EM-1 is great for commercial applications or someone that needs to "charge" a compost pile or soil with microbes. The thing is, no matter how much of this stuff you dump into the ground, if the microbes don't have "food/organic matter" to break down to do their thing they're just going to die and you'll keep having to reapply it. Unless you're looking to charge/start/etc a whole lot of soil/compost it's mostly useless based on the cost vs benefit. You can brew up a quick compost tea, create a "base" layer of compost yourself to add to your main pile, or borrow a few inches of someone else's already churning compost to start your pile much cheaper.

Most succulents have shallow roots, so deep watering doesn't help much. The marine influence in zone 24 is going to be the biggest help for planting in summer. In order to figure out watering, you need to know how much water your system lays down per minute, precipitation rate, and how much water you need, percentage of ET0. Or do what most people do and figure it out through trial and error. The link below is a great source for irrigation information in California. Here is a link that might be useful: CIMIS

It is wonderful to get so many responses! Thanks to all of you. IpmMan - an air spade, really? The video attached sure didn't look as if it was being used on clay soil, but it might be a great way to kill off the grass in an area where you want to place a new bed. I don't have a diesel air compressor - I do have a small electric air compressor, but I don't know that it would have the power needed for this. I think the noise would drive me nuts, too - not quite the "communing with nature" gardening that I prefer. And then there are the earthworms - at least with a shovel, though it kills or damages some earthworms when you push the blade into the ground, at least you can rescue the rest of them in the dirt that you shovel up! My yard is seems to be primarily flat, but it is at the bottom of a slope so I do get the run off from other yards above mine - I hate to think of what chemicals that might also be coming with the run off. It has been a while, but a few years ago in late winter/early spring, we got so much rain in a two week period - very unusual for Colorado - that there was standing water in my back yard; the clay soil could only absorb so much. The standing water was primarily in the southeast corner of my yard, so I learned from that that nothing that can't tolerate occasionally wet feet should be planted in that area. I actually purchased a small portable electric sump pump and attached it to a long hose in order to siphon water out of the back yard and out the front driveway to the street! I will try the elevation method suggested by several of you, along with breaking up the bottom of the hole with a pick axe or crowbar to avoid the hard pan effect mentioned by Tunilla. And the shallow wide planting hole idea that you gave, gardengal48, also sounds like a good idea. I won't amend the soil that is below ground level, but will cover the root ball that is above the ground level with amended soil and then cover the entire planting area with a good depth of mulch - pine straw and pine nuggets is what I will be using from now on. I do have lots of earthworms in my yard so they should help with the aeration. treebarb - I have been meaning to get an actual PH reading for my soil for quite a few years now, but somehow never have gotten around to it. Did you send in samples from various parts of your yard, or just one sample? Did you consider trying any of the "do it yourself" kits or PH meters that seem to be available - or are they all pretty useless? I am glad to see that others are getting useful info from this thread; I empathize with all of my fellow clay soil sufferers. I do miss the rich, black soil of Vermont - the soil there is so nice even a two year old could dig a hole two feet deep with a trowel! :p Holly

Build rock terraces using the lay of the land as your guide. One can collect rocks off your land or bring in new rock. build up and bring in good dirt. I garden with mostly norther mexican, texas natives, desert plants and Mediterranean. I have left my place with the rythm of the hill country. I moved out here because I love how the hill country looks so I have left the hillcountry in my yard. I live not far from hamilton pool and the pedernales River. Very rocky. I started with the dirt under the trees where there is some goodish dirt to start my garden and have been working outwards to where the sun shines with its blistering intensity and there is really bad dirt... I have been slowly working out as I improve my soil. Every spring I bring in several yards and break in another area. Some areas, I improve very little or I bring in course decomposed granit and peagravel to grow cactus. Are you from the are or are you moving here from another type of environment Like wet temporate forest. I suggest you get a good book on gardening with Texas natives. It will keep you from being wed to your irrigation system. We want canyon lake in the lake, not being sprayed on your yard. Plants that like uneven rocky soil: Flame acanthus Agastache, agave, apache plume,asclepias asperula,desert marigold,Caesalpinia gillesi,Chilopsis linearis, coreopsis wrightii, Callirhoe involcrata, Calylophus berlandieri Dalea aurea, lavender, dykia, Echeania texensis, echinacea augustifolia, Hesperaloe,ipomopsis rubra, heterotheca vilosa, Turkscap, Gulf coast Muhly, wheeping muhly, lindheimers muhly, Alamo vine, Blackfoot daisy Maurandya barklayana, Manfreda maculata, Nolina lindheireii, californian poppy, salvia chiquita, salvia darcyi,salvia coccinea,salvia gregii, Salvia chioniphylla, salvia englemani,salvia farenacia,Salvia penstemonoides, Salvia regla, salvi roemeriana,, scutelaria wrightii, sophora affinis, sophora segunda, desert mallow(Spharalcea ambigua), stipa tenuissima, Tecoma stans, vitex tree, Yucca, Many more.