We have a shady bed in which the previous house owners had planted camelias, which, while not especially happy, were doing well enough that I hadn't paid much notice. However, while doing some digging there this week, I discovered that beauty is only topsoil-deep.
The bed is almost pure sand in places!! Definitely not the local clay- my best guess is that the camelia bed was originally going to be part of the surrounding paving, and for some reason (aesthetic or otherwise) a garden bed was placed there instead. My poor plants!! Plenty of intensive care is now on the agenda- I've added a top dressing of rotting leaves some worm compost as a start. It will be interesting to see the evolution of the soil.
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4 comments:
You are lucky to have sand underneath. I used to grow plants and 5 inches down is leftover concrete block. ~bangchik
LOL, yes, I shouldn't complain as sand is quite a manageable garden problem!!
If I am keen enough, I might start some soil exchanges and swap some of the sand with clay patches around plants that specifically need "well drained" soil. Every cloud has a silver lining: in this case, I have plenty of sand at my disposal!
Digging out a lot of the sand and transfering some soil from a better area is a a great idea. I imagine the sand isn't too deep?
We're built on sandstone so I have sand issues galore. Fortunately the gums provide plenty of natural mulch so things are pretty good for the first 40 cm or so. Then rock or sand...
interesting what we find under the topsoil. When I planted a new perennial bed, I found a bunch of coiled wire. What for I don't know. I didn't get killed in the removal process though. That's good.
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