My gardens were all nearly unworkable clay when I started in 1998. Today, they all have beautiful, workable soil. I used TONS of compost...I bought humus in bags from Walmart, it's cheap and worked great. It was backbreaking work double digging all of those beds, but the effort plus time took care of the clay. Any time I re-planted an area, I would take the time to incorporate more humus or compost...it made every job big. There was a soil conditioner that was very expensive which I found at Bachman's in 20 or 40 # bags. I believe it made a HUGE difference, probably even more/faster than the Humus. It was in the 3rd or 4th year that I re-dug my gardens and mixed it in...I was really getting tired of that clay! Probably mixed more humus in at the same time, knowing me. My gardens got overgrown and were unmanaged the 5th and 6th year, as I was ill. When I went back to working them again, I had beautiful, friable soil that is now a pleasure to garden in. Very occasionally, I find a hunk of clay, but it's usually near an edge of shrubs or something that didn't get worked much with the humus or the soil conditioner. Bachman's has a good article on working with clay...to their credit, they don't try to sell you the conditioner and state that the jury's still out on that. I think it worked wonders, but since I did a lot of humus, too, it was probably the combination. And, somewhere along the line, I think I put gypsum in there, too. Gypsum is usually quite cheap. For the conditioner, I'm not sure if the brand was Shultz, or not, might have been Turface (Profile) or something else. In fact, I think the Turface people may actually sell the product to Shultz. bachman's link: http://www.bachmans.com/Garden-Care/divHomePage.html?cnb=GardenCare&categoryCode=02&pageIndex=_pageIndexToken_workingWithClaySoil Here's a description of the Shultz product, I nabbed it from the Amazon site for you: Instantly improves any soil! Turns hard-to-work clay soil into a loose, rich growing medium - permanently. Adds thousands of storage spaces that hold air and water in nearly perfect balance in the soil. Clay Soil Conditioner improves drainage and aeration in heavy, compacted clay soils and helps improve water and nutrient retention in dry, sandy soils. Made from 100% natural fuller's earth, this unique mineral is kiln-fired creating ceramic granules that work to improve soil structure. Just one application lasts year after year! Clay Soil Conditioner? is a stable mineral that will not break down or compact over time. Use at the rate of 15% by volume: (1 part Clay Soil Conditioner? to 6 or 7 parts soil.) Here is a link that might be useful: another review for soil conditioner

Hey. I just bought a pachira aquatica from a store and im not sure how to raise it. I am thinking along the lines of: water once a week mist once a week 3-5" pot braided indirect sunlight in summer/winter; direct in spring/fall watered from bottom apparently it is native to wetlands so i am going to try more water...i hope it grows for a long time. is it bad to have a few shriveled leaves here and there? Also: it came with a tie to keep it braided; i loosened it and i saw indents in the trunk! will that harm the tree? Just in case i loosened it. Thanks ahead, A.B.

"I assume azdoctor has reviewed your lab results? Unless someone is willing to go the extra mile and explain their rationale, I'd just ignore them. Maybe he thinks lawns don't need any chemical other than nitrogen, but we'll never know unless he decides it is worth his time to explain his understanding of healthy soil chemistry." Sorry - I did not explain myself very well. I based my recommendations on the soil test provided. It was not a blanket statement. Grasses, like all other plants require N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Cl, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Zn. The soil test indicated that most of these did not require adjustment, hence my recommendation. There is a sliver of truth to some of the comments regarding BCSR and soil structure. We use exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) to evaluate the impact of sodium on soil structure. Alternatively, we can use the Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) a ratio of the chemical activities of sodium to calcium plus magnesium. These are routinely used, and are not nutrient based (sodium is not a plant nutrient). These are most important in high CEC, clayey soils. Structure is less important in sandy soils. Somewhere I posted some articles that describe results of tests comparing BCSR and SLAN. Science is not a belief system. It is a method of evaluating facts. Read up on the facts and then make a conclusion - NOT A BELIEF.

I would start off with morning sun:). At about 11am the plants should move into some shade. I'm not saying everyday at 11am go outside and move the plants into some shade, but put somewhere outside where the sun shines until about 11am or even till 12pm then the plants get shaded. The afternoon sun is usually what burns the plants. Unless you live on the equator and even then morning sun could burn plants;). Do this for a week or two. I have a feeling full morning sun will be enough for the echies, but that cactus can take all day sun. The two above get all day sun:). So after about about one or two weeks of morning sun move the plants into more sun. A spot where shade comes at like 1pm/2pm. Do that for a week. Then move to a spot where the shade comes at about 3pm. Do that for a week or so. If you get no burns at the 3pm mark, they're ready for the all day sun:). Does that make sense. It's kinda hard to explain. Your mix looks fine so your good there:).