During my lifetime, I have lived and gardened in several parts of the country, and in almost every place I have lived, I have been forced to amend my garden’s soil. Before I moved back to Mississippi, I lived and gardened in the Ozark Mountains, where most of the earth is covered by bedrock. In my first Mississippi home, my soil was hard, red clay, and that soil was more suitable for making clay pots than for gardening. In New Jersey, I lived on the New Jersey coast, and the soil there was too sandy.

In New Jersey, my garden was also compromised by the severe shifts of its elevation. Although it was a slow process, I began leveling my New Jersey garden via a process of creating new soil from composted newspaper, grass clippings, and leaves. Because grass and weed control were also problems, I began by covering my entire backyard with several layers of newspaper. On recycling day, I would raid the trash for an immense amount of newspaper.  At the back property lines, I stacked newspaper at least 2 feet high, and this barrier became almost as strong as a concrete retaining wall.  Then I began filling the yard by varying layers of grass clippings, compost, and dry leaves.

I covered the bottom sheets of newspaper with grass clippings 2 or 3 inches high.  Grass clippings are a green layer. When amending soil, it is important to alternate green layers with non-green layers. Newspaper is a non-green layer. On top of each green layer, I placed 2 or 3 inches of a non-green layer of dried leaves and or shredded newspaper. Whereas the sheets of newspaper become rather impenetrable, the shredded newspaper breaks down quickly.  Then I topped the non-green layer with another green layer. Fruit and vegetable scraps are another kind of green layer.

In the above photo, you see an amended layer after one year of decomposition. Slowly, that area became a nutritious patch of amended soil. For the past several years, I have used cardboard beneath the soil that I either add or create. The cardboard helps block grass and weeds from the garden plot.

When I buy soil, I purchase bags of soil that is already enriched with fertilizer for my current garden, and I add at least 4″ of this enriched soil on top of the cardboard. Earthworms love newspaper and cardboard, and as the worms nibble through either of those substances, they continuously till and aerate the soil. Earthworms are gardeners’ friends.  I can’t say that an earthworm can crack rocks, but in Mississippi, I relied upon earthworms to break down my red clay. Earthworms are essential for good gardening–especially for organic gardening.  Their castings provide natural fertilizer, and gardens rich with earthworms also have fewer problems with garden pests.  I still compost my fruits, vegetables,  and newspapers in my current garden, too.

I believe that the soil in my current garden might be okay, but my yard is covered with matted layers of Bermuda grass. I can’t dig through that grass, and I am building my current garden with raised beds that have cardboard beneath them.