If you added topsoil to it, you probably didn't do much, if anything, to boost the organic components in the soil, but I'm not sure if that's what you were going for.

Do you have access to some kind of watering system that will allow the water to slowly seep into the soil? Something like a soaker hose, or some drip irrigation? It'd have a chance to really permeate the soil without washing it away or pooling, and that way, the water wouldn't turn everything into an immediate mud puddle on top of bone dry dust. If you don't, you may need to soak, wait for it to absorb, then soak some more, and repeat until everything is moist. That's what I had to do when attempting to dig into my insanely hard, totally dried out clay. I had to repeat the soaking process several times over the course of an hour or so, giving it adequate time to soften up and absorb, but eventually, the moisture worked its way down.

Dig a few trenches about 6" deep and a foot apart, fill the trenches with compost (buy it if you must!) and water the trenches. The water will wick out into the rest of the bed, penetrate deeper than top-watering will, and when you finish you can dig over the whole thing, incorporating the compost. After you get it hydrated, you might want to mulch to keep it that way, even if nothing is planted there yet.

you can buy powdered form hydrating agents to add into water and then water the gardens, but basically it is only detergent, so give them a good water of detergent water if you are using an eco' friendly laundry powder that will do the job, then either dig in some composted material, even spread spent mushroom compost from the farm if you can source it, or lay it on top and then mulch over it with a good layer of spoilt hay type mulch, that will start it on its way to recovery.

some more successive applications of detergent water won't hurt, all our kitchen water goes to our vege' gardens. we also tuck our kitchen scraps under the mulch in an ongoing recycling process and have added composting worms to the gardens this will all help as well.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

The soil sounds silty. You could do a jar test to confirm that... but no matter the results, the solution is to add organic matter.

I'd probably mix in some compost, water it heavy and cover with a thick mulch.

Mulch helps moderate soil moisture, the surface of the soil doesn't get dry from evaporation.

A soaker hose combined with a heavy mulch should help.

Where do you live? Climate makes a big difference in how one handles moisture issues.

OK, so I sprayed it with water several times and mixed the mud up with the dry soil, then added some complete organic fertilizer, and bought some compost which I both mixed in and added as a top 1/2 inch layer. It may still be a bit silty in parts of it, but I do think I added a good bit of organic matter (the store-bought topsoil I put in there earlier was mostly peat moss and forest floor compost plus sand). In any case, I am planting arugula and escarole which I think are pretty hardy plants, so if the soil isn't in top-shape they should still be able produce something for me. I think that it soaks better now, it doesn't just turn to sludge like it did originally.

I live in the Pacific NW in the USA, and in fall it is very rainy, so I think that now I will just let the rain do its work. Can I just use more of the store compost (I only added half to the bed so far, because it was over-full) to mulch the plants once they are bigger, or do I need heavier stuff like wood chips or straw?

Thanks for the advice!

I would definitely mulch with something. Wood chips are ok but I think they are better suited to a mature garden or left to established paths. Mixed mulches seem best in my experience and straw is a good start but it doesn't seem to be enough by itself. Coffee grinds and spent brewery grains are other sources that I use for mixing my mulch up a bit.

build up the soil with sheet composting. Put black and white paper, cardboard, leaves, mulch, possible chick manure, compost keep it damp and covered and the the soil microbes, worms and other critters turn the soil for you. It works

WElcome to the PNW. I guarantee you, the fall-winter-spring-summer rains will fix it. ;-)

Rain2Fall

Yeah, I know the rains will eventually hydrate the thing, but I planted stuff yesterday, and didn't want to wait a month for rain to soak the think through. Also, it needed some amendments. :)

Despite the reputation for all rain all the time, Seattle seems to have very dry summers, little or no rain...

It does sound like a soil composition problem, that will be eventually fixed as you add more organic matter.

I have bought bagged "mystery dirt", topsoil or sometimes something labelled manure mix or compost, before from box stores and found it to be very dusty, almost ashy--looking gray or charcoal-y but not acting at all like loam--surprise! (usually the cheap topsoil has obvious clay in it), at these occasional weird soils also seemed avoid wetting as you describe with yours. So it may be that you just have inherited a few inches of not so good soil, but it should be fine as the base into which you mix and add stuff.

I find it hard to mulch my arugula and mesclun because they're planted thickly and scattered and are small-leaved--but that itself helps cut down on weeds.

Its the way it is because the bed has lousy drainage.
Pouring water into a bed of soil does not make it moisture sufficient....too much water causes the soil to dry out--the nutrition is leached away.

Put some organic matter in there....dig and turn over or..rototil down 12", and see to proper drainge. Then give it a watering and test it after a reasonable time to see how damp...not wet, it is.

You may want to take steps to protect the soil from winter by putting a tarp over the bed, anchor it down with bricks and then, either with it, or without, put a 6" layer of straw mulch over it.

Good luck with your new plants! Everybody agrees that adding organic matter is the solution. Soon your inherited bed of brick will be a veritable Garden of Eden!

Enjoy Seattle. I did.

Rain2Fall

Well, the plants look happy and I think I can even see the arugula getting noticeably bigger literally overnight (my imagination?). I was wondering, if I were to put some permeable row cover fabric on top of the plants, would it help keep the soil nutrients and so on from leeching away until the plants are a bit bigger and I can mulch them with straw?

Thanks again for the advice!