Clay Soil to Good Growing Step 2 - adding Sand

This is an update post on my Clay Soil
This is Step 2

I chopped the clay down to smaller bits in the last step, now I need to start to get the clumps smaller still. My theory is to stir in some Sharp Sand.
You can use special horticultural sand, but its expensive. I wanted to make sure that the sharp sand I got was from a river, not a beech. The easy way to check was to wet my finger and stick it in the sand, then taste it. No salt taste - river sand  - good.
Grit between teeth - not so good
3 bags (apx 75kg)

The Bed before I start Stage 2

3 Bags of Sand

Emptied

Roughly Spread

The sand was then Stirred in, and the clay chopped a bit finer.
The bed started to overflow at the edge, and I was getting fed up of picking it up.





I had some old planks laying around, so I decided to build up the sides of the bed. Still too clumpy on the clay, so another 3 bags of sand.

It is starting to look better. I have spent under a tenner so far, the sand was bought from B&Q at £1.40/bag (its nearly £2 a bag if you don't have a trade card)

This is how it looks at the end of stage 2

Still a bit clumpy, but a little rain and some fibre in the form of compost and manure will help. I will do that in stage 3
Link to Next Step
View the Steps from the Beginning Here