The Benefits of Clay Soil

This hot humid weather is getting to me. When the weather is to miserable for me to go outside and doodle with my plants, I am telling you it is miserable. The plants don't seem to be suffering though. I've had enough rain at my house so that things are still looking pretty good. This ole red clay is hard to work, but when it gets hold of water and fertilizer, it holds on and can sustain plants through droughts much better than sandy loam. Stop cursing that clay in your yard and face the facts: in Alabama our richest soils are red clays. They do need organic matter like all soils, and they can be lightened up with enough sand. Be careful with adding sand though. Too little can actually cause a sort of cement to set up and you could be worse off than when you had done nothing. My red clay needs a dose of epsom salts to keep some plants (notably tomatoes)from getting blossom end rot. The magnesium sulfate causes calcium to be released from the clay particles where it is tightly bound. It then become available to the plant. Calcium deficiency is the cause of blossom end rot. So much for today's soil chemistry lesson.