Of course, it is real estate, Joe. I have gardens in 3 locations (if'n you don't count my little herb patch and greenhouses in the backyard). Separated by miles, it isn't surprising to anyone, I'm sure, that each location has its uniqueness.
I sometimes wish that the large veggie garden could have as deeply cultivated soil as the other 2 but that deeply cultivated soil didn't happen overnight. What passes for topsoil around here only runs about 8" deep, at best. Getting down to the depth of a spading fork (about 11") takes time. Otherwise, that "unkind subsoil" gets mixed in with the otherwise modestly fertile soil above it.
Mixing the unkind with the kind doesn't help . . . we hear how soil "grows" slowly in a natural environment - 500 years is often the number given - for an inch!! Maybe with our green thumbs we can speed that up a little . . . tenfold, so it's 50 years! one hundredfold, so it's 5 years - wow! That's fairly breakneck speed!
Trying to avoid bringing in a truckload of potting soil and gardening in that means that we probably should show all that great gardening patience (Obsessed is learning), scratch around and just do the best we can with what we've got.
Personally, I'm a great believer that roots make the best soil amendment. Grow stuff in it, it'll get better - eventually.
And that's just the soil. Then there's the ephemeral things like the weather, rain and irrigation, dry shade from trees and damp shade from buildings. And, the changeable nature of shade as trees leaf out and grow and as the sun swings around in the sky over the seasons.
This gardening is a "dodgy science" - so risky, it requires deft handling. As a young gardener, I aspired to be an Artful Dodger. Now that I'm old and thoroughly unstable, I rely on garden friends and force of habit.
Steve
