Clay soil has finer particles than silt or sand, making it more challenging to aerate.
Among sand, silt and clay soil textures, clay has the least natural tendency to aeration, tending to be highly compacted. While clay soil holds water wonderfully, it has small particles with relatively little space between them; as such, it easily becomes waterlogged. However, the creative gardener may use a range of techniques to ensure proper aeration, even in the purest clay soils.
Compost
Adding natural compost to your soil can improve your plants' health, enlarge your crop yields, balance the soil pH and aerate heavily compacted soils. When added to clay soil, the organic matter in compost helps to break up the matrix of tightly-packed small clay particles. This benefits all varieties of plants as it permits water and air to infiltrate the clay soil. In addition, composting with organic material will attract beneficial organisms such as earthworms, which will further contribute to breaking down clay soil that is too tightly packed.
Fibrous Additions
Besides well-decomposed organic compost, you can improve aeration by adding a range of organic materials to your clay soil. Peat, wood chips, tree bark and straw all increase the aeration, drainage and porosity. Adding sand to clay soil is a popular organic additive intended to create a loamy texture; however, unless you apply sand with a sufficiently sharp grain, the combination can become cement-like instead of porous. With many clay soils, any kind of organic additive needs to be added frequently. For this reason, fibrous combinations such as tree bark and straw may offer a longer-term solution than compost. Likewise, planting legumes and grasses between growing seasons can enrich the soil's nitrogen; when it's time to plant your regular crops, simply turn the rotation crops back into the clay soil, where they will serve as natural fibrous additions, aerating over time.
Shale
Blue shale, found across much of Texas, has been shown to aid in aerating and breaking up thick clay soils. To produce useful aeration material, miners break the shale into 1- to 1.5-inch pieces and fire it in a kiln. Through this process, the shale becomes more porous, lightweight and absorptive. When adding shale to potted plants, mix 1/3 shale with 2/3 soil to line the bottom half of the container. For the top half, mix together 50 percent shale and 50 percent soil. For flower or vegetable beds, add 3 inches of shale and till it to blend down, 6 to 8 inches deep.
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