T wrote:
....
Then I started to think. My neighbor imported soil from
the local soil and compost place and used raised beds.

Were mine had decided to grow, was in the decorative rocks:
decomposed sandstone covered for 22+ years. Some how they
had found a hole in the plastic and took root.

There is no other difference between me and him OTHER
than the soil. Same water, same light, same temperature,
same sun, same everything, except the soil.

Do I suppose too much? Or is this a good demonstration
on why I need to drastically improve my soil? (Where
I have been improving it, I seem to be doing pretty well
this year, so far.)

no, of course not, clearly, good soil is going to
make a difference.

to me the issues are how much you want to spend
for it and how much work it is to bring in good
topsoil. if you can afford it and are going to
grow a lot of veggies then it is usually worth
investing in good topsoil if your site doesn't
have it. if you are only going to grow a few
things then you can create it via bringing in
amendments and mixing your own (for a small area).
using some of your existing soil as a substrate
is ok. all good topsoil contains a certain amount
of sand.

in my own case, the soil here is clay and is
very fertile when we get enough rain. i can turn
it into excellent topsoil by adding some sand
and plenty of organic matter. my veggie garden
beds that i've been amending and working on for
the past years are all progressing well. at
minimal expense. if i wanted to speed things up
i'd just bring in 50 yards of topsoil and raise
the entire fenced garden area up, but that is
a huge amount of work considering all the pathways
and other hardscape stuff already in place and
it would have to be hauled in a wheelbarrow at a
time...

for what i am doing, keeping it simple and
minimal expense, it's just not worth it to do
that kind of retrofit.

that is why it's a good idea to get your main
ground features and plans sorted out before you
limit your access to an area. so much here would
have been much easier had i been able to truck and
dump stuff instead of having to haul it piecemeal.


songbird