Hi Sue ...
Maybe I won't have to excavate all of the rest of the soil out of that bed. For me, that's hard labor because my back goes into full protest mode when I do that kind of work.
They clay soil in that bed was probably imported to the property when the J's imported soil for the front of the house. It is not the native soil on the house pad level in back of the house, which is densely compressed rock with clay and silt between the rocks. it is just clay soil.
Initially, I planted several micro-mini roses in that bed. I had potted them up to grow larger root masses before planting, so they were not just little bands. Those roses died because of both the intense heat of summer and poor drainage. I think the drainage was the primary culprit. I have other micro-mini roses planted out in the beds I've created on the house pad level that get the intense heat that have done just fine, but they have better air circulation and don't have the reflected heat from the wall as well as perfect drainage from the rocky soil under them. When I watered the roses in the bed, it appeared that the water soaked in just fine. However, when I pulled the dead plants, I found that they had root rot.
Then I decided to try sedums and hens and chicks since they needed less water. Unknowingly, that's when I created a perched bed because I went down about 10" and added a lot of decomposed granite and gravel to the soil on top of the clay soil that was in the bed. More dead plants. Again when I pulled them, I saw signs of root rot. They also fried.
I gave up planting in the bed and used large containers using xerotic plants on top of the bed. It was hard to keep any kind of moisture in the containers over the summer months because of the heat. So, to me, that was a temporary solution, because I have to winter protect the containers. I think the plants were hardy enough, it's just that the cold temps of winter were hard on the containers.
This time, I decided to excavate the bed and find out why it wasn't draining like the other beds. What I thought was going to be a simple project quickly became more of a problem project.
I am thinking in layers again ... not true layers, but lightening the soil in the bed as I go up. The denser clay amended as needed for about a foot and then soil that is even lighter and amended with organics and perlite nearer to the top of the bed. What is the best way to implement that kind of thing ?
Lyn
