Does anyone recommend any additives to soil beyond compost that would be wise to spread occassionally to help improve the soil quality?

Ive got a blank slate in the backyard and will be laying sod and planting trees/shrubs. Just trying to prep the soil best I can.

You're not going to be able to "change" the composition of a clay soil without massive amounts of excavation and soil mixing.

SOmeone else posted about there local "living earth" or something telling them they could break clay down with a few loads of this or that.

You're best bet is to by plants suited to those conditions and go from there. A few yards of top soil tilled into the ground is probably the best your going to get.

HTH.

Expanded Shale may work, but how much and getting it incorporated may be the issue.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/hortupdate_archives/2003/nov03/Expdshale.html

Clays are typically a high pH and also by nature a good buffer, which means it takes a ton of stuff to modify it. For compsition, it will take several inches of loam and organic matter to modify it and it has to be mixed in. I'm doing exactly the same thing to my garden. It requires a ton of well mixed addition. This will.imprpve it's pH as well. You are mostly diluting the soil with better soil.

Additionally, when you plant your trees, make the holes a few feet across no matter how big the root ball is (3-5x root ball diameter is a good barometer). Then fill with higher quality soil and by the time the roots get to the edge of that hole and good soil, they'll be strong enough the bust through the clay without becoming "root bound".

Before you spend a lot of money, you might see what you already have:

http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/

Did you previously try to establish something in this area and fail?

OnlyForNow said:

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Additionally, when you plant your trees, make the holes a few feet across no matter how big the root ball is (3-5x root ball diameter is a good barometer). Then fill with higher quality soil and by the time the roots get to the edge of that hole and good soil, they'll be strong enough the bust through the clay without becoming "root bound".

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This! It'll suck... yes... You'll curse, swear, and generally hate life. But it must be done. Oh, and dig a square hole.

Thanks. We're out of state - I'm sure there are other similar testing avenues.

Nothing failed. It's a new build home and backyard has nothing but the dirt and fence.

Seems reasonable to dig a hole that big. Already dug out an area for patio and fire pit so that sounds fine to me.

To fully change the soil composition, what I've found works best is to dig has many holes in your yard. The holes must be spaced evenly at 24" center to center across the yard for this to work.

Each morning, after your cup of joe, go visit a hole and fill 'er up. Smooth out the hole and proceed to the next one on the following day. Depending on how often you go, your yard will be fully transitioned within a matter of 2-4 wks.

You're welcome