Kat2

I gardened on pure throwable clay which is very much like sand it seems. There is no way I could have generated enough compost to make decent dirt for my small beds. I brought loads and loads of leaf mulch from the city which I applied to the surface; I didn't til. I also mulched paths/trees/bushes with free woodhips which broke down; resulting dirt from paths was tossed in my beds and replenished. After 5 years I had decent soil; after 25 I had about 24" of pure black gold.

Clay county at their Green Springs "dump" has free compost; I don't believe you have to be a resident but you do have to pick it up. Make friends with someone who owns horses and pick up lots of that. A tree trimmer will probably dump chips for you; finding one can be tricky. If you had normal soil, you might only need 5 or 6 pickup loads of "stuff" to see results; given my experience with clay I figure you're looking at 20 dumptruck loads to make a dent in 1/3 acre. And you will have to supplement annually or you'll lose momentum.

__________________