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.

There is nothing better for breaking up nasty old clay than chicken poop and sand. As for composting, I set up a ring of hog wire about 4 feet in diameter and 3 feet high. In that goes leaves, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds & the filters, which I tear into pieces, chicken litter (hay, poop, their old feed & scratch that is a mess on the floor, cedar chips, leaves, or whatever). I even clean out the sink drains strainer goop and put in there. Sprinkle on a 1/2 shovel of dirt (to add micro-organisms that help activate things) and then cover that with more leaves or leaf mold. Layer it like that over and over until it is pilled high and deep. The higher the better. Now, water it in until it is good and wet - Spongey. I just set my sprinkler on top and leave it for 20 minutes or so. If you get ample rain, you won't need to water it that much. I also empty my pet water into the compost and the chickens water, when I change it out. Weeds, green grass clippings, annual grass you pull up out of your garden beds, or anything like that provides your green matter. The chicken poop provides the heat and I mean fast! No need to cover it. It is much colder here in Oklahoma and my compost pile heats up and breaks down rapidly, even on the very coldest days. You can see the steam rising out of the compost in the mornings. You can use newspaper (not the color glossy sales pull-outs though). I tear into pieces or cut up into small pieces all of my paper trash, including cereal boxes, papertowels, macaroni & cheese boxes, pizza boxes, prescriptions labels (torn up or cut into pieces), prescription packages, paper grocery bags, or anything paper. I put them into a large bucket, add water, and let that sit over night. By morning, it has softened and can go right into my compost, water and all. Cover it with more hay or leaves. The worms love it and move in really soon. Every once in awhile, add some more leaves and chicken litter to keep it fueled. You will be surprised just how much less trash you will have to throw away each day, especially if you are already recycling bottles and plastics! If it cools down, stir in some more chicken litter/poop or add a little dab of fertilizer or composted manure. Once a weak, I give it a toss and fluff it up a bit. The frequent turning will also keep it from packing down and just rotting and that will prevent it from stinking or drawing flies and critters. I'll shut up now. Hopes this helps. It's how I do things, anyhow. ~Annie

lady, where are you? Different locales have different forms of clay. In general though, from what I've read for those plants, just generously amending the clay with organic matter (compost, leaf mold, etc...) should do fine for the hostas. Mine do fine in my clay-based soil. I assume you mean calla lilies - instead of cali - the resource I read from... http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/calla-lily/growing-calla-lilies-and-care-of-calla-lilies.htm ... indicated they like more drainage. You could remove some of the native clay and incorporate a mix intended as potting soil into the clay. As mentioned, all clays are different. You may have one that is just fine being amended once, or have one that will require a lot of work. Tough to know for sure from here. Some clay could be beneficial, but not so much that the soil doesn't drain well.

greenwoodframed, we are also enjoying this spring heat wave in Philly. Thank goodness it's due to break tonight. In this kind of sudden early hot spell, newly planted things may wilt even in ideal soil, so don't be too discouraged. They just don't have enough roots yet. You need to be on the spot with water first thing in the morning when the forecast is this hot. Sprinkle over the whole area as slowly as you can and as thoroughly as you can for as long as you can stand it. If it's running off, stop for a while and then start again. This will go a LOT better once you get some mulch on the soil. I have probably a similar soil condition to yours in my small garden patch - urban clay gunk, but it is actually fairly soft and easy to shovel, and it is not that hard to improve. I am steadily working on improving it through mulching and top dressing with compost. It's surprising how many worms and other soil critters show up and happily thrive, even in the middle of the city, when given half a chance and lots of organic matter to eat. Have you been seeing worms so far? You need a lot of mulch, preferably with a good layer of compost under it, and you need it fast. I know it is a hassle to lug mulch in the city but you absolutely must put down a good thick layer of mulch. Sometimes you can get free wood chips from the city (I don't know what New York has available) but if all else fails a bag of wood chip mulch costs me about $2.50 at Home Depot, which is not prohibitive when you have such a small area to cover. Good compost, just straight compost, is harder to find at the big box stores, but you could probably find some composted cow manure (Black Kow is a national brand that's likely around). It's not necessary to dig in the compost to the soil, although you could do some of that in the areas that aren't planted yet, just at the surface. The problem with amending the soil (mixing stuff in) is that unless you can do the WHOLE area very thoroughly, you are liable to create pockets of soil with different drainage characteristics, so the water will collect in those pockets and the plant roots won't spread out properly. Top dressing (spreading stuff on the top of the soil) allows it to gradually be incorporated into the soil over time by the worms, bugs, rainwater and gravity. Ideally, I would spread a layer of compost an inch thick over the whole area, rake it lightly into the very top of the soil, and then cover that over with a layer of mulch at least two inches thick. If you can't quite manage that much, put on as much as you can, or skip the compost, but get that mulch on there! Also, to improve the soil, it would be better to have more plants growing in it - roots in the soil will feed the microbes and improve the structure. If you don't yet know what else you want to plant there in the long term, get some cheap fast annuals or something just for this year to fill in the space.