We have too much clay, not too much sand, but the solution to the both is the same --- more organic matter.  If you live close to a grocery store, you might consider talking to the folks in the produce department and asking them to hang onto old fruits and vegetables for you to put in your compost pile, ramping up your volume.  Starting a worm colony would be an option to make your composting process move along more quickly too.

While you're working on your compost, you should still be able to come up with mulch to put on the soil surface to slow down evaporation.  We have a mulching mower and use the grass clippings as mulch, putting handfuls directly onto beds around plants like tomatoes.  Maybe a lawn mowing company would be willing to give you their grass clippings?  In the fall, tree leaves are readily available and make great mulch too.  If you have space, you can ask tree pruning companies to deposit a truckload of wood chips in your yard, but you'll need to wait a couple of years for them to break down enough to make good mulch.  A smart scavenger (especially one who lives in the city) should be able to find lots of free garden amendments!

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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