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Ah I see what you mean, but I'm not keen on raised beds and the level needs to come up about 200mm anyway so plenty of capacity for good stuff. I actually heard a bloke on gardeners question time saying how good clay can be if you just add enough organic matter, which chimes with my experience at my allotment where I've much better soil on the half I've added more to and still muddy or rock hard on the half I haven't.
I think the huge oak at the back will soak up a lot in winter if I can move water in that direction.
Polygon-
how good clay can be
There are definitely advantages to it for water retention. We have actual clay in our soil. When we had our patio done I made models and pots with my kids out of lumps in the skip. So in some of my pots I've put some lumps in the bottom to help in dry spells.
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think the huge oak at the back will soak up a lot in winter
Dont think deciduous trees use up any water when not in leaf?
Unless it's a holm oak?
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Re hosta: clay is nice and damp and slugs and snails love that and hosta...
Mine is ok and only nibbled on by tiny snails but it'll end up with holes in it for sure.
For shade I believe hellebore can take some shade? They add some early pollinator flowers.
hugo7
lemonade
JWestland
I know, we live in an area of clay soil, there are clay pits around here now fishing lakes. Our new planting areas are in raised beds where I don't have the problems of very clay soil it's possible to make bricks out of.