06-20-2016, 04:32 PM
I've helped people with prep work for growing but haven't ever actually maintained a garden through the growing season. It sounds to me like that is actually where you need to do most of your real work.
You can rent a tiller from a big box home improvement store. Most situations I've seen you won't need to rent one every year since a simple hoe will usually be enough to break the clay up in future years. Speaking of which, clay is usually very fertile but it doesn't hurt to mix topsoil in with it while tilling. In fact most people I've helped would never just lay topsoil on top of clay. Some amount of gravel shouldn't be an issue for most plants. In fact, if you can actually run a tiller there probably isn't too many rocks (of course big rocks should be removed).
Since run off is an issue retaining walls and leveling would probably be helpful. If you are planting on a slope then a separate retaining wall and leveling for each row creating steps may be necessary.
The heaviest work I helped someone with we dug up soil and Georgia red clay on one side of a two acre lot and moved it to some pre-laid retaining walls forming steps. I don't know about how it is there now but 3 years later he was still using that same garden with great results.
I have also seen some impressive gardens that were entirely in pots. If you go that route be sure to find out how much soil is necessary for the plants you intend to grow. Things like potatoes need a lot of room since you are actually eating the roots.
You can rent a tiller from a big box home improvement store. Most situations I've seen you won't need to rent one every year since a simple hoe will usually be enough to break the clay up in future years. Speaking of which, clay is usually very fertile but it doesn't hurt to mix topsoil in with it while tilling. In fact most people I've helped would never just lay topsoil on top of clay. Some amount of gravel shouldn't be an issue for most plants. In fact, if you can actually run a tiller there probably isn't too many rocks (of course big rocks should be removed).
Since run off is an issue retaining walls and leveling would probably be helpful. If you are planting on a slope then a separate retaining wall and leveling for each row creating steps may be necessary.
The heaviest work I helped someone with we dug up soil and Georgia red clay on one side of a two acre lot and moved it to some pre-laid retaining walls forming steps. I don't know about how it is there now but 3 years later he was still using that same garden with great results.
I have also seen some impressive gardens that were entirely in pots. If you go that route be sure to find out how much soil is necessary for the plants you intend to grow. Things like potatoes need a lot of room since you are actually eating the roots.
