I use sand. Been using it for over 40 years. East coast, west coast. Coarse sand, river sand. For heavy clay loam, add about 1.5 inches of sand on top and till it in as deep as possible. Remember, all loam soils already have some sand in them. So you might not need to add as much as you think. Once you've amended your soil with sand, it's permanent. You can add some humus by top-dressing or mulching every year, but you will need a lot less compost for that than if you were amending the top 8 inches of soil every year. So the sand is a lot of work at the front end, but it saves you a lot of work every year thereafter. Then I rake the soil up into raised beds. I don't use any retaining structure. By the time I'm done, I've got at least 10-12 inches of well-aerated loam soil. Everything grows like mad in this stuff. Once the winter rains hit the soil, and then it dries the next summer, you might decide that it's still a little too stiff. Add some more sand. Or mulch with sand; that works really well. On heavily leached acidic soils, it's also a good idea to add lime. I prefer dolomite lime, because it has Magnesium as well as Calcium. If you have pure, impenetrable clay (which I call subsoil clay) , you're done for. Often this stuff will smell like methane when you disturb it. I recommend that you replace it with good topsoil, or pile good topsoil on top of it. If your native soil will grow healthy weeds and grass, you should be able to amend it with sand. If not, you need to truck in some soil. All of my experience is in areas with high rainfall and heavily leached acid soils on the east and west coasts of the US. So I don't know if sand will work in other situations. I do know that rock gardeners and rare bulb growers use sand extensively for growing beds in the entire northern tier of the USA. My experience is with very rare, difficult plants. They will thrive in prepared soil with added sand; most will do very poorly in heavy clay loam. Believe me, if this didn't work, I would have given it up a long time ago. If you have a big area, you will probably need to buy a dumptruck load of sand, and rent a little tractor with a bucket and tiller. Otherwise you are going to get the workout of your life. For the science behind this, google "soil triangle". It's pretty simple, really. Add some sand, get loam. Add more sand, get sandy loam. In my opinion, sandy loam is garden heaven for a wide range of plants. A few plants prefer a heavier soil, but most gardeners grow a lot of different things. Sandy loam warms up earlier, is easier to weed (they pull right out), doesn't stick to your shoes, doesn't compact, is well aerated, and gives amazing seed germination. My rare plants reseed themselves all over the place. I never saw that with clay loam. I like a humusy organic soil as much as anybody. But I don't have time to amend my soil with humus every year for the rest of my life. What are you going to do when you get old (like me)? Just add the sand now and enjoy. Skeptical? Worried? Buy a bag or two of sand at Home Depot. Dig it into a small area and see if it works for you. But make sure that your clay loam is in a tillable condition, or you are going to end up with an awful mess. It can't be too wet or too dry. I've never used peat moss to improve garden soil. Too expensive, too temporary, no nutrients. I use it in potting mixes. This post was edited by lilydude on Tue, Apr 22, 14 at 21:55

I know I'll probably take a hit for this, but I'll stand firm on my assertion that the mix of equal parts of peat, black soil, sand, and perlite is a poor choice for houseplants - especially for inexperienced waterers. We can actually quantify what makes a good container soil, as noted above. Aeration is KEY in container soils and this mix WILL compact and WILL NOT hold enough air for an extremely high % of plants to ever grow at or even near their potential genetic vigor. I'm the first to say that it doesn't matter what soils are actually made of, as long as they provide anchoring, nutrient and water-holding ability, and most importantly - they must hold an ample volume of air and allow gas exchange at the rootzone. The soil described above will lack aeration and adequate gas exchange. That a particular person does something for a number of years with results that are acceptable, doesn't mean it should be adopted by others. Saying, "It works for me" is simply a statement and should not be regarded as a clarion call that others should follow blindly. That's all I have to say, and it's just an opinion, but it's easily supported by science and practical experience, and can be corroborated by dozens, if not hundreds of folks I've helped with soil problems over the years. I'm not trying to stir the pot here, just trying to help folks see that there are better choices than the mix we're discussing. Use science, don't fight against it. (I wish someone famous would have said that so I could offer it as a quote & it would carry more weight) ;o) A friend of mine, Joe Pye, comes to mind as I consider the reasoning of some. Joe Pye would get up every morning before work and bang his head against the wall. He always said it worked for him. One day he got tired of banging his head and decided to change, so he kissed his wife goodbye instead. Joe never did go back to banging his head. Moral: If your happy with how things are growing, please maintain the status quo, but at least allow there just might be a better way. Al

People This shouldnt be an either/or situtation, from what im getting in this thread is people that are in the anti peat moss camp are making thier points as if peat moss is the only thing put into thier beds. I found tilling 20 large peat bales (new 60' x60' garden) along with 15 hay bales and a ton of shredded leaves (watered in)in the fall and let sit for 5 months untill april and then tilled in 4" of mature compost from the local mucipality turned my cemnt hard clay garden into a loose highly fertile garden in months instead of years.I will keep tilling horse maure leaves and grass clippings to feed my soil every fall,thats just smart, but what tilling in the peat moss did is let me have an almost instant garden as I didnt have to wait years by top dressing and waiting for mother nature to do her thing. Now if its for flower bed and you cant till thats another story top dress with compost and shredded leaves and lightly sratch it into the top 2" of soil. My point beeing this is not an either/or situation. the beauty of peat is it lasts for years and doesnt break down anywhere as fast as the nutrisional amendmants that we also add to our gardens.

If one bothers to read the research, it is not that one never has a need to amend soil - that's a pretty preposterous assumption - but if amending is recommend/advised/suggested, you do so over the largest possible area, NOT individual planting holes! Few make the effort or go to the bother to do so, so we continue to perpetuate the "must amend soils before planting" myths. And FWIW, amending even a large area is not necessary IF you pick plants that are properly suited to growing in your conditions rather than attempting to force a non-suited plant into conditions not to its liking. If you have alkaline soil, pick plants that like that soil condition - it's pretty simple. Attempting alter soil pH to any significant degree and permanently is not possible or practical. Making such broadfaced statements as " "bathtub effects" If it exists it's about as common as ball lightening" is not at all helpful. The bathtub effect DOES exist, especially when amending heavy or poorly draining soils, and can be incredibly detrimental to plant establishment, if not fatal. There are basic physical properties of soil that can be negatively altered by ill-advised amending. Ideally, you want a soil that is uniform in texture and structure throughout the entire root zone (which with trees, extends a considerable distance - far more than most folks realize). Amending pockets or individual planting holes interrupts this uniformity and creates soil interface issues and impacts water percolation (i.e., the formation of the 'bathtub effect'). gumby, the issues you bring up were not addressed in this thread - it seems to focus only on the pros and cons of amending. But they are entirely valid and should be considered. The attached link should be helpful in that regard. And I urge you to look at item 7 on the list :-)