[PaulF]

This thread makes me consider what my garden space is. Fifteen years ago we moved from central Iowa to southeast Nebraska. There was no garden space so I cleared off a place and began to try and grow what I always grew. Near disaster. The space was virgin; brush, scrub, trees and weeds and the soil had never been turned.

While natives grew rampantly, the non-natives did poorly. Every species planted by me in the garden was a non-native. Weeds, brush and trees continued to do well in what we call around here sugar clay or more commonly loess (pronounced luss).

I began immediately an organics program to amend the soil so that my non-natives (tomatoes, peppers, green beans, etc.) would do something. Besides all that, the pH was at about 8.5 and an addition of sulphur was needed every other year to get into the 7.8 range. After three years of diminished harvests (compared to the overly rich growing conditions of Iowa farmland) the tons of organics began to show promise. This struggle to have perfect soil conditions will be ongoing for the rest of my gardening life. After I am gone the whole space will revert to its original state very quickly.

The struggle is all part of the fun involved with gardening and growing tomatoes...and other plants.