garden soil prep
GardenPT@aol.com (Tue, 18 Feb 2003 15:12:23 PST)

Cathy,

Soils in So. CA respond to gypsum only if they contain an excess of the
sodium ion. Unlikely to be the case unless your soil has saltwater intrusion
or has been dredged from a saltwater channel of whatever kind. Even if those
conditions exist, one would be wise to have a professional soil test done to
confirm, or not, the presence of excess sodium.

As was said in another post, thorough amending with organic matter -- compost
-- is the key to managing soils, clay or not.

Jean
in Portland, OR,
but previously from Long Beach, CA.