sticky clay soil

[cookiewoos]

Hello,
New to growing veg this year and loving it! So far I have dug and planted three beds in a previously uncultivated field and planted them up. Potatoes, peas, spinach, spring onions, beetroot and radishes. So far so good (except we've discovered that although they grow well, we don't like eating radishes!)

Unfortunately, the last bed for this year is proving to be a nightmare. Full of bindweed roots as all of the others were, but the soil is sooooo heavy and sticky (I presume that is "clay"). Can bearly lift a small shovel of it and it sticks to the shovel and won't scrape off with my wellies. How can I make it more like normal soil?
I was planning on putting the sweetcorn, currently on my windowsill, ion this plot. Will it grow?
Any advice (on a budget!!) gratefully received.
Thanks

[TEB]

Hi Cookiewoos and welcome,
Unfortunately I have read that sweetcorn likes most soil but hates clay , you could make planting pockets for it or grow it in pots, they like full sun and some help against strong winds. Plant in a block formation as they are wind pollinated

[cookiewoos]

What are planting pockets?

[TEB]

Instead of digging in compost or other medium to the entire bed just remove the soil where the plants are and replace it, or dig out the soil and plant the courgettes in pots into the soil. Even better would be to cover the bed with an old carpet (say) and then just plant in pots on top if possible. Then at the end of the growing season remove the carpet remove as much weeds as you can and then dig in lots of organic matter.