I have heard that unused kitty litter (the clay type only, with no additives) is very good for making clay soil more porous and is cheaper to use than a product such as clay buster.
I use pure Kl for my water lilies and mix it into my pure sand soil when repotting..KL certainly wouldn't loosen soil. In fact if you compress it enough you can use it for pond bottoms.lol It does help my sand to hold some extra moisture but requires a lot of miixing to avoid clumps. gary
Kitty litter will soon turn to mud. You can experiment with that yourself, by leaving some overnight in a cup of water.
The very best thing you can use to improve those awful clay soils is plenty of organic matter. Not only can you oftentimes find 'free for the taking' sources, but the improvements tend to be permanent. Yes, organic matter decomposes, but it also brings with it a host of living organisms that help aggregate your soil.
You won't have to till the stuff in every year, either. Just apply it to the top (after the first amendment) and let natural forces do the work.
I tried using kitty litter to amend the soil in a planting hole for a tomato and it did worse than the other tomato plants that I didn't use it in.
Does it make sense to add clay litter to clay soil?
I'll stick with my soil conditioners and cow manure and leaf mold, etc. I know it's all about texture, but I also like the dark, near-black color this method yields for me. Mulch the beds and weeding is easy.
I have used plain clay litter with great success in perennial garden beds, but the soil in these beds had NO clay. The 3 major inorganic ingredients of soil are sand, silt and clay. Since my soil had no clay, I added clay litter.
You do need to be very careful when mixing it into the soil as you could create "concrete". I mixed the clay litter with compost, peat moss, and the existing soil along with a small amount of lime (Maine soil is acidic)and just enough water to moisten. It took about a year to see results, but I was pleased and my plants were healthy and happy.
I wouldnt use clay litter, but there is a kitty litter called Feline Pine which is just pine pellets, and when they get wet, they break up and dry into pine dust. On th ebag it says you can just add it right into your garden after you take the poop out, but I would think that it's too high in nitrogen from the urine to actually use. What I am doing with it is putting it in a pile in the back of my yard and saving it till next year..maybe most of the nitrogen will be out by then, and then I plan on using it. I'll start a second pile for the following year, if all goes well next year..watch all my plants blacken and die..I'll be soooooo ticked. I suppose you could just pour a whole clean bag into your garden. I don't know, just my 2 cents.
Anyone ever use the Feline Pine in the garden?
Compost is made by combining carbon with nitrogen & keeping it about as damp as a wrung-out sponge.
I think that next year you'll have a nice garden amendment!