Viewing post #2154713 by Arico

HeatherH444 said:I would think that if you are allowed to plant in this spot, which means you have certain " rights" to the area, ( if you are allowed to plant in that spot,you gotta dig a little)that you could dig out some of that clay,shovel it into a bucket or bag and replace it with topsoil, soil conditioner and compost. A large bag of each mixed into the clay would drastically improve the growing areas soil and ability to grow different plants

Placing a different (read: more draining) soil type on top of another doesn't leviate drainage problems. In fact it enforces them because of the formation of a perched water table. Mixing the two is totally out of the question. To improve drainage on a clay soil by incoorporating 'sand' you'd need ATLEAST the same amount in volume to make a difference over the ENTIRE area. A waste of time, effort and money.
Mixing organic matter into the soil doesn't help long term either. It will decompose eventually, making the soil sink back to the original level causing problems for your planted stuff and in the mean time might even cause anaerobic conditions futher down.