24/4011. A Garden For All Ages In Texas

Proper Soil Preparation

They talk about the preparation of this garden. As mentioned, it was a cactus garden through the 1930's and this area is in a bit of a depression. Anytime they prepare a new bed they try to mix in or bring in the correct soil or at least amend the soil. That would have been originally done in the 30's. And, they do that with expanded shale and aged compost. Those are the 2 ingredients that they use to amend their heavy clay soils. They have done that in each of the gardens they have planted. Doing the right thing for the soil from the get go definitely saves a lot of headache down the road especially with perennials because they are going to be growing in this soil for years to come. So prepare the soil at the beginning, then maintain the soil during the ongoing years