Why Compost Beats Gypsum or Sand as a Soil Amendment

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Watch Small Garden Quest's video with this link! TESTING How to Improve CLAY SOIL for Vegetable Gardens: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpWphYqFpdGSZq8 0:38 Clay soil drainage problems 1:12 Small Garden Quest collaboration 1:35 Testing our soil: ribbon and jar tests 3:15 Pros and cons of clay soil 4:17 Laboratory soil health test 5:47 Amending with gypsum 7:05 Amending with sand 9:00 Conclusion

[@watermelonlalala]

I've seen it before. Very good video. Still, I watch lawn videos where they swear by dumping sand on your muddy low spots and bare spots and planting grass seed. I have not tried it, myself.

[@southerner66]

I hand-tilled leaf compost into clay soil with a garden claw, and the improvement in soil texture was like magic. It rained shortly after, and the soil I didn't amend was sticky and solid, while the soil I amended with compost remained loose.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Excellent! I make leaf compost every year, though I also add in green matter to speed up decomposition.

[@jenniferpanicacci5938]

"We ARE talking about soil, right?" So cute! Excellent video. I very much appreciated this comparison video. Keep up the education! We need it!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you! Will do!

[@CiaofCleburne]

I took a Master Gardener course through my local Extension Office of K-State University and we were taught early on not to add sand as a soil amendment. Now whether or not this is the same for all areas, I have no idea. I use composted chicken manure, leaves and grass clippings along with all my organic household waste as soil amendment as well as direct application of bunny poo. I dont grow much in the way of vegetable garden but I have the most amazing flower beds ever.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Yes, adding sand is generally a bad idea. Even if it doesn’t turn the soil to concrete, it still reduces the nutrient- and water-holding capacity. That sounds like a great recipe for your soil and it’s obviously working well!

[@CiaofCleburne]

Some Room to Grow - Organic Gardening I also totally agree w/what you told another poster...do not add wood chips from black walnut! Those momma trees kill nearly everything beneath them to allow their babies to flourish. Those are some nasty trees!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Yikes! I guess there are some species that aren’t affected by the chemicals, but I don’t remember any specific ones.

[@xyzsame4081]

@@CiaofCleburne WSU disagrees with your assessment about the wood chips. (See the pdf: Using arborist wood chips as landscaping mulch). The alive trees (black walnut) are bullies but in form of chips (as mulch) they do no harm. Should also apply to eucalyptus. The method to break them down in clear plastic bags (with moisture) and sun during summer would also help, the fungi eventually break down everything. So if no one wants a walnut tree and it is not a fit for using the tree for furniture or cutting boards, or firewood - you might get a steal.

[@CiaofCleburne]

@@xyzsame4081 you go ahead and use that and I won’t. I don’t need anyone to tell me what works in my flower beds and what doesn’t, sorry!!!!

[@FatcatandFriends]

Two new channels!! I’m so happy to have found you both!!

[@SmallGardenQuest]

Great video. One of the best you made so far. I really enjoyed it

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you, same goes to you! It was great to collaborate on this, let's do that again sometime. :)

[@esotericman6369]

First of all, thanks and great video! Wood chips are great if left on the surface over a period of time. If tilled in, they will deplete nitrogen. I learned the hard way on that one. Compost is fantastic in every way and worms love it. I am using a manure compost that seems to work well with any type of soil structure.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you! Yes, we’ve been using wood chips since last year and we’ve seen a big improvement. Lots of worms, underneath, too! I’ve stopped tilling the soil as well. I only dig into it when I’m transplanting something. All organic matter just goes on the surface.

[@katethegardener]

I had a soggy damp corner in my yard, part garden and part grass. I couldn't make the garden bigger so I bought a bag of play sand on a whim and hand mixed it into a bag of cow compost and then mixed that into the area with a shovel. I removed the plants first. I put everything back and now when it rains I don't have a corner swimming pool! It worked like a charm. I had added bag after bag of compost alone and it didn't help on it's own. My lavender that I put back in there is loving the sandy soil. Everything is happy & healthy.

[@timpye6162]

I've got that clay, plants drowning in compacted soil, but I'm with you, compost and biochar, over and over. i have used a garden fork to lift the compacted soil around plant margins in order to get some oxygen in there.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Yup, I have to loosen the soil slightly with a fork to start a new garden area, then use compost and wood chips to continue improving texture.

[@WhatWeDoChannel]

I have been adding my compost to my garden for over two decades and it has made a huge difference to my soil over the years! Klaus

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

We’ve only had our garden for a few years and it’s already improved a lot!

[@ugtitto2654]

2:33 is exactly my soil and I couldn't figure out why with such low clay amount a foot by foot planting hole takes 3:20h to drain. So I bought gypsum... I think I'll still use gypsum, but I'll mix it with a lot of compost and horticultural grit. Hopefully, this mix will help. I also just planted two cherry trees on a two feet mount to stop them from suffucating in clay. No dig. Just piled up a layer of rocks, then grit, then topsoil mixed with compost and garden soil. Hopefully these efforts will return with healthy trees and heavy crops. I'm zone 7 with very wet summers and the low site.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I hope that works well for your cherry trees!

[@ugtitto2654]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Thank you. Still, do you think horticultural grit has the same ability to turn clay soil into concrete as does the sand? I have a tone of washed, Ph neutral grit. I must use it somehow ))

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I haven't used it before so I can't say for sure, but it may have the same problems when used in a heavy clay soil. You would need to use a lot of it to improve drainage, but then you would reduce the fertility per volume of the soil/compost.

[@ugtitto2654]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow I agree. I won't use it anymore. I have a ton bag of compost as well. So compost it is from now on. Thank you for your help.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Good plan, and you're welcome!

[@achsahkaleb4844]

Brilliant! So when will you start a permaculture course??? You are just the best teacher I have found on KZbin. Why are your videos only popping up now?? I really appreciate your wisdom and insight!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you so much! It’s taken a few years to grow my audience but I’m happy with how it’s going now. I’m glad the videos are helpful!

[@GrowfullywithJenna]

Great video! I couldn't agree with this more.. compost, especially homemade, is the way to go!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thanks! I still have those bags of sand and gypsum. I’ll have to run some tests myself to prove it!

[@SonnyHoood]

I found a similar in my compost, low in sulphur and boron as well as manganese so I add garden lime to compost and mix in sulfate of potash. Compost is very acidic I realised and these things fix that. Some times I just sprinkle garden lime to the compost bin, the worms like it

[@nymeriagloves3957]

i tried the jar and water test recently. it seems you need to have more water for good results. as in water level atleast twice as high as the dirt level. this makes it very low viscosity so the layers can seperate better and the clay enough water to be dissolved in. also add a bit of soap and shake long time. i put mine in a rotary tumbler for 5 minute and have very clear layers. if its unclear if a layer is sand you could add sand in the jar to see if it settles way faster than everything else.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you for the tips! I don't remember exactly how much water I used, but it probably wasn't enough. I also didn't use any soap.

[@geeyoupee]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow I got confused with my results at first too but I finally figured out that sand will drop in about a minute, silt about an hour and clay takes up to 12-24hrs. As you wait the clay compacts want gives you lower %. I typically wait for 24hrs to make sure it's fully compact so I get consistent results.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I made sure to wait, too. I think the sample shown in this video had already been sitting for a few days.

[@geeyoupee]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Sorry I wasn't clear. Mix and watch it. Wait 1-3 minutes and you did see all the sand fall. Wait another .5-1hr and you did see the silt fall. Then the water should be very cloudy and you wait for the clay to fall and compact. This way you know which layer is which. Your analysis looks right though. 3% clay. Mine is about 45%.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I see. I’m still not sure if I did it correctly because it’s very likely we have much more clay than this test revealed. It’s incredibly sticky when wet and nearly rock hard after drying.

[@philortiz7519]

Guys would you redo the test and just add biochar to each bucket but it will change water retention drastically. But their is something it does to all of it as a conditioner. It's really neat to see it happen.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

That’s a good idea for another test to do when I can find some good biochar.

[@philortiz7519]

It's easy to make in a metal trash can just keep adding pieces of any carbon stock when you see ash forming.. when can is full smother or drench.. you can crush enough by hand to make it a as fine a dust. Mix it individually with each additive first then your soil.

[@abc_cba]

Very informative video to take notes from! Please, do more videos on citrus plants. Best wishes from India 🇮🇳 Subscribed !!!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you for watching and subscribing! Unfortunately citrus trees don’t grow well in our cold climate, unless we grow them in containers and bring them inside over the winter.

[@Shanonmcnab576]

I wonder if you did a mixture with Clay, topsoil, gypsum, sand and compost all combined and mixed what the outcome would be?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

There’s only one way to find out :)

[@Soadlover432]

This was very informative. Thank you 💗

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you and you’re welcome!

[@loneforest6541]

Awesome...

[@jessejames5604]

I sent this link to my client I’m about to start working on her clay soil and add a landscape . Great video 👍🏽🔥

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Right on, thank you!

[@rufia75]

Soil tests are hilariously expensive here in Canada, at least where I live. I'll just add compost to my garden and maybe some other organic things like worm castings or a little bit of biochar.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I’m sorry to hear that! There’s a very good home test kit made by LaMotte for about $75 US. You can get at least 15 NPK tests out of it, plus pH and more.

[@clairemcconway6266]

really useful video, thank you!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Glad to hear that!

[@katelynsteele6295]

Very informative, thank you!! What type of wood chips do you recommend to use in my vegetable garden?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

You’re welcome! I have another video about wood chips kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIHVpnh3ftKffbc I would recommend getting them from an arborist and make sure it’s not from Black Walnut or Eucalyptus (and a few others, google “allelopathy”). Those release chemicals that suppress plant growth.

[@saikrishnaraghumandala4957]

is it good to add both sand and compost to the clayey soil for improving the aeration and nutritional values ?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I recommend watching Jan’s video (if you haven’t already) with the link in the description or pinned as the top comment. He did a thorough job testing different soil mixes.

[@mikefa5891]

i think a lot of people find this to be a very informative video as most of us do not have ideal garden soil for planting purposes and the biggest challenge is dealing with clay soil that does not drain well at all. I just built a 4'x8' 2-feet tall raised flower bed over an existing lawn growing on clay soil, and even though i filled the raised flower bed with 50% soil mixed with 50% compost purchased from the local nursery, the plants and veggies do not grow well at all because the raised bed does not drain well at all even with 50% soil and 50% compost. Do you have any suggestions that may help? Even if i remove half the contents from the raised bed and replace it with sand, the drainage issue still remains a problem, but do you think it will help with aeration?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you! From the studies I’ve read, adding sand can actually reduce aeration unless you have more than 50% sand per volume. I still don’t have an easy solution after growing in clay soil for several years. I think it just takes time for soil biology to work organic matter into the soil and the drainage will improve.

[@alieninstallation50]

thanks for the video!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Glad you liked it!

[@ymg200]

Since both gypsum and compost help to break up clay, is it ok to use gypsum and compost together at the same time?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

You should probably stick with just compost, since the gypsum may add too much calcium.

[@ymg200]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow I'm building a storm water drywell in order to improve drainage in my backyard, but facing slow water percolation due to heavy clay soil. Can too much calcium be a problem for water percolation? Nothing will grow in the drywell (hopefully), percolation is the only thing that matters there.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

@ymg200 in that case it should be fine. Sorry, I just assumed it was garden related. I think that should work quite well to improve drainage.

[@ymg200]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Most people improve soil for gardening, I have an exception case :-) I've learned that the soil needs to be high on sodium and low on calcium in order for gypsum to work. I have contacted my local cooperative extension for the soil test, waiting to hear back from them.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

@ymg200 that’s definitely true, the gypsum will exchange calcium for sodium.

[@watermelonlalala]

I've been dumping shredded oak leaves, straw, and woodchips in my back yard for a year or two. Thought I would have a good garden this year, but we have had a lot of snow and rain and the yard has turned into a mudhole again. I poked around with a stick beneath the straw and found thick slimy clay. Seems worse than ever. I saw a guy on another channel who had a lot of raised beds, but he said the soil under the bed is important, dig out the clay and put in something else. Nobody liked his advice.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Yeah I tried digging out the clay for my first video because I had no idea what I was doing. It did not go well. Needless to say that video is no longer on KZbin. Your mulching method should be helping, I imagine. Have you tried growing in the soil yet? You may want to try that in the less muddy parts of the yard. The roots of your plants will add organic matter and improve the soil.

[@palace927]

We have clay in our garden and we put in 50% organic matter and compost. Now we have beautiful soil.

[@shamanking5195]

how about using lava sand and bio-char ????

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I don’t know much about those, but I’ll look into it!

[@szabomarton8064]

if you mean igneus rock sand its what you normally get as regular sand. I hope it is not a new way to take ppl money.

[@TreDogOfficial]

Did you ever do a test after adding compost? What about the consensus that soil should only have about 10% organic matter? My soil science teacher in college gave us all sourced documents saying exactly that.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I haven’t tested the soil again after this video, but in general, I’ve seen great results with adding compost and decaying organic matter to our clay soil. The area where I sampled the most in this video is now covered with wood chips for a perennial garden. I’d like to test that area again over the next few years to see how it changes. I’ve also heard 10% organic matter in the soil is a good amount so it won’t take away nitrogen from plant growth as it decays.

[@sergepanasenko4664]

Молодчина! Thank you, I wish you Good Luck with your channel!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you so much!

[@kingjames4886]

compost is just easy and if made with a diverse range of inputs balances pretty much everything that might be wrong with the garden. also you didn't use enough water (or used too much dirt) in your jar test, it needs a larger volume properly suspend the clay and allow things to settle in layers. you can see all those channels in the layers where things got trapped as it settled out and tried to push their way through the lower layer trapping part of it, essentially filtering your results.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

That’s good to know, I’ll have to try it again and use dish soap to separate the layers better. Thanks!

[@kingjames4886]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow oh ya, I've heard dishsoap can help... tho that really only reduces surface tension I think? so idk... maybe I'm wrong.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I’ll have to try it and find out.

[@kingjames4886]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow I'd be interested to know how it works out if you do :)

[@ItsAllGodAnyway]

The beginning of the video looks like my dirt after a good rain…. Eek.

[@bennywalsh2038]

I have clay soil slowing the drainage at one point in my septic leach field. I have loads of compost 'cooking' but am also wondering about sowing some tillage radish to open the soil up. Any thoughts?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I've never grown radish for that purpose, but it sounds like a great natural way to loosen the soil. It's worth a try!

[@xyzsame4081]

Chicory tap roots seems to be even better than the tap root of Daikon Radish. It is a perrenial though. I got that tip form Cotswold Seeds they sell cover crops / green manure seeds to farmers (in the U.K.) The presenter said the roots go through everything even hardpan, it is an incredible plant. If you have really bad clay radish will also not grow into it, especially not if you built a layer of good soil on top of it, in that case carrots and radish agree on that they stop growing or they continue sideways. (David the good has an article and youtube vidoe on that. Is not till possible on hard ground, something like that. A woman in a Southern state with clay AND a lot of rain. She shold have ploughed the ground once and then worked in woodchips and then either sow in deep rooting trees or things like radish. But of course then she would not have had harvests in the first years. She has a distinctive layer under the good soil she built. earthworms do not go there - they could not live. No stucture, no air, nothing they can eat, and if they have a week of rain she has standing water and does not have to dig deep for that (that also damages her crops). Daikon radish is quite popular as goto cover crop to loosen soil (U.S. farmers have it planted by plane sometimes !) and does a good job with dense underground - but chicory seems to be better.But it needs more than 1 season to get the roots deep down. It grows again after winter and then it goes really deep. Farmers will then terminate it to grow their cash crop (corn, soy etc.) not sure if one could let it grow for longer. Farmers do that to counteract the effects of compaction by the large machines and to have fodder for earthworms. If chicory is left in the ground longer maybe it would seed itself. A plant that volunteers would be helpful. Chicory is sold as fancy vegetable but I think the soil improver is another variety, and the point of growing it would not be to get a harvest (although it would be worth a try maybe they are still good) but to loosen soil and to let it decompose directly in the bed - as fodder for earth worms (that is what they do on farms). .

[@MrMixamitosis]

Thanks for sharing your tips... Liked and subscribed for more like this! :)

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

You’re welcome and thank you very much!

[@EarthloveGlobal]

Quality soil compost #compost #soil #quality

[@ksero1000]

That is what I have it’s more like taffy than soil.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Yup, I can sculpt with it easily. A layer of wood chip mulch is slowly improving it though!

[@ksero1000]

Some Room to Grow I’m going to have to get some wood chips also. I don’t understand how anything could live in that. I got a TON of worms and potato bugs. The birds LOVE my yard. I just want to plant pretty shrubs trees and plants. I did not know that mushrooms were good. Thanks for this video.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

getchipdrop.com is a great source for free wood chips.

[@ksero1000]

Some Room to Grow I might try making my own compost too, but afraid to attract roaches and rodents. WWOW thank you so much!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

You’re welcome! You can just start with green and brown yard waste and add used coffee grounds to help break it down. I have a video about that too, The Benefits of Making Leaf Compost

[@geeyoupee]

We had some retaining walls made and the contractors threw away the top soil and put the sub soil on top. Now we have sandy clay soil, borderline clay. It's pretty compacted and very hard to dig into. I started digging it up but it comes out in sticky chunks and very hard rock like pieces. I was planning to add both gypsum and compost. Do you think I can just mix it in and let nature do it's work? Or I should spend the time to sift through and break up the clumps. Add water to break up the really hard pieces. My soil is pretty much dead of life also. Any idea how to add fungi, bacteria, works, etc? I can get free compost from the landfill. Thanks in advance.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

That sounds pretty hard to work with! I would suggest laying a few inches of compost on top of the soil. You could lightly till it into the top 2-3 inches of your soil, but don’t till again after that. Then you can add a 4-6 inch layer of wood chips on top. You can probably get those free from a local arborist using chipdrop.com. It will take some time for your soil to improve, but the compost and wood chips will give it all the fungi and bacteria it needs. I also recommend sending a soil sample to a soil lab to learn more about what’s already in it. Best of luck with your soil and everything you grow in it!

[@geeyoupee]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Thanks for the response. I bought a lamotte model el test kit for pH, n, p, k. I have different soils in different areas because of the construction, sending in multiple samples would be too expensive. I was thinking I should break it up at much as possible for the first till/ amendment. If my shovel can't get through, it may take years before plants can get down. Because it's a retaining wall. I can't just load bunch of compost on top like the no till method because it will overfill over the years. My landfill gives free 4 inch mulch too. I'll add that with the compost. Hopefully it works!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Gotcha. Then that would probably be best to start with. The lamotte kit is supposed to be quite good. I hope that all works for you!

[@UMESHKUMAR-ly6vg]

Great

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thanks!

[@cdgarrett1]

Nothing stops wire grass. Adding sand to the clay makes it easier to pull weeds out of the soil. Wire grass embedded in heavy clay is almost impossible to get out. Nothing will stop the wire grass but sandy loam is easier maintenance in removal of the wire grass.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I haven’t come across any wire grass yet but it sounds tough. I’ve had great luck using wood chips in our yard. Even if grasses and weeds do come up through the mulch, they’re quite easy to remove from the friable soil underneath.

[@cdgarrett1]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow once wire grass gets into compost and mulch it cannot be stopped. Compost and mulch is like feeding gasoline to a fire. The clay beneath if it isn’t broken up with sand, will anchor the wire grass in place. No amount of weeding will stop it. The only advantage we can have against wire grass is sand applications to break up the clay and make it easier to pull the wire grass out completely.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Sounds awful! Thanks for the tips, I’ll keep an eye out for it.

[@SloggieBear]

Thanks for sharing what you have learned

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

You’re welcome!

[@mikec1371]

It is true that clay will hold nutrients, but it tends to hold too much, making it difficult for trees to use. Add Humic acid or compost to your clay soil, to make it usable.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you for the info!

[@mikec1371]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Easiest way is to have a small fish pond around, try some low oxygen type (catfish for ex.). So you'll never have to change water. As the fish grow, poo and die in the water. The pond water will serve as your eternal compost

[@EnggMohdRafe]

You are telling CEC in whole video. What about AEC. If there is no AEC soil will not hold anions. Like sulfur and phosphorus. Resulting insect and fungal deseases.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I’m not sure what the AEC of our soil is, but it does contain plenty of sulfur and phosphorus. I talk about CEC in this video because it relates to compost.

[@philortiz7519]

Folk make and add biochar to all of it. Clay sand compost. Add a bit of gypsum rock phosphate azomite dried matures composted matures raw to. Compost tea lactobacillus seaweed. Soil is grown all clay needs are friends to play with. Biochar is community housing .

[@palace927]

In our area where our ph is high for alkaline, it's a bad idea to add biochar.

[@JustMe-999a]

Sand isn't cheap by the bag, but it super cheap in larger volumes. I can buy a ton of sand for $7.

[@nicolasbertin8552]

I disagree. Compost doesn't improve a clay soil, unless you just put the raw materials as fresh as possible, IE leaves, branches, straw, kitchen waste... But no, mature compost will not improve the structure of your soil. It feeds the plants, not the soil, when mature, because it's already been degraded. If you want to improve your clay soil, first and foremost you need carbon. Wood chips, dry leaves, straw, that kind of thing. Compost will help you feed the plants, as it's rich in nitrogen, but will do very little to improve the overall structure of your clay. I have an alcaline clay soil, pH 8.1, and on some areas we tried compost, some we tried sand, and some we tried mulching with wood chips. Wood chips by far is the best. It feeds worms, mushrooms and bacteria, and you get a much better structure. Sand won't prevent your soil to stick to your shoes if there's no carbon. And compost alone is just to help feed the crops, but it won't do much else. Worms don't eat it, so they won't dig and improve your soil. Compost IS useful, but is far from being the best amendment for your soil. That'd be ramial wood, or wood chips, and straw. To feed a soil, you can use wood chips alone. You'll get a bit of nitrogen depletion for a while if your soil isn't optimal, but on the long run you'll get plenty of humus and great crops. Compost alone how cannot improve a soil unless you put like 30 cm of compost, and in that case the few twigs and scraps in it may feed the worms, especially if there's nothing else to eat. But it's a stupid method (some do it...), when using compost it should always be paired with a carbon-based mulch.

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Thank you for your comment and I'd like to try to clarify a few things. I mostly agree with the information you've provided (I'm deducting a few points for using the word "stupid" at the end), but you've certainly pointed out that my wording in the video wasn't clear enough. In the beginning, I do say "compost and decaying organic matter." I should have been more clear that applying unfinished compost and mulch on top of the soil is better to let the worms do the tilling and let everything else finish the decomposition process. I had trouble working on the script for this one because I knew there was a strong potential for criticism. But I'm open to that criticism because that leads to growth. I'm always reluctant to use a word like "best" because it leaves no room for discussion. That's another mistake and I should change the title and description. At least I used the modifier "one of the best" in the intro. My goal with the video was to compare the three most commonly recommended amendments for clay soils: gypsum, sand and organic matter. I wanted to go beyond structure and talk about how organic matter is overall a better solution than the other two for nutrient and water retention, aeration, mineral balance and increased soil biology. I hope I at least accomplished that. Otherwise, thank you for bringing all of this to my attention and I'll be sure to do better next time. If anything, this has given me a chance to make another video in the future to talk more about some of the things you mentioned. You're absolutely right that mulches like wood chips, leaves and straw will work wonders on clay soils. We've started using wood chips in various locations this year and have seen significant improvements in structure from increased worm activity. I'm curious to see how it continues to improve over time.

[@nicolasbertin8552]

@@SomeRoomtoGrow Over time with wood chips you will get a lot of humus, and humus leaks nitrogen slowly. So overall you'll get insane yields after 2 or 3 years, because plants then grow in a medium closest to their natural growing medium. You'll have to plant stuff like onions much closer together or you'll get gigantic crops. Some farmers in France using these methods had to stop using conventional cauliflower and cabbage varieties because they were just too big. No one buys a 5 kg cauliflower. An example of what you can get with wood chips : kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4mViY1upcp1nsk

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I'm sorry I didn't see this earlier, KZbin held it for review because of the link. But thank you for that, it's cool to see! I have a huge stockpile of wood chips that I'll be putting to good use this year. Lots of perennials in our future garden. I'm curious to see the results over the next few years as we try these new methods.

[@N3ONLUV]

Would sawdust be good?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Good question! Microbiology in the soil uses nitrogen to decompose woody materiel. Sprinkling sawdust on the soil surface would be okay, but mixing it further down into the soil is not recommended because it will take away nitrogen from plant life as it decomposes.

[@JoseReyes-xs3js]

Compost is great proably the best for clay soil wish it was a permanent solution . But eventually in time it breaks down and Dissolves disintegrates and the clay remains buts if u add compost to your soil or clay soil like once a year it will benefit your soil and u will always have good soil . Yeah sand is not that good its doesnt retain moisture that well it just wash threw in time and even makes clay soil dry out even faster . So yeah compost is the best and will do the trick

[@PierreDuhamel-lj1vb]

Structural or chemical amendment of soil is somehow always limited and work intensive ...but microbial amendment or inoculation trought compost or fermented juices is like discovering you needed yeast to make bread !!!

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

Well put!

[@ilDreadmakermichele]

Why you have so Little subscriber?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I don’t know but I’ll take that as a compliment! My channel is still young but I hope to do a lot more this year. Thank you for your comment!

[@wipeoutxl21]

ah you cut your hair, we no longer have the same hairstyle. What spurred the change?

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

I did, I hope we can still be friends :) I’ve never really been a long hair guy, I just got tired of the extra hassle. Had to take it way down to start fresh.

[@jennavencill7598]

Your funny.......we are talking about soil right????

[@SomeRoomtoGrow]

A little humor is good for the soul...and soil. 😂

[@jennavencill7598]

A lil humor a lil humus