Clay soil gardening

The soil in our part of France was pure clay and was extremely fertile. But sticky when wet and rock-hard when dry so difficult to work with. You needed to dig in lots of compost/organic material to improve the soil. Farmers did regular muck-spreading. And clearing stones, washed down from the Pyrenees.
But ours had a good depth. Yours sounds as if it might have builders rubble underneath - is it a modern house?
Flowers didn't do too well, most people had flowers in pots.
Ask around your neighbours, they might have the same problems.

Hi Chewbacca. Our garden is clay and also south facing but quite small and with no lawn. We have the added complication of living in a lovely Victoria school but trying to garden on the playground. The people who did the conversion of the school didn't do a brilliant job of breaking up the playground.

When we first moved we had a twice yearly gardener who spent ages digging in soil improver and sharp sand where possible, which has helped a lot. We have continued to do that when ever we change a bed or create a space.

I grow all the plants you mention though the crocosmia Lucifer doesn't spread. The Montbretia does!

We also have euphorbia, hellebores, day lilies and too many geraniums, Plus lots of other things.

I thought roses were supposed to love clay soils.

I have the same sort of soil. Every year I dig down as far as I can go ( after it's rained) and mix in a year's worth of home made compost and now I can grow most plants, especially those grown from bulbs. My neighbour said I'd never be able to grow anything because of the poor soil but I was determined to prove him wrong.

I also mix in any old bought compost which I've used in potted plants the year before and occasionally a bit of sand. It's hard work but it can be done. I have bad knees and a back problem so I just sit on the lawn and do a small section at a time usually in the early evening when it's cool. I also pick out all the stones by hand but there's always seems more the next year and I cut out any tree roots growing there!

My cat always sits by my side watching as I do all this but never offers to help, unless it's to poo in the freshly dug soil afterwards but at least she's doing it in my garden and not my neighbours and it doesn't seem to affect the plant growth!

Chewbacca my garden has clay soil too - 30 years’ worth of home made compost has improved it a bit
If I were you I’d employ a young fit person to do the heavy digging, remove stones & roots & work in some compost.
Our council recycles garden waste and will deliver the resulting compost - maybe yours does something similar.

As soon as it rains and subsequently dries out again, the soil will clump back together again. Digging in organic matter is the way to go. Stables often give it away. Use spent compost from tubs and baskets, start your own compost heap if possible. Continue adding organic matter every year and it soon improves. Work it in to a spade’s depth, worms will do the rest. And they will quickly multiply in the matter. Add more on the surface in autumn.
Whenever you plant , dig in a couple of bucketfuls of cheap compost with each plant. I’ve found Lidl is the cheapest around here and they sell a peat free version.

Some people we know had a similar problem and they fenced off an area - electric fence - and borrowed 2 pigs for the summer. It was amazing how those pigs dug over, and manured, that land and amused all the local children.

An alternative, if that is a step too far, would be to have raised beds and import compost. Or have lawn, paved area and pots.
It's true that roses love clay. My DD first garden was clay. Heather grew well. I gave her some barrels filled with homemade compost and she grew beautiful flowers in them.

We have heavy blue slip clay. My OH even dug a huge pond, with no liner needed, and the rain water filled it up and it stayed, just because it is solid heavy sticky clay.

These all grow well - Roses, Viburnums, rose of Sharon, perennial geranium, crab apples, Pittosporum , Euphorbia , Elaeagnus, weigela , honeysuckle, if you have the room -willows, poplar and alder. Primroses and cowslips.

When I plant I make a big hole and add gravelly soil and compost. I would have a raised beds for your perennials etc. Just grow a few of the above shrubs direct in the ground. They often get off to a slow start as the soil is so cold and claggy. I now get small plants, as they seem to establish quicker and grow better than a big specimen. Weeding is a nightmare. Good luck !!!!

Bulbs rot after a year or so.

My neighbour has spent 5 +years trying to improve his veg plot with goat, sheep and horse manure and straw. He says raised beds are the way to go.

I grew up in a house with a heavy clay garden. Every Spring my Dad bought a load of farm manure which he dug into the soil. He grew all sorts of things. Front garden was flower beds, daliahs, hydrangeas, sedum, spring flowers.
Back garden had a lawn surrounded on three sides with vegetable beds. He grew onions, potatoes, peas and runner beans. Everything was lovely, but it took a lot of work to make it so.

Hmmm... thanks everyone; I'm thinking raised beds is the way to go. I've spent 3 hours today just digging out more stones, matted roots and weeds and I've covered about a square metre. I suspect builder's rubble is fairly close to the surface, maybe 6 or 8 inches down and I'm too old, fat and knackered to be wielding a pitchfork to break that up! So far I've found roses --covered in blackspot and mildew--; sedum; day lillies; Japanese anemone and huge swathes of scraggly pink geranium and cranesbill.

This isn't going to be a quick "prune and tidy up" is it?

I am in an area of fine silty soil (dust), here in Cheshire but we have been inproving it over the years.
My crocosmia Lucifer is magnificant this year in a bed with Alstromeria yellow and red.
When we lived in Northhampton in 1950s on a new house plot my father broke several spades trying to dig it. You could throw pots with that clay.
Here in South Cheshire we get very small areas of red clay in the garden as we live on the edge of the potteries, and one way, coal mines to the north and there was salt extraction a short way away. We had to have searches for all those hazards .

We had huge deposits of clay in our old house and did all of the above. The road was Potters Avenue off Kiln Road.
The grandchildren enjoyed making little pots.

If it’s red clay it is Marl and is very difficult when its dry, what seems like rock underneath is probably compacted marl which when dry will defy any cultivation.

If it is a whole new bed you are doing clear the weeds and wait until rain or watering softens it, then dig in lots of compost or peat before planting it up as you want. Marl is very fertile if you can get it into a workable condition.

Check what weeds you have before you get rid, those are the families that will do well in your soil!