Re: [gardeners] zone 9b
Lon J. Rombough (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 02 Aug 2001 17:23:48 -0700
I lived in Davis when I went to school there, and at least in the older
areas, the soil was anything but hard. The problem was that the WATER was
harder than anything I've seen elsewhere. Let a faucet drip SLOWLY and
overnight there was a small stalagtite hanging from the faucet. Perennials
actually did better with mulching than with watering because the water
raised the pH of the soil so much you could kill some things after a few
years with the rise in alkalinity. But the soil was incredibly deep. I
remember when they dug the foundations for the freeway overpasses and they
must have gone down 40 feet without any layers showing - it was essentially
topsoil all the way down.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, more, plus word on my grape book at
http://www.bunchgrapes.com
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>From: Sherryl Fawx <slfawx@ucdavis.edu>
>To: gardeners@globalgarden.com
>Subject: Re: [gardeners] zone 9b
>Date: Thu, Aug 2, 2001, 5:16 PM
>
>I'm in Davis and often in Santa Clara. Santa Clara isn't quite as hot in
>summer nor as cold in winter, but it's a lot smoggier. The soil in both is
>pretty heavy. Davis has "Yolo fine sandy loam" and Santa Clara has adobe
>clay, but they feel pretty much the same when you're trying to work with
>them. Alamo's roughly halfway between the two, I think. What's your
>native soil like, before amending? I drive along that corridor every week,
>lamenting the loss of beautiful fields to new housing developments.
>
>Sherryl
>
>At 12:26 AM 08/02/2001 -0400, Mary-Anne wrote:
>>
>>Where are you? I am also 9b in Alamo
>
>after Sherryl wrote
>>><< Northern California, USDA zone 9b >>
>>
>
>