Great thread idea, Nell!

I garden in clay and rock (we live on a "ridge" which is a nice way of saying we live on solid rock!). The soil here was nonexistant. When DH built, they hauled in over 200 truckloads of debris/soil/rock from road construction - no kidding! The "topsoil" was scavenged here and there from other building jobs. After 15 years it's looking pretty good!

I've amended with everything I can lay my hands on: compost I've made, manure from cattle, horses and chickens, leaves, mushroom compost, seaweed - when I can get it, a local commercial compost blend from poultry and sawdust, pine needles, wood ashes, cedar shavings, newspaper..........

I've even added a few commercial organic blends (mostly liquid form) during the growning season. Our soil is still pretty heavy, but it's rich and wholesome and grows amazing gardens! I did a soil test years ago when I started, but not recently. OH and I add lime every year. Here in the Atlantic Provinces we have naturally acidic soil and since our yard has been carved out of a cedar swamp, it's extra acidic. One thing I've never added is synthetic commercial fertilizers. I decided to go the natural route and so far it's worked for us.

I'm also a strong believer and practicioner (sp?) of crop rotation. Even in a small veggie garden this is important. I never plant the same thing in the same place two years in a row.

Also, raised beds work well with heavy, clay soil. Mine dries out faster than others around here. We used to have 26 raised veggie beds but two years ago decided to not replace the cedar logs that lined them and tilled the whole thing as one. It's wonderful soil, but it does take longer to dry out in spring now.

I figured out that incorporating the rock into bed edgings was a much more productive use of time than cursing over yet another patch of rocks in the veggie bed :) They also help warm the soil by being heat sinks.

Our soil is hard packed clay, and very difficult to work. During the summer, without the addition of amendments, the soil becomes brick-like.

My solution has been to create lasagna beds. I refresh the beds periodically with leaves, home-made compost, pine needles and coffee grounds, thank you Starbucks. It's worked really well for me. Love those worms!

I try to stay natural, but I do feed my roses a commercial rose food. One of my gardening goals this year is to really improve the quality of soil in my garden. I'm trying worm castings for the first time this year, which I'm excited about. (Only gardeners get really excited about worm poop!) LOL

I really admire the rich, fluffy soil I see in your pictures.

Marilyn

My garden started out as an abandoned dog run/brick and gravel dump behind my garage. The soil underneath is sand/decomposed granite. Before I started to ammend my garden, nothing grew in it except a very few weeds.

I have two free-form beds to which I've added compost, a commercial product called Bumper Crop, and chicken manure. I still think it's on the light side, but I'm working on it.

I'm blessed with naturally occurring, free draining, moisture retentive, black loam. I do amend with sifted compost.
You don't notice the soil much in my well stuffed cottage garden. Years ago when I grew a lot of vegetables, a recently dug or tilled plot did resemble black gold.
Mother nature can take all the credit.
My admiration to all of you who work with less forgiving soil.

Libby

Interesting. There was just an article in the paper talking about our soil. "...This relatively flat region is blessed with some of the best soils in the world. For the most part, the soil is made up of alluvial deposits from several California rivers..." Plus, this land was used as a walnut orchard before our subdivision was built. However, my gardens have benefited from lots of additions, beginning with the six-eight inches of walnut shells we used for the kids' play area. Add several more truck loads of tree trimmings and nut shells and we get some really good black soil in the oldest parts of the garden. In the past few years I have also made compost from mainly kitchen waste.

Libby, no wonder your garden looks like it does!

I have red clay with virtually no worms. When it's dry you can only work it with a pick axe. Where I can, I make raised, lasagna beds. To existing beds I've added leaf mulch, store bought compost, kitchen compost, and compost I've made in my compost pile. I'm only here one year, but it has made a huge difference. I've also found out from a local gardening radio show, that a few days after a rain, the soil is like "moist cake" and is a good day to plant. Coming from South Louisiana, in the famous soil of the Mississippi River delta, gardening "up here" in north Mississippi is a real challenge. I also use lots of mulch.

My indigenous soil isn't bad, but when I redesigned my garden going on some 15 years ago, I did some leveling and brought in yards and yards of quality 3-way mix and compost. Now the soil is uniformly rich and loose throughout the garden. Slightly acidic, I only topdress/mulch every season with more compost, no fertilizing at all except for recycling the waste from my bunnies, specially around roses and clematis. I have not found a need to supplement with any fertilizers - compost replenishes any needed nutrients more than adequately and it is my firm belief that most fertilize far more than is necessary or required.

Another hardpan clay gardener here! We had to level our plot to build the house (we're on a slope), so once the existing topsoil was removed all that was left was red clay. The first time I saw that I nearly cried. It was impossible to grow a garden in such soil. We had to escavate the soil with a machine up to the depth of 2 feet and then had good topsoil brought in. It was a major task and I'm glad we did it while still in the building phase.

Over the years I have added home made compost and some leaf mould. The only commercial fertilizer I use is a little bit around my roses, otherwise it's a top dress with compost as I have it. It's not bad and the garden has thrived, but if I need to dig deeper I still get huge boulders of clay, the kind you can make pots with. Another disadvantage is that once the heat starts the soil becomes unworkable, I can't even drive a shovel through it. This means all major work needs to be carried out during Fall and Winter, when we get most of the rains and the soil can actually be dug.

Eduarda

More clay soil, here. At the old house, we did a bit of soil amendment in the 1st bed, and not so much after that, alas. I can't even recall what we added, now! I do top-dress with compost on an irregular basis, mainly, as well as mulching.

Awful hard clay soil here. When I moved here, it was all packed down and even the grass wouldn't grow. Yards of compost and triple mix were added. Bag after bag of peat moss was also added as each new bed was forumed. For the veggie garden, I also brought in top soil. The latest thing I am trying is something called clay buster....it looks like clay kitty litter but is supposed to break up the clay, so the plants can use the nutrients. I added this with the compost and peat in the last few beds that were made. Ammendments, mostly compost are added once a year on the existing beds.

There is an area in the back yard that is fill........it was filled with sand.......I treated this area with the same ammendments....the only difference is the drainage. However my gardens are on a hill, so for the most part, drainage isn't to much of a problem.

Sierra

Nasty black clay here, too. Two years ago, we tilled expanded shale into several of our beds. ES is a heated until it pops pebble sized rock. It is light and importantly, it is porous. ES allows air, water, and nutrients to work their way into the soil. Once it is in the bed, it stays there. No decomposing and disappearing, although, I'm noticing in some places it works to the surface more than I'd like.

Where ever I have ES, I can stick a shovel in, even during the dry heat of summer. Where there is not ES, the clay dries to stone. Can anyone say adobe? lol

I've also added mounds and mounds of mulch and compost-purchased and homemade. In one slow draining everything-is-dying-bed next to the front door, the teen boys and I dug out all the black clay and replaced it with better soil. Now things grow there.

Happy