I'm glad that you're planning to add the lime, as in my experience, New England gardens usually need it. I support you in your "winging it" approach, though I advise caution as you proceed. Pay careful attention to your soil and your plants. A home test kit may or may not do anything useful for you (I've really heard horrible reviews of them). I'd suggest that you seriously consider putting in some sort of mild terracing along your slope, rather than just one wall at the end (unless you believe that one wall would allow you to level the whole thing...but then you're back to adding loads of material to fill it, so I'm guessing not?). I gardened on a slight slope last year, and had to go to some effort to create little berms at various points, so that the water would stay where I put it rather than running downhill all the time. I might suggest some of those "Windsor blocks" that they sell at Home Depot -- I've used them before with great success. They have other sorts of options, too. I garden organically, too. It can take a while to get your soil to where you want it to be, but I think it's well worth it. I like the amendments that you list, and think they'll serve you well. I also managed to find myself a great source of rabbit manure, which I think will prove to be a huge boon. For fertilizers, I've been using a combination of the Gardens Alive! dry fertilizers (available from their web site or catalog), and Neptune's Harvest fish and/or seaweed fertilizer. Since my garden is small (so far!), the last me a while. However, I'm hoping to build up my soil sufficiently with manure and compost and hay mulch that I won't need to buy any more of these after my current supplies are depleted. Only time will tell if this is realistic, but there are plenty of people on the Soil forum reporting that if you do what's needed for the soil, you eventually won't need fertilizers. I see you're in MA and in the city. Are you in the Boston area? If so, send me a private message if you'd like to chat about local stuff like manure sources, or anything else.

Go ahead and plant and see what happens. I figured the heavy clay at my home would not be good for asparagus, but I planted anyway. That was 20 years ago and the planting continues to yield well. Sometimes spears are crooked or weird looking, and I assume it is because they had trouble getting through the heavy soil. But most are okay and all taste good. I did not amend much and have often wondered if doing so would have allowed water to sink in more quickly instead of running off the slight slope of the bed. Perhaps amending would have given me a permeable bed that fillled with water and would not drain from the clay bottom...but I don't know. So I'm not sure if I should encourage you to amend.....or not. But I think there is a good chance you can grow asparagus without making major changes to the soil. If you do want to amend alot perhaps you could go with raised beds.

Fantastic info here. I've only seen ONE earthworm in the some-100 sq ft I dug/tilled. I have considered that as a possibility the soil sucks, but there is some research to suggest whether earthworms are present or not means soil is bad/good. As far as pH testing with county extension. I have thought of doing that, but I just don't want to spend the time. If I were able to dig up the garden last year, for example, I would. I forgot about the water in hole test. I will be trying that out. Last year I did the jar test, forgot about that one. I will do it today. The tilth is there. And smell, I'm terrible with smelling. Excited to see the jar test reslts and water hole test. After thinking it out last night, I have thought maybe tilling in some peat moss would do the trick? Haven't done a pH test/mineral test yet. What are your thoughts? Anyone actually have soil start out like mine and be ammended well in the first year of gardening with it?

Well, Louisianagal, you've inspired me. I've decided I'm not going to till, and I made a spectacle of myself at WalMart last night, pointing to "one of that" and "two of those, please, thanks" to the poor scrawny garden center greeter who had to carry six 40 lb. bags-o-stuff to my car. I wish there had been room in the car to carry him home to help me get them out. Anyway, I have 2 bags topsoil, 2 bags organic humus, one bag organic compost, 2 bales of 2 cubit ft. sphagnum peat moss, almost 3 bags of MiracleGro garden soil (bought when I thought I would till), more than half a bale-o-straw, lotsa newspapers and am going out now for more straw and cardboard. Whew! Worked up a sweat just TYPING it. Now another question (yes, really). My tomato seedlings are just at 6" and under, and I have 23 of them (Burpee heirloom rainbow variety pack, 6 different kinds, all indeterminate, I think). It'll be quite a while yet before I need to transplant, so if I start layering NOW, will my garden be ready to recieve the plants in 2 or 3 weeks? Will 12" of layers be enough, considering that, at transplanting time, it will have gone down? My thinking is that after 2 weeks or so, the bottom layer (cardboard and/or newspaper) should be sufficiently broken down enough to allow me to 1) dig past it into the native lawn, dump a trowel full of humus or compost, drop peat pot, then re-cover with my layers and mulch (I bought a little bulb planter tool this week for that very reason); or 2) if the layers are deep enough to NOT need to dig through the cardboard, the growing roots will break through the cardboard and thrive in the soil underneath. As I stated before, I have LOADS of earthworms, so I imagine they'd do ok, and my sweet corn seedlings(which I started inside in peat pots) were set directly into holes I had dug into my sod, with only a bit of mushroom compost in the hole and covered with wet newspaper and straw, and they're doing great...I haven't even top dressed them since I put them in about 3 weeks ago. I'm having to deal with the surrounding grass poking up around the hole, as I did not smother heavily enough, I'm correcting that now. In the same plot, several holes-in-the-ground to the north, bush beans, same story...looking good, but I'm trying to clear and smother. Dang me and my rambling. Sorry. Oh, and one other thing (yeah, I do that, I know). I just read on another site (or this one) someone's comment about the bottom layer of a lasagna garden...poster said that cardboard breaks down better than newspaper, "according to those who lasagna garden". Has anyone heard that? I haven't. TWO other things (I lied). When my layering's done, I plan to cover with black plastic (the kind found in the paint supplies department, not breathable), as I heard that it will "bake the lasagna", so to speak, to speed up breakdown. Any thoughts, anyone? I'll remove the plastic before planting. If air supression is deemed a problem, I can run my garden weasle over it for holes. I'd appreciate any and all opinions. Louisianagal, if you're reading this, I would like to hear of the arbor your hubby made for you. Thanks for letting me run on (and on, and on...) Joyce P.S. .... (just kidding...)