Joe Doe wrote:

Hitting a barrier where clay begins is not a big deal because as I have
shown in my reply to Shiva it is not something that is "bad" and has to be
avoided. When you ammend, the soil acts mostly like clay i.e. absorbs
water slowly and holds what it does absorb - you have all the benefits of
clay with the negatives mitigated. When you replace small holes you have
pockets that can absorb water shed by the clay on the surface - this is
definitely not a good situation. In your case since you replace entire
beds, it is more likely that the soil in fact behaves as one unit with no
negatives. However replacing entire beds may be an unncessary expense.
There are of course situations where this maybe the only choice.
Ultimately only you know if indeed this is your situation. If you are
happy with what you do that is the only thing that matters. Roses are
tolerant of numerous soil conditions.

To be honest, I believe that replacing the soil is cheaper than trying
to amend it in many ways. I would need a rototiller (something I don't
own nor have the place to store) if I wanted to amend my soil. Breaking
up clay is no picnic!

I do know that by digging beds and replacing the soil, everything I have
put into my beds has thrived including my roses.

Oh, as someone else already mentioned, we in the flood plains of central
NC put lime down on our yards to reduce the acidity.

Susan
s h simko at duke dot edu