Garden

[Puzzle Piece]

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@JustJazzmom wrote:

First off you need to get a pH test of the soil. Bring in a sample to your local cooperative extension.

I doubt if the soil is sterile. I would add compost, mulched leaves or other organic material to your soil so that microbes could be introduced which are on the organic material. Are you seeing any insect activity in the soil?

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No, no activity.  I was thinking maybe adding worms but that might be cruel at this stage. 

[JustJazzmom]

Earthworms can introduce their castings (excrement) which also help your soil.

Could that soil be bank run instead of the top soil? 

Sometimes with new construction the top soil isn’t scraped to one side & what’s on top lands on the bottom. 

Try & remove many of the rocks seen in bank run too if possible.

[gardenman]

If there's no organic matter in the soil (worm food) the worms will just slither away to find food elsewhere. Your best bet is to work on getting organic matter into the soil. That can be compost or some other sort. In a nutrient poor soil legumes used as a cover crop can be ideal as they can rip nitrogen (plant food) right from the air rather than from their roots. If the seeds are dipped in a nitrogen fixing bacteria powder before planting any extra nitrogen taken will for little nitrogen packed nodules on the roots. Then as the cover crop is tilled or dug into the soil that green matter will decay adding organic matter to the soil as those nitrogen rich nodules will add food to the soil. With each subsequent cover crop growth should improve along with the soil condition until you end up with a very nice, deep, rich soil.

Fallen leaf season is coming up soon and digging in lots of fallen leaves will help your soil too. If you don't have enough on your property others will be only to happy to give you bags of their fallen leaves. Digging/tilling those into the soil can help your soil structure also. Horticultural grit (not found too much locally here) can also be used to help lighten and loosen up clay soils. Chicken grit found at places like Tractor Supply Co can be a cheaper and equally effective option though if you can't find horticultural grit. Try to find the crushed granite type rather than the crushed coral or calcium (oyster shell) based ones so it won't affect your natural soil pH. Unless you want it to affect your natural soil pH.

Given the time of the year, I'd probably focus on digging in fallen leaves and adding grit if the soil is too heavy with clay. It's hard to add too much organic matter to soil, so lots of leaves dug into the soil should help improve things over time. A green cover crop come spring dug in halfway early and more grit if need be might have you with some pretty impressive soil by this time next year. Another dose of fallen leaves and maybe more grit if needed could have your soil the envy of the neighborhood by the spring of 2021.