Mulch! Pine fines...fine hardwood bark....shredded wood from the tree removal place, coco bean hulls, saw dust ..cedar animal bedding....just get some organic stuff down on those beds. The worms will come.
Linda C

No point adding worms, if the area isn't ready they die, when it gets ready for them they will come.

Go the soil and compost forum.

The screened black dirt sounds like reed-sedge peat, which doesn't grow much and will dry fairly hard. If you add a mulch that breaks down fairly fast like hardwood mulch or tree trimmings to the surface the area should do well next year. BTW, you can't make it work faster so water and relax. If you have a yard waste recycling center get the compost for best results.

University of Mn says sandy soil needs organic matter applied to the surface; indeed it must have organic matter.

With sandy soil you should cultivate as little as possible so the soil organisms can aggregate bits of sand and humus, etc into a structure that holds moisture.

i used to walk the driveway and sidewalks after a good rain.. and hunt for worms.. and drop them in my beds ...

if the soil is getting hard.. you are NOT watering properly .. which would be less frequent DEEP waterings .. as compared to frequent sprays ....

take a sprinkler.. run it for 4 hours .. take your trowel.. move the mulch aside.. and see how far the water penetrated your soil ... if it isn't into the root zone of the hosta.. say 4 to 6 inches down .. then water for 8 hours and check again ..

we can NOT tell you how to or how long to water.. in your soil.. in your garden.. with your mulch ...

you have to figure it all out ...

GOOD LUCK ... ken

PS: i have pure yellow sand .... in drought .. in august .. it is like cement .... under my drip irrigation lines.. it is like a marshmallow ... i can tell just by the touch of my shoe as to how hard the sand is .... and if it is hard near the hosta .... i water until it softens ... sometimes 24/7 for a week ... yikes... but i don't have mulch .... so get it damp ... whatever it takes.. and maintain said dampness ... which with mulch.. will not be 24/7 ....

curious ken...Why don't you mulch? B/c of the amount of mulch you would need for your area or voles or...?

shear volume ...

and i get a lot .. and use it on the conifer beds....

ken

"if the soil is getting hard.. you are NOT watering properly .. which would be less frequent DEEP waterings .. as compared to frequent sprays ...."

Ken, I think in this case it is fresh or fairly fresh application of purchased soil.

Naked, help us, how long has it been there and what did they tell you about the black whatever?

I can't imagine. I need around 20 cubic yards for just my city lot. Yours? Back up the line of dumptrucks, boys. LOL

Hi, back again. Yes Ester-Opal it is brand new dirt. Had the first dump truck dropped off 3 weeks ago. This is screened Black dirt. I think they said there is some sand mixed in with it. As for watering I am watering it tons. I check it all the time and it is damp even down by the roots. Is it possibly settling?

There was no worms in my back yard due to the fact they regraded it 5 years ago and put 1 inch of black dirt down and seeded it(right before we moved in). We really never had grass it was all weeds, so we are starting new.

Ademink- we have been told we need 7 more dumptrucks full for the lawn area- they removed 13 dumptrucks full of sand after the addition. Hope this info helps. Maybe I'm just not used to dirt and what it does,LOL.
Thanks everyone for the input. Stacy in Wisconsin

If you give me the number of your source I'll call and find out what it is then we could think about it better. Absent that I suggest it is muck reed-sedge peat won't grow a thing on its own. If you add about 4 inches of hardwood mulch or compost from a municipal compost facility water then you can forget it.

BTW, much peat is not soil.

wilddog_202@yahoo.com

Naked, I just added some purchased soil to some very small terraces and no doubt about it, it's about the deadest stuff I've ever seen other than pure clay. We're digging in a little bit of compost/manure (commercial bags, bought anywhere) around each plant, and mulching the whole thing with hardwood mulch.

I figure it will take at least a year before the plants are happy. I wish I'd had more of a chance to amend it before the guys put the soil and the plants in place. Digging it in around the plants afterwards is a real drag.

OTOH, it taught me a lesson. During our six week drought here in Northern Virginia, my DH was "watering" for me but y'know, it never seemed to take that much time as when I was doing it... I went out there and found there was only moisture in the second inch of soil. The first inch dried out daily, and from the third inch on down was just powdery dry dirt. Powdery. Dry. Aiiieee!

We had a grand storm last night. I'll be checking the soil tomorrow for how wet it really did, or didn't, get.