Just wanted to share my weekend bed prep ...

This will be my third summer with my raised beds, which I initially filled following the square foot garden method -- all peat, compost and perlite. Over the past two Texas summers, I've learned that such a peaty mix gets way too dry and is almost impossible to keep wet. meanwhile, my other in-the-ground bed of Blackland Prairie clay seems to stay moist for weeks and has produced some great tomato plants.

So this past weekend I basically double-dug my raised beds, reaching down below the soil level and pulling up some of that black clay. After busting up the clods as best I could, I've got about 80/20 organic matter/clay that is noticeably heavier than before, but still light enough that I can stick my hand a foot into it. As an added benefit, it appears I had a few tree roots starting to invade, so I knocked those back a bit.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results this year, but I thought it was worth mentioning, given that most of the advice given here involves incorporating organic matter into clay, and not the other way around.

Kelly