into the soil. Then you can work it with your tiller or plow.
You might also benefit by placing drainage tile under your garden plot to keep it from getting to wet.
If you try to work it when it’s too dry you’ll ruin your tools and equipment and make a bunch of dust. If you try to work it when it’s too wet you’ll wind up with mud balls that will dry into brick like clods that will be difficult to get into shape later.
Hauling in good loam soil and putting it in raised beds might be easier to do.
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May 22nd, 2010 at 10:51 AM
Lindsay Lohan AKA “Fire crotch” At least that how someone on the TV referred to her.
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