clay soil
Heavy gardening substrate
Clay soil is earth with a high proportion of clay particles, making it dense, heavy, and slow to drain.
It becomes sticky when wet and hard when dry, challenging gardeners because roots struggle to penetrate and water pools on the surface.
However, clay soil holds nutrients well: The roses thrive in our clay soil once established.
- water retentionBody storing excess fluid
- root rotFungal underground plant disease
- cobMaize ear's central cylinder
- siltWaterborne earth particles
- rammed earthCompacted soil as building material
wet feet · adobe · shrink-swell · cracked earth · potter's wheel · terra cotta · kaolinite · hardpan · percolation · waterlogging · garden bed · weathering · sedimentation · humus · plasticity · irrigation · dry · tillage
- soilstopsoil, subsoil, loam, silt, peat
- Black BeltAlabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina
- Soiltopsoil, subsoil, dirt, loam, earth
- farming knowledgecrop rotation, companion planting, seed saving, fallow fields, composting
- Growing Conditionssunlight, moisture, drainage, climate, shade
- growing mediapotting mix, perlite, vermiculite, peat moss, topsoil
soil texture/particle size
clay soilsandy soil
Coarse, granular earth
sand · coarse sand · gravel · sandy loam · loose soil