I have several established North Alabama Clay flower beds on top of which I’ve put 1-2-3 inches of compost. I’ve planted Sugar Snap Peas, using potting soil to fill the seed depressions that I made using a hoe handle.

The beds are too small to operate a garden tiller in. I was in a hurry, expecting rain. And I decided it would be too tough to try to hand dig the compost into the clay. And perhaps I was lazy! So I just applied the compost, then planted in it.

Now I read that putting compost over clay can be a Big Mistake. That moisture will pass right thru the compost and pool on top the clay.

One idea I have is to get a really long 1/4 inch drill bit and use a portable electric drill to drill thru the compost, down into the clay to possibly make hundreds (thousands?) of drain holes in the clay, and possibly some of the compost will fall down into these holes. But as I said, the Sugar Snap peas are already planted there. The potting soil, once watered, looks just like the compost. So till things sprout, I cannot tell where the Sugar Snap peas are, and I hate to risk destroying them.

I also have a larger, about 2.5 inch diameter, bulb planting auger bit that I might use. But my portable battery-operated electric drill seems unlikely to be powerful enough to auger 2.5 diameter holes thru clay, not to mention thru the Maple Tree roots! In my compost tumbler, it works well. But my clay is more like concrete, whether wet or dry.

Any suggestions?