Hello everybody,

The soil here is sand, rock, clay, caliche, crushed granite, and really dusty. Composting is the best but takes forever. Does anybody have suggestions for making this soil richer? The only things that seem to do well (other than native grasses) are junipers and scrub oaks. I'd like to liven up the landscape without sacrificing all the green leaves to the critters. This forum is about as good as there is....


Thank you,
Crazy Irish Farmer

It all depends on how much money you want to (or are able to) spend. Composting is definitely the least expensive route, but as you said, it takes forever. For the short term, I have supplemented my garden soil with organic mushroom compost, which is sold in 40 lb bags. (Not cheap, though...about $3 a bag). It's not composted mushrooms, it is the compost that is left over after they have grown the mushrooms in it. (Mushies like a VERY rich soil, so while there are still plenty of nutrients left that OTHER plants like, the mushrooms are more finicky.) I don't recall the brand name, but what I have found is 100% organic. This may be a partial solution for you if you have a SMALL garden. For a large garden, though, the price would make it unfeasable (Unless you are filthy rich, that is. .

I'm not sure if we're talking about a garden plot or the soil in general. But if you're talking about a garden plot you could try cropping your plot in sorghum and buckwheat. You'll get the most biomass with these and come the end of the season you cut them down and till them in. They'll help the soil quite a bit.

If you can't let the plot lie fallow perhaps you could locate a source of cornstalks and manure. Load the plot up with both of these and till it in at the end of the season. Same basic idea as leaves but I think trees with leaves are in short supply in Arizona (??).

In this months issue of OG magazine's Compost Corner,there is a photo of a woman in the high desert of New Mexico who has set up plastic circles(looks about 3feet high) where she is dumping all kinds of organic stuff. Composting the stuff right where she will have a garden.