I live in downtown Toronto and have been an enthusiastic composter for many years. My rear garden is now a lot higher and the soil consists of about 3 feet of composted leaves and kitchen scraps overlaying the very fine and dense yellow sandy subsoil soil that I started with. Any suggestions on how I can improve the soil which seems too porous and dries out quickly. Should I just remix it with the subsoil or are their amendments that are obtainable and easy to add?
It sounds like what you have is three feet of mulch overlaying soil. Once organic litter decomposes enough there are lots of plants that will grow in it, many modern potting media are also soilless (although there is often a mineral component as well, such as pumice or sand). Tomatoes can even be grown in aerated water. But usually one will be planting in soil, rather than organic refuse alone.
I understand that my soil is sort of a mulch on top of the not very fertile sand and it does produce some nice flowers. I add composted sheep manure from our organic farmer friend every few years I was wondering if adding clay or some other mineral component would improve its texture and moisture retention. I assume just remixing it with the subsoil would not help since the sand is so fine.
This has little to do with compost, but does it snow and get cold in Toronto as much as it does in Ontario? My mother is from an area now included in Kenora, Ontario, by the Lake of The Woods. Back to the compost thing: I alternated between compost and clay. Some years I added compost. Other times, like when we added trees in the front, I moved the clay soil from the hole to the garden and worked it in. I could let the area sit through winter rains, and in March, drive a blunt 1" diameter bamboo pole in with just my hands - to 14" deep. The pole went in that easy without cultivating it prior. It just sat all fall and winter. So I'm for an in-between - not too much clay, not too much compost.
We do get enough cold and snow in Toronto with fairly deep ground frost for three + months-but nothing like Kenora! I have thought of adding some clay, but am unsure if it matters where it comes from. Are some types of clay better than others. I have heard of the term coloidal clay (which was mixed in some commercial baged container soil) but I have no idea what this is. Any ideas?
