Keykat-Outside of moving,try to work some organic material into your soil.

From one clay gardener to another, it takes work, but can be done. I second the organic material suggestion. Start small and stay with it. Another idea, which I haven't tried yet, is raised beds. It means buying some decent dirt, but I've been told it works well.

If you dig a hole, dig it 2 or 3 times bigger than you think you need. Then mix good dirt or organic matter in with the dirt from the hole before replanting. The bigger (not deeper!) the hole, the better. Mulch about 2 inches deep all the way around (not touching the stem). As the mulch breaks down, it adds nutrients to the soil while holding in moisture.

Clay is challenging, but not impossible.

KeyKat,
I have clay too. I do raised beds for my vegetables. For ornamental plants, I grow natives that are found in clay. Aster, goldenrods, blackeyed susans and purple coneflowers.

Morning!

I'm for raised bed gardening for the most "back friendly" solution! We have two huge Cedar trees here and they have SUCKED the life out of my ground! No joke...it's like concrete! We paid a guy to do some tractor work in our front yard and his auger had a heck of a time digging a few tree holes! Anyhow...while he was here I had him rip two – 2’ wide trenches down my front walkway. I wanted to load it with bulbs etc.

That was three years ago...and when we tried to dig in the border last spring it was just another MASS ENGANGLES MESS of fine Cedar roots again. I give up! I love my huge trees but they cause huge problems!

I’ve bought books on Lasagna gardening (which is a very amusing concept)...and it will be raised beds if we don’t move in the next year or so.

All the suggestions about the addition of organic material to the clay are right on. I won’t live long enough to EVER get my soil amended properly. It’s just like a parking lot!

Off to work.... Hugs to all..

Poof*

KeyKat-I was pretty tired last nite or I also would have suggested raised beds,as that's what I have to do due to lack of any soil.The soil I do get is pretty clayey,but I keep mixing in seaweed and steer manure.
Late spring 07
I use native rock from dynamited rock quarries to make borders with.I also have some wood ones.

We also have clay. To begin amending the soil, I would have the boys take the grass clippings from the front yard and spread it like mulch around the plants. Didn't take very many years before we had the most wonderful worms living out there. We did add some soil, but not much, as we expanded the planting area. We took the clay we removed to the compost pile, added sand and lots and lots of vegetable peelings.

When we started building raised beds for the vegetables, we used that soil and lots of dried leaves (my husband saves them in leaf bags from fall to spring) and, believe it or not, shredded paper (old income tax papers, bills, etc). The worms love it! And when all the neighbors are complaing about their gardens burning up, ours is thriving.

Okay, you guys, all this talk of gardens is making me want to dig in the dirt! I am leaving and going back to my quilting!

But if anyone has any good advice on putting in a pond, I am all ears!

Hello every one,
OK I finished cut all my rags. Now I've got to figure out how to make them into three long strips to braid. I may wait until I visit Mom again. She has the sewing machines. lol

Native Girl, Jill, isn't it? Nola, who is a fellow Hoosier makes rag rugs. She will have some good advice for you. I am rather a novice at the craft, but I think the two main ways to join strips are either by laying the two strips perpendicular to each other at the end and then stitching diagonally across the overlap. Whenyou trim the excess fabric away it gives you a strong seam (stronger than butting two ends together and stitching) with very little bulk and no lumps.

For a more primative look, and one that does not require a sewing machine, make a lsit about an inch or so in from the end on both pieces. Then you feed the second strip through the slit in the first strip and the first strip through the slit in the second strip. You do end up with little dog ears, but that's okay if that is the look you want.

Ohiorose,
LOL I think I'm over thinking it. I was thinking about lining all the stripes up, sorting them by size and maybe color. LOL Too much work. I think I will try alternating long and short. I never heard of an L cut but I did know at the diagonal.
Thanks Jill

Hi, NG,

I have made fabric rugs in the past, though not recently, called "toothbrush rugs." This is because you use a very large plastic "needle" which could be made by cutting off the brush end of an older fashion toothbrush and enlarging or drilling a hole. You can buy one of these for a couple of bucks and save yourself the trouble if you want:
http://www.auntphillys.com/html/needle.html

The main page of this website shows an issue of "Quilts and More" magazine that shows step by step instructions:
http://www.auntphillys.com/index.html
I have this magazine ... which also happens to have a simple quilt made of patches from worn out blue jeans. PM me is you are intersted in more info on the magazine

You can see a tutorial for this online here:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_fabrics_other/article/0,,HGTV_3390_1384948,00.html

I have never made a denin one, but I think that this might work well for such a heavy fabric. You would have to cut the fabric into two inch strips and fold it once with the back side facing inward. You do have to make a 1/2 verticle cut and knot the strips together through the slit. You can see it in the pictures of the tutorial.

Hope this helps and does not confuse you,

Pat