I had a natural low wet spot and it made a great bog garden. Canadian
sphagnum peat wicks moisture downward when it gets saturated. =


I have some pics at: http://www.celestialhabitats.com and
http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden

Here is more information on expanded shale:

EARTH-KIND PROJECT NETS SURPRISE SOLUTION FOR HOUSTON'S GUMBO SOILS! =


Caldwell Pink, an antique rose, was one of the winners in a new Texas =

program called EarthKind Roses, instituted by Texas A&M to identify the =

toughest landscape roses for Southern climates that would perform
without =

chemicals and with very little maintenance. Other winners were Livin' =

Easy, The Fairy, Sea Foam, Pearle, Marie Daly and Belinda's Dream. =

=

During these trials, a wide variety of roses were tortured beyond belief
and =

the winners were awarded the EarthKind title. Learn about their =

experimentation conditions (worse than even lazy gardeners inflict!) at =

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkindrose or by requesting a free =

EarthKind packet from: Dr. Steve George, Texas A&M Research and
Extension =

Center,17360 Coit Road, Dallas, TX 75252
=

The EarthKind Rose experiments also resulted in what looks like a great
new =

product for Houston gardeners and others who have to cope with gumbo
soil: =

expanded shale. Steve is extremely high on this naturally occurring
mineral =

rock dug up around Dallas and heated until it becomes porous inside. =


Remember how they used to tell us to work gypsum into the soil? Most
experts =

now agree that was not a very effective additive. But this one seems to =

really do the job. It is just starting to be marketed and is only
carried by =

a few large Houston nurseries (specifically Cornelius) at this time. =

But any =

nursery can order some from you as it distributed by Nitro-Phos, a local =

company. You will also get information on expanded shale in the
EarthKind =

Rose packet mentioned above. =


This is only for gumbo or clay soils; it is not a benefit to sandy soils =

which are already porous enough. -- BBS.

lid wrote:
=

Living in Houston myself, where, due to yesterday's rain, my backyard
will look like a muddy lake bed for another week or 10 days, I'd be
most interested in finding some way to penetrate that clay soil back
there. It's quite a problem for me which seems to be getting worse in
spite of the soil ammendments I've tried.
Reply by Post Only Please
-- =

J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/reference.html