When will my clay soil be ready?

Did you say, slay soil? i am in the same catagory and we use our neighbors tiller every year. Been in my home 35 years and the soil is finally getting softer in our garden. Wish that we could have learned this earlier, but I save card board over the winter. I use it to keep the weeds down in between the rows of seed that I plant. Wait to lay it down once your plants have gotten so big, Also, during the course of the summer, when we are cutting grass, sometimes we use a grass bagger, and we throw the grass in the garden soil also. Sometime, I pull plants and weeds at the end of autumn and I throw them in my garden. The card board and the grass lie in the garden all winter. When you turn the soil over in the spring, you are mulching all of this into your soil. Year after year. Doing t his year after year, you will really notice a difference. Best of luck

Compost doesn't change the clay, it just loosens it and adds nutrients. It all depends on the chemical makeup and solidity of the clay. You just need to keep adding compost until it is loose enough.

Same problem here. We till, add peat moss, sand, used coffee grounds, egg shells crushed up, and a few bags of soil. Then till again . Each year it gets better. I am sure compost would help too! Good luck and Happy Growing season.

It may take a while, patience is definitely needed, but compost does help. Composts are integral to clay soil management. Because of the humified nature of compost and its low concentrations of oxidizable carbon and available nitrogen, compost is relatively resistant to further decomposition, and additions of compost to the soil over time can increase the soil's organic carbon and humic matter content.

http://www.finegardening.com/article/improving-clay-soils

I gave up on improving our clay soil and moved instead to raised beds. These are much more efficient and rewarding for me. My garden grows much better since it’s closer to my water source. I add composted horse bedding in the spring to the soil.

add shredded paper to the top layer of the compost to help the worms.

http://www.jetcompost.com/burrow/3bedding.htm

let the abundant worms do some of the work for you.. lay down the clippings. cover with shredded paper and cardboard,.. turn in the fall and spring...

Thank you, best of luck

http://www.finegardening.com/article/improving-clay-soils