Growing Food in Red Clay

Is red clay even soil? My mom always said dirt won't hurt. Well, she never met the red clay down here in South Carolina. This stuff stains everything! When we first moved down here, I was in awe of the gorgeous color of the ground. I am color blind, so it's difficult for me to see certain colors, like red, but when I first saw this soil I was amazed at how vibrant the color is. I felt like a kid again looking at all the new things life offered down here. I called our place "Our own little slice of Heaven on Earth". Of course Heaven on Earth comes complete with bugs the size of my face, animals that would rather eat me than look at me, and snakes.....all KINDS of snakes!! I was on a night search training hike (I am a registered search and rescue worker-inactive currently). We were doing a grid search when the man next to me said Stop! There is a copperhead in front of you. I looked down and sure enough a copperhead was slithering across the toe of my boot! That was enough to make me get out of the grid and back onto the path for the rest of that hike!

Back to the topic at hand...Red clay occurs from iron deposits. I don't know the exact reasoning, but iron is the culprit.  Many people say they cannot grow a garden in clay soil....to that I say hooey! I've done it. It wasn't the most desirable way to grow food, but I was successful. In fact I had a bumper harvest, growing in nothing more than red clay. All I supplemented with that year was with water from my fish tank. I grew tomatoes, peppers (both hot and sweet bells), cucumbers and marigolds, and let me tell you the marigolds went wild! Those puppies were almost as tall as me, and the flowers were ENORMOUS!! I wish I had video of the garden that year, but a photo will have to do for now. That was enough to teach me, that I don't need expensive soil additives or tools to grow a garden. All I need is faith that it will grow.

And grow it did!! I was harvesting so many tomatoes I couldn't process them all before they rotted, so I ended up giving many away. I made salsa, tomato sauce, and canned more tomatoes than I thought I would need in a winter. I learned that there is no such thing as canning too much salsa in this house. My family went wild for it! My husband said it was addictive, and the kids said it was better than the store bought kinds. When teenagers compliment your food, you've arrived!

So while I am learning how to make compost, and use other soil amendments I make myself, I will be growing food.....directly in red clay dirt.  I hope you won't let the condition of the dirt in your yard stop you from trying to grow something new too. Have fun playing in the dirt!!
Peace!