Pam, I think what he might be implying is that the soil at this site might
have been brought in by the construction firm, or that the desert topsoil,
such as it is, has been completely bulldozed away before construction - or
else, compacted by heavy machinery, which might cause native caliches
(cement-like clay) to be permanently unusable by native plants. I'm not sure
what would be needed to bring such soils to the point of supporting native
flora - if not traditional amendments (and I agree that I can't really see a
role for peat moss in a desert setting), perhaps some sort of aeration, or
distribution of sand and gravel into the mix.
"Pam - gardengal" wrote in message
news:VQsgd.270712$wV.114120@attbi_s54...

"hippy gardener" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 02:51:12 GMT, "Pam - gardengal"
wrote:


"RJ" wrote in message
.. .

We've just moved to the Southwest.

Like many, I used to think of desert as rocks, and sand.
I'm amazed at the variety of flowering plants
that grow in this environment....

We'd like to plant our garden area with native plants.
( Shrubs, flowering bushes, sagebrush, etc....)
The soil is somewhat sandy, and gets "clay-ey" about a foot down.

My ( backEast ) instincts are to mix a bunch of mulch,
and peat with the soil..... then a slow release fertilizer.

My spouse opines that this may be a mix that's
foreign to the plants we're trying to grow.

Listen to your spouse :-)) Desert and xeriscape plants generally prefer
lean
soil with minimal amendments.

pam - gardengal

What you are missing here Pam is that desert soils in fact DO have a
lot of biological diversity. Generally constructed neighborhood soils
have NONE of the natural diversity. Do use some quality compost and
some organic fertilizers to begin with!!!!

All soils have some degree of biological diversity regardless of
composition
unless they have beeen sterilized through chemical dumping. Regardless of
the current state of the soils, desert and or xeriscape plants are NOT
helped by adding amendments or fertilizers - less indigenous ornamentals,
perhaps. And regardless where one is located and what soils you are
working
with, it is not favored horticultural practice to fertilize any newly
planted material.