[willyb]

You don't have to convert 100% in the first year. Block off a portion of your garden space. 50% if possible to get there quick. If not that much, chip away at it. Get a 5 gallon bucket of soil from an organic garden and spread it around. Any chance you get, get organic soil and throw it on your garden. A handfull has a lots of benifical bacteria. Borrow some worms from friends. Add as much manure and leaves and/or straw as you can cost effectivly obtain. Till it in well. Let it rest for a time and till it again. This will add air and re-distribute the soil bacteria. Plant a cover crop of clover or vetch. Till it in in the fall and again in the spring. Put a few tomatos or veggies there this year, or a climbimg bean tepee. Legumes will add nitrogen to the soil. Get some peas and bean seeds from your friends, broadcast them, let them grow and harvest. Save the beans and plant again for more soil improvment. You have been chemical in the past, you won't go to hell for one more year until you get organic. If there is ever a post hole auger in the area, punch some deep holes at random, bring up the mineral rich clays and let the topsoil fill the holes. You will have a great garden next year and a better one the next. Garden soils are fixable.