ONCE UPON A TIME...

All gardeners like to say that there "was nothing here when when I started this garden," and I'm no different . There were Oak trees an old 'King' variety apple tree, and a crazy wisteria vine that sent runners through the back door screen right into the house. And I forgot to mention the ungraded lawn. Walking on it made a person look quite drunk as they reeled to and fro.

The little house we bought sat on a partially wooded lot and the land sloped down to the north, east and west rising a bit at the foundation. This helped the drainage of the tough clay soil until it was gradually improved by truckloads of loam, sawdust, compost, sometimes sharp builders' sand and sometimes by raising the beds.

I was initially surprised by the impenetrability of the clay. I dug in and broke the tip of a new spade. Thinking perhaps I had rock and not clay, I took what samples I could wrest from the "garden" and soaked them overnight in a pail of water. Since the so-thought rock dissolved I guessed it was clay after all.