"Natty Dread" wrote in message
...
My house was built two years ago on land that was essentially a vacant lot
for 15 years. The soil is really poor quality - hard-packed clay with
little pebbles mixed in that I can barely break up with a shovel. I
haven't
been successful at getting a lawn to take consistent root, so I've decided
to have most of the front lawn area replaced with a series of
interconnecting planting beds around the fence line to minimize the grassy
area. The landscaper is going to rototill the soil down about 18 inches
and
add some stuff to improve the quality and make it easier to work. He says
there are two basic options: Replace the soil with a high-quality
topsoil,
or till in amendments to the existing soil. I prefer leaf compost for the
organic benefits,

Good idea.

but he recommends gypsum instead because he says the
gypsum will start to break down the clay pretty much immediately and add
some acid to the soil.

Gypsum will help break down the clay but do it as well not instead, gypsum
alone will not provide the benefits of compost which are several. Gypsum
will not change the pH appreciably and given that many clay soils are
already acid making it more acid may be a mistake. Get the pH checked
before doing anything. You may in fact want to add lime to make it less
acid depending on the current pH and what you want to plant. The time to do
it is before the tilling when you add the gypsum and compost. That way all
the ammendments get turned under in one go.

It's a big area - the lawn is probably 30x50 - and

30x50 what? I assume feet, not really such a big area to improve unles you
are starting with really bad stuff

he's going to cut in perimeter beds around the border about 8 feet wide,
so
cost is a factor in my decision.

I trust that these 8 foot beds are low maintenance (eg shrubs with heavy
mulch), if not you will have to be walking all over them often and this will
compact the soil again.

What do you all think of either of these
options? Any other ideas would be appreciated as well.


I can't say without knowing how bad what you have is, how good the imported
soil might be and the difference in cost.

David