You should be fine with the amendments added on top of the clay soil. I own
a flower planting service here in Raleigh, NC and will add amendments on top
of our red clay to plant flowers. It does work its way down and with each
planting season, I add more of the leaf mulch. I usually get a large load
of leaf mulch from our local waste center and plant directly into it. It
basically is compost that is breaking down and feeding the plants at the
same time.

I wouldn't bother with the landscape fabric and just concentrate on putting
4-5" of leaf mulch which will help in retaining moisture while keeping weeds
at bay and feeding the plants. Your black-eyed susans should definitely be
able to seed into the mulch for more plants. I mulched all my perennial
beds with the leaf mulch and mine multiply like crazy. I just dig them up
and move them in the spring.

Hope this helps with your gardening endeavors.

Penny
Flowers By The Yard
Raleigh, NC
"Dave" *m wrote in message
...
Hi all,

We had a local landscape company help us design and prepare some
garden beds. Around here we have almost entirely red clay soil. The
consultant arranged to have 2-3 inches of topsoil and leaf mold put on
top of the new beds. I asked him about the need to work it in. He
said that he's be wasting my money if he were to try to roto-till it
in. And that as I planted the ammendments would work themselves in
and also eventually leach down into the existing clay soil. When I
plant perrenials I'm trying to mix the ammendments in as much as
possible, but I also worry that the clay around the hole will still
keep rainwater around the roots and rot my plants.

Also, we want to put down lanscape fabric (over the ammendments but
under the mulch), but will this keep mulch and other organic matter
from eventually mixing with the soil? How about preventing plants
like daylillies or back-eyed susans from propagating?

Thanks in advance!

Dave M.