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I've been reading DG for days and feeling guilty for all the work I'm NOT doing to improve my soil.
For years I've turned over the red clay, broken up clods, and added mushroom compost -- horse manure, rotted straw and I think peat moss. And planted. I mulch with another truckload of hardwood mulch. Each truckload is $15 and I have to drive 11 miles. I get 12 inches in easy-to-dig "soil" in a 4x8 bed when finished. Yeah, it settles over time... into black gold.
Over the years I have gone back to old flower beds and a shovel sinks right in -- not possible with the red clay everywhere else. Whatever flowers or shrubs or trees or mints I've planted in it grow and grow. Haven't planted anything particularly difficult or vegetables...
What am I missing? I keep reading about perlite and greensand and fine pine bark leavings and lasagna and strict recipies of 1/3 this and 1/3 that...
So really, do I need to add anything to my "soil" that is red clay and mushroom compost?
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