I wonder how they managed to live off clay soil a 100 years ago before commercial fertilizers, amendments like gypsum, and without huge amounts of compost. I know they have always used manures but I bet it was mostly cover crops like winter wheat and plowing that under. There are no references that I have seen about making a compost bin in the 1880s that was large enough for 40 acres of corn.
A clue might be the three sisters garden. The mounds that many used would help the drainage and the beans would supply nitrogen. It is my understanding that they let nature do the cover crops and only reused a plot after three years of rest.
Sometimes I wonder if we work too hard amending clay and there might be easier and less expensive ways than to use 40 pound bags of compost from the local garden center.
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