"saki" wrote in message among other
very intelligent comments that ...

As soil science understands it, the better one distributes clay and
organic matter, the more healthy the soil; both are technically necessary
(as are other chemical structures) for plant life to flourish. There are
times when personal experimentation provides results that don't always
correspond to what soil scientists understand, however. Gardening is
still not an exact science.

Hello saki,

Oh, ever so true! Here in wet clay paradise
I have learned that from micro climates to soil
composition is but one step up or down the scale
when you want to grow roses. What do I mean
by this? Let me give you an example: we live next
to a State park that gets its name from a Creek
that now runs some 1/10 of a mile from where
our home is situated. Perhaps less than 200 years
ago the creek was right here, where I am writing
this from right now. In the front of the property,
the amount of river rock we have taken out was
sufficient to create a small rock garden to grow
some alpine miniatures. In the back , the hill goes
more into an incline (where trees and brush were
obviously more abundant than rocks) the soil
contains less rocks, yet there are plenty to be
found although smaller ones. The great distance
between front and back? 125 feet.

We have amended beds in the front and beds
in the back, both by digging and replacing at least
1/3 of the clay and rocks with organic matter and
also by simply adding composting matter to the
existing beds. (We use something call 4-way soil
bought at a very responsible fuel company which
sounds like military intelligence, I know, an oxymoron)
with mushroom compost, clean humus, some sand
and other organic materials. The soil in the back is
friable and very easy to work with after only two years.
The soil in the front continues to settle giving the
berm the appearance of some strange bumpy lump
of ground. However, what we have observed is that
when we first moved here it was nearly impossible
to find any worms. Seriously. It was the very first thing
we noticed when digging holes, the absence of worms.

Since adding the compost and amends even the
surrounding area when you dig into the clay now
shows the Swiss cheese appearance BH and I just love
to see. We have found in the last diggings, around
the end of October worms the size of my pinkie, and
I promise you I am not exaggerating. We also noticed
that the area where most of the clay remains within
the soil, settles slowly but also the walls have become
more permeable when you dig around them due to
the work of both worm and other organisms. We have
not found however that water has accumulated or
failed to drain (in some cases it does drain a bit
slower than in other areas) but it continues to be
acceptable for the survival -and thriving- in some
cases of the plants.

I think that every garden is its own microcosm
and who truly knows what the people before us have
done, outside neglect, to the grounds? I like to believe
that by putting at least one third of organic matter back
into the ground I am going to restore some of the natural
balance and the worms and other living things there
will take care of the mixing.

Taking all the clay as leaving all the clay is unwise, but
only time and experience can show each one of us what
measure is necessary to strike the right balance. I believe
personally that maintaining the pH and making sure the
drainage is appropriate will in the end dictate how much
or how little we need to do to our soil.

After nearly 40 years of gardening and 33 of growing
roses I still find that the more I think I know, the less the
roses let me believe it!

Allegra