Poop makes things grow!

I sat outside last night and watched the reflection of the sun go down on the building across the street from my apartment complex.  It has been cold in Austin this year, but last night I only had on a sweater.  The sun went down and looking at my watch, I noticed the late hour.  Winter actually showed up this year in Texas, folks, but she looks like she's ready to pay her tab and leave the bar.   I talked to farmer Jill Allford yesterday.  She was busy planting tomato seeds in her greenhouse when I called.  This round of tomatoes was for her neighbors, she explained, because she'd already planted her own seeds the previous week.  Gee whiz, I thought! It's only January ... January ... 30th?  How'd that happen? 

For a long time, I lived in an apartment without access to soil.  I had a few pots with some basil and swiss chard, but really not enough to feed myself.  I'm really excited because I recently moved into a place with a good 400 feet of garden beds that my next door neighbor salvaged last growing season.  We've decided that we're going to have a go at it together this year.  The soil looks a little muddy to me; when it rains, the water hangs out on top of the soil.   I asked Jill if she had any recommendations concerning soil amendments for dirt that had too much clay in it; of course, she did.  

* Fun Fact:  Amendments are mixed into the soil.  Mulches lay on top.  *

To lighten, fluff up, and feed my heavy muddy nutrient lacking soil, she recommended several things:

• Fermented rice hulls, a by product of rice production,  contain fiberous material that help retain water while adding organic matter to help increase porosity and improve drainage.
• Aged and Composted Manure Don't use fresh stuff; it'll burn your plants.  Don't use horse manure; it often has weed seeds in it.
• Green Sand While feeding the plants with magnesium, silica, and as many as 30 other trace minerals, green sand also loosens heavy clay soil.
• Lava Sand provides porosity and aeration to the soil.
• Soft Phosphate helps plant roots establish and promotes soil microorganisms.

For the space that I have, Jill recommended getting about a 1/2 yard of manure and a 1/2 yard of fermented rice hulls and bags of all the other stuff.   I'm headed up to Geo Growers next weekend.  I'll let you know how it all turns out!