I lost track of this thread for a bit. From the jar test it's clear you have very coarse fast-draining soil. I am not sure why it would retain too much moisture. What plants are you having problems with? Are things staying damp because they are in shade? That could cause some other issues I suppose. I've never gardened in CO but I have in the high plains of NM at similar altitudes. The soil does look like it would benefit from more organic matter, just based on the color. Only a soil test would say for sure but I bet the OM is below 5%. I doubt that one can find the mineral content of THEIR particular soil on the internet. Particularly in the case of glacial soils in a mountainous region, where the contents can vary substantially over very short distances. Having said that, if your garden is growing fine, you may not need one. I can tell you that after adding a lot of compost and not testing for 15 years, mine got too high in P and K, and I'm glad I got a test. YMMV. Mack: Upon rereading I am not clear what incorrect claims I have made in this thread. About all I've done is make a few comments about slope, drainage and soil particle size. If there is something incorrect in there please specify. Perhaps you are unable to separate me and kimmsr in your mind. He is not my buddy, and we often disagree, but when you stumble into the china shop, those issues pale in comparison at least temporarily. I'm not defending kimmsr so much as trying to keep this forum a pleasant place.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. For better or for worse as I took all 24 tomatoes out and as I said I filled back in to the grade that surrounds the bed. It is close to what it would have been if I just removed the sod and put the bed on top. I tamped as I filled in so it would be as solid as I could make it with 20lb hand tamper and a 15lb patio block dropped from over my head. Some of the fill was a little rocky but I did get a couple some good sticky clay layers in there to fill in the all the voids and make it as impermeable as the surrounding ground. It was contoured with about a 2 inch drop both along the width and length dumping to the lowest corner of the bed which is above ground so it can drain out. I also put in a drain from highest to the lowest point hoping that would catch any excess and dump it out. Looking at my soil mix either it had way too much organic material in it or it was just that way because it was soaked, I remixed it with some top soil, agricultural sand, peat and vermiculite and through in a some gypsum in between some of the layers as I filled it back in. I put in some super phosphate to hopefully get some roots going quickly also. The bed was raised another 4.5" inches also to meet the bed on its right. The tomatoes are now back in their final resting place, I guess that sounds bad. Hopefully with the grade coming back up to meet the rest, the slope, the drain, the remixed soil, and the additionaly height the bed will drain properly and the tomatoes will come back to life. Some of them took it worse than others but I hope they make it, if not I guess I can sucker off the other 12 I have in containers and use those.

"I know that I know nothing." Perfect, Nik! Thanks for resurrecting my old response -- I could have saved myself a lot of time writing on this one if I remembered that I had already written that one (with me, it seems, it's not only "Tempus fugit" but also "Mens fugit"....). Everyone needs to evaluate their own situation, because each situation is unique and one essentially does "know nothing" a priori . For me here, huge, elaborate soil amendment became a thing of the past, probably in one part because I won't grow roses that require it and in the other part because I have found it generally unnecessary for the kinds of roses I like to grow so, at most, minimal amendment to make a foothold or "half-way house" of sorts for young plants is the practice. That's what made me excited about Camps' original proposition (and I was particularly enthralled with hearing how Chinas are faring in her woods so far - wonderful). A follow-up observation since the above excerpt was written, involving some tea-noisette plants that I considered expendable at the time of their planting and so did not bother with any soil amendment at all, is that it is also possible to grow a totally healthy rose without amendment (or much after-care) at all, here. 'Celine Forestier', in particular, is an amazing story, as I relegated the gallon-size plant to a sorry, unimproved spot in the back of the lot under a Schinus molle tree (talk about invasive roots!), since the plant was in such bad shape that I expected it to die. Ten years later, it is a beautiful, well-blooming rose, holding its own against MAC (which, as a duplicate was also planted without soil amendment and is now 20'+ up the pepper tree) on one side and 'Reve d'Or' on the other. That part of the yard is basically subsoil with 1" veneer of topsoil sediment eroded down from the neighbors on the hill above and all of it produces an alkali bloom on the surface. As Christopher no doubt discovered upon reading Linda Chalker-Scott's coffee grounds "Myth" article, it is not really a debunking but a discussion of what is known and unknown (I like her papers, by the way -- just wish she would not use the generally misleading term "myth" in the titles to, I guess, grab attention). I am interested in Christopher's experiment re the rate at which coffee grounds can be incorporated with benefit. His observations so far in line with what Charles Darwin observed, as related in his last book, "The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms", that the castings of worms add approximately 0.2" to the surface of the soil each year (explains the "sinking" of ancient monuments, etc.) and mixes subsurface soil with whatever is on the surface. In part explains why, too, mulches may not do much in drier Med. climes as far as incorporating organic matter go -- earthworms are nowhere near the surface here during the summer months, for one thing -- only reappear in the winter months. Daisy's donkey dung method in Crete sounds almost romantic (and obviously works!)...I wish I had donkey dung... All in all, I have found this thread an informative fountain of ideas. Ecologists like nothing better than a great, free-flowing argument. ;-) (I also liked Christopher's parrot quote so much that I am now reading Twain's Following the Equator.)

I read your posts and admire your fortitude for toughing it out on your old homestead for as long as you did! You really could write a book! I am reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and it's inspiring me to want to try my hand at small-scale homesteading again. But I'm wondering if I need to move to a different state. I'm joking/not joking. I'm in the DFW area and I can barely get a vegetable garden to grow between pests and heat. My parents and siblings live in the Central Valley of CA and it seems like they stick plants in the ground, water, and they grow. Are you having better success with gardening in Gonzales?