Harry Chickpea wrote:
I was stunned the first year when I put out heavy mulch, and within
less than a year it was all gone as if it had never been there. The
decay of cellulose and conversion into carbon dioxide is amazingly
fast in the heat and humidity, and adding organic material to the soil
has only short term effects.

Yeah, but a nice load of compost would break the logjam of all that
clay not being able to suport anything, for the time being. But you're
right, you have to take the long view and keep adding more organic
matter (and, frankly, just better-composed soil) each year. I'm not an
expert on soil structure, but I've tried gardening in a variety of
soils, and I know that hard clay. It doesn't even hold grass well
without a lot of work.