Billy said:

Pat Kiewicz wrote:

I have the opposite problem, heavy clay. Organic mater and sand have
improved my situation greatly. Now I rely on rye and earthworms to
complete the soil transformation. I'm trying to switch out the rye for
buckwheat (both put amazing amounts of roots into the soil) because
buckwheat is high in rutin, which would make it healthy for the soil,
and healthy for me.

Have you added any clay to your garden? It would help with water and
nutrient retention.

Other than incidentally (as in rock dust applications, no). Not very
practical, either, for a number of reasons. Not much call for clay at
the local landscape supply places, for one. And no way to get anything
back there except by the barrow load (the garden is in the back half
of a *very* long narrow lot and completely land-locked).

With all that sand, are there earthworms in your garden? Any idea of the
biotic community in the garden soil?

The joint is jumping. Bursting with worms. Alive with mycorrhizal fungi.

Just drains very, very well.

You can still see active sand dunes along the coast of Lake Michigan,
and as you move inland from that lake there are successive bands of
older dunes (or what I have referred to as 'fossil' dunes).

I wouldn't have thought of lakes as having sand dunes. California lakes
must just be too small to have this feature.

Our Great Lakes are fresh water seas, don't you know. Created by
glaciers and surrounded by thick layers of glacial till. Something
you just have to see to appreciate, I think.

Have a visit sometime to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
(lower penninsula) and climb the dunes:

http://www.midwestguest.com/2009/07/conquering-the-sleeping-bear-dune-climb.html

Or check out the rock formations and dunes at Pictured Rocks National
Lakeshore (upper penninsula):

http://www.nps.gov/piro/planyourvisit/scenicsites.htm

And if you are up in that area, don't miss Paradise, the Whitefish Point
Coast Guard station, the Shipwreck Museum and memorial to the Edmund
Fitzgerald:

http://www.exploringthenorth.com/whitefish/whitefish.html


This year I have to start a new strawberry bed, as the old one is
really in decline. Best be prepared for some major tree root removal
when I renovate it...

Sounds like a challenge, given the breadth and depth of your root
problems.

I expect to have large loppers and a saw handy.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..." --Largo Potter, Valkyria Chronicles

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