Dealing with heavy clay soil can be a challenge for many gardeners. This dense, compact soil type retains water and drains ...

Compacted clay can make it difficult for roots to access air and water, and overly wet conditions can lead to root rot. It's never going to be the ideal soil environment for grass roots ...

In summer, it is often baked dry, with visible surface cracks, making it difficult to get ... can be done earlier in the year than with clay or silty soil.

Years of trials followed, as Kristian P Olesen, a Norwegian fluid dynamics engineer, searched for a way of making a clay recipe that would easily mix with sand to turn it into life-giving soil.

Clay soil is usually sticky and has small particles ... Image caption, Earthworms living in the soil make holes called channels, which let air and water get into the ground.