heavy sodden clay soil - worm tower

We have this heavy sodden clay soil  (USDA zone 10) and we wanted to do a food forest but most trees are struggling. Many of the acacias we planted died, those we planted on the swales are three meters high. We are in Australia and we had two very wet years (the next drought is sure!).
We don't really have access to tree mulch.
One question is that I would like to plant something which breaks up the soil, but maybe this is difficult because it is so wet atm.
The other one is to make a couple of worm towers (we have 3/4 of an acre). Maybe we do a restaurant run twice a week or so to get enough food scraps. Would that improve the soil? Or would the worms simply give up?

Have you tried daikon radishes?

For folks that might not have heard of using them to break up clay soil:

https://permies.com/t/7378/soil-building-daikon-radish

https://permies.com/t/42682/daikon-radish-soil-building

I see no reason not to try the worm towers.  As long as the worms are well feed they will be happy worms.

Yes I did. I wonder if they even survive there! I would prefer something tree or shrub because of the work involved we're so busy with the nursery. For daikon I would have to prepare a nice seedbed.

Hello,

It it were in my region, i would suggest planting a bunch of willow cuttings in autumn, coppicing the trees every every other year once installed and adding the resulting wood chips on the soil to build organic matter in it. Worms and mushrooms invade the soil surface quite fast once it is covered and are happy to mix it themselves.

Do you have a suitable fast-growing, marsh tree species in you area, especially something that coppices or pollards well, and deep-rooted and fast-growing 'weeds' that could act as the comfrey or sorrels we chop and drop upper high  ? You wrote 'most trees are struggling', i would give some work to the ones that thrive ; considering them as pioneer species on your reclaimed land.
I would suggest starting building a structure before installing nitrogen fixers, then crops.

In the meantime, raised beds / hugels are probably a good way to earn some crops, as it will take many years to build soil. There is also the option to focus your efforts on the least sodden areas and create real ponds and water features where it is already appropriate - marshes are also loved by some useful plants. Taro is the first that comes in my mind for USDA 10.

Have a nice day,
Oliver

This is a very inspiring thread about using straw bale gardening to grow on top of clay soils, and how those straw bale gardens improved the soil underneath them as well https://permies.com/t/108953/improve-clay-soils-growing-year. Another great option would be lasagna gardening. Both of these options would provide food and habitat for all that soil life on top of your existing soil, while letting your grow food or cover crops there, and then bit, by bit would improve the soil underneath too.

Those veggie scraps sure help, especially if you can find some source of browns to layer with them to make lasagna beds. I don't know what it is like in your area, but here we would use autumn leaves, wood chips, hay, or straw for the browns. Every little bit helps. I think the more organic matter you can add on top of the soil, the better things will get. I would try focusing on one area at a time; lay down thick layers in one particular area to provide good, rich habitat for microbes, worms, etc, and expand from there. Rather than spreading what you have thinly over your whole area. You might even want to consider purchasing some worms to add to kick-start these beds. If the original soil is really barren then worms may not find your beds for quite some time.