Interesting about the pottery shards in your soil. Any idea where they came from?
I was resistant to adding perlite to garden soil for a very long time because I thought it didn't look right. I thought compost would solve everything. Maybe - but I figured that the very edge of the bed where I intended to squeeze in carrots would be my experiment. I have a thin layer of sandy loam on top of clay. I'll probably add a little more this year along with some compost and see if I can get a better result.
I did send in a soil sample (my first) to a testing lab and have been working this week on what I need to add to get the mineral content where is should be - at least in the bed where I grow a few vegetables. I'm hoping that will give my better yields and healthier plants.
