BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Gardening Plant for clay soil

Well, It's for my aunt. The soil where She moved is clay based. What to grow there? Any suggestion?

I have a huge garden and most everything grows in it except cucumbers and basil. It is mostly clay. I keep tilling in straw, leaves and I burn it off every year and till that in. Mint goes wild in clay soil. Cilantro, dill, arugula, garlic and onions are spreading and taking over like crazy. I have to pick it as weeds where I don't want it. Chinese lantern, bachelor buttons, poppies, marigolds, they all thrive. You have to keep the soil moist when small things are sprouting up, so it doesn't form that hard crust on the top.

The local master gardeners told me clay soil has lots of nutrients, the key is to plant bare root in rough, craggy holes so that the plants root into the clay, rather than becoming essentially pot bound in the softer soil.

It seems to be working for me.
Julie