We have been in our 2nd house for the past 11 years and i amended in one way or another every flower bed on the property. I know for fact that some beds have gotten more tlc than others but i do have accurate records of any kind about where, when or of what they were amended with. I know i like to use peat moss, the very light fluffy peat moss (pardon the inaccurate name) and composted cow manure and twice that i know of, sand.
Every time i plant something new it is amended at least one of these things thus i figure i am always improving upon what was originally there which in my case is clay or backfill (more clay).
Last year i moved many plants but one plant outperformed itself many times over this year by being moved. It was one of the original plantings we did in a hurry to get all the plants in the ground in mid July when we moved in 11 years ago. The only amendment done then was topsoil tilled into the clay.
In any future beds i make i will amend heavily with what i like to use and never again with plain topsoil. In a perfect world i would dig up everything in my original bed but after doing the side foundation bed this year with only 20 plants involved i have decided to not do my original bed which has 80-90 plants in it.
I guess if we think of our gardens as tiny pieces of Real Estate where one spot is better than another then the old maxim of location, location, location rings true.
For the gardener it is the challenge of improving the bad spots so that there are no bad spots only better spots. A piece of real estate without any slums is valuable indeed.
