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If recent weather has given you planting fever, keep in mind there are preparations to make your garden successful. Good soil is basic to all kinds of gardening. Without a doubt the No. 1 complaint of most gardeners is their soil. With few exceptions it is too heavy or too light, has too much sand or too much clay, won't hold water or will not drain. These complaints head the list but few can call their soil perfect.
My best advice for those with a problem soil is "don't learn to live with it." Improve it! Nothing is as frustrating to the entire gardening process as plants that do not grow and produce well. Tilling, weeding, fertilization and watering are all for naught when soil limits the growth of everything in the garden. No gardener has perfect soil and most soil needs major improvement.
Soil improvement is one of the most important things for a successful garden. Gardeners often think the soil looks better on the other side of the fence. Fortunately you can do something about it. In general, you should plan on improving your soil rather than haul in new "top soil."
Hauling in top soil can be risky from several standpoints. First, it may not be any better than the soil you have even though it is different. Second, it may contain many different weed seeds that you certainly don't need to start in your yard. Third, intermixing top soils is not always successful. Sand mixed with clay will often produce low-grade cement. Fourth, occasionally soils scraped off from agricultural or other treated areas have herbicides or other materials in them that can damage your plantings.
The most urgent problem occurs when building a new home or building. This whole process removes, destroys or covers all available soil on a site. As basements or foundations are dug into and disturbed, the substrata are piled on top of any soil that remains and destroys its growing properties. Then the destructive processes continue as trucks, tractors and trailers and all kinds of construction equipment roll back and forth and compact the soil until it resembles an unpaved parking lot. As a final preparation before the sale, a little fluffy something is hauled in and graded smooth. This gives the appearance of being ready to plant.
When the planting starts, one finds out how difficult that lack of soil is to deal with. Hard, bricklike soil makes it nearly impossible to produce healthy trees, lovely flowers and tasty produce in the garden.
