I didn't think there was much difference between topsoil and subsoil, except for the presence of organic acids that help make minerals available for plants to use. But try testing the soil to see what it needs in terms of NPKpH.

Short answer, that subsoil might be excellent medium to make into garden soil. Where I live, I'm lucky to have a chain of nurseries that sell humic/fulvic acid in a granular form. That stuff is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter.

But I think that if you have some finished compost, that will get the job started. You might want to add some organic fertilizer on there too.

Rocky, red subsoil. Are you in Texas?

Alas, no. I was born in San Antonio, Tx and have lived there for most of my life, but recently moved to Oklahoma City, Ok. I didn't think anything could get me to move to oklahoma until I met this woman... darn her and her feminine wiles!

Depending on how much of this subsoil you have and your landscaping style, could you build a berm with it? I've always thot of OK as being pretty flat so maybe it needs another hill! ;-) Otherwise mix with OM in a small area and see how it grows. Not sure if I'd want to do this experiment in my entire veggie garden but I might try growing a cover crop of clover on it somewhere.

IMO, if this soil was excavated from the perimeter of someone else's foundation, I would have it tested before attempted to use if for growing veggies.

Not long ago, a friend had her recently purchased home's perimeter tested for anything toxic - since she had small children. The lab tests revealed very high levels of lead and other heavy metals - may have been leached into the soil from lead paint and roof downspouts. She had the entire area excavated, hauled away and new topsoil trucked in. . . . I'm just saying. :)

Topsoil, by definition, is that soil on top, usually the top 4 to 6 inches of soil. Good "topsoil" will have around 5 to 8 percent organic matter mixed in, so add enough organic matter to this soil you have to make that 5 to 8 percent humus level and it should be okay. The biggest problem with subsoil is the lack of organic matter and air that topsoil would have, but basically subsoil is the same mineral components you would find all around you.

"I didn't think anything could get me to move to oklahoma until I met this woman... darn her and her feminine wiles!"

To heck with talking about the soil, let's see a picture of this wiley female! :-)

One large yard bag of finely shredded, dry leaves weighed around 50 pounds. Don't know if that will be representative of all shredded leaves.

Lloyd

My whole garden is that stuff. All of the real topsoil was scraped off during construction and a shallow layer of soil and sod was put on top of it for the yard. So when I dug the garden that was all I really had to work with. I mixed mine with a lot of young hardwood wood chip compost two years ago and turned it into great garden soil. Nutrients had to be added (nitrogen) initially but the soil texture is wonderful now and looks like coffee grounds when turned rather than yellow clay.

Lloyd: Thanks for the leaf data. My neighbor and I raked maple leaves onto a 100 sq ft tarp a while back to mulch the raspberries with. The tarp was heaped with as many leaves as would fit but somehow it was possible to lift the tarp up a couple of feet and dump them in the beds (surrounded by chicken wire). Guess we are stronger than I thought.

Ditto the picture.

Michael

If you need raised beds, that clay is primo for the 'glue' in a dry-laid rock wall. Mine have lasted for about 20 years -- as the clay has slowly mellowed, the rocks seemed to weld even closer together. The smaller rocks are also great in your pathways. When my house was new 30 years ago, we had mostly DG over red clay. My husband covered most with plastic and gravel. In the years since he moved on I've spent removing the gravel and building veg/flower beds.