Bought a house back in July of last year. Half the stuff planted in the front flower bed has died because the builder planted everything in horrible soil which contained a ton of clay. Everybody in the neighborhood has had the same issue. I want to redo the beds, but I am clueless when it comes to flower beds. There is 3" of crappy mulch in my beds now. Do I need to remove it all? Till it? Do I take out the top 5" or so of crappy soil and replace with topsoil? Or garden soil? Or a mix of both? I need some serious help!!!!

I would remove crsppy mulch. Break up clay as much as possible ( about 6-12"). Mix in some gypsum and high quality compost soil as well as top soil. Plant your new shrubs and flowers then put down a quality cedar mulch.
You can also mix in mushroom compost and earthworm castings to help invigorate microbial growth.

[This message has been edited by SoulSlaveAG2005 (edited 5/23/2014 9:41p).]

All good questions. Howard Garrett out if the DFW area has a great website and recommendations for organic gardening here in Texas. Check out his bed preparation section of his website here: http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Bed-Preparation_vq3029.htm

You're gonna have to copy and paste cause I'm on my phone. But you'll like his site. If I can encourage you not to use any harsh chemicals like roundup and instead try to stick to organic practices, I think you'll enjoy gardening much more.

Have fun!

where are you located? if in dfw, try soil building systems. aggie owned and operated. I buy dirt from them. I have black clay and built up beds using their gumbo buster soil. it grows great plants. I tilled 2 inches in over the clay using a roto tiller

Sweet! Thanks for the advice!

It isn't the native clay soil doing it. Remember, our native clay soils produced one of the highest yielding grassland ecosystems on the planet. Usually it is the base material hauled in for the foundation spilling over to the sides. DON'T TILL!!!!! Use a bunch of surface compost (your soil life will do the work for you), and mulch heavily. I use lots of leaves and grass clippings initially, then use native bark mulch.

When we dug the holes for the plants and shrubs, we utilized a mixture of....

- 1/3...existing soil from beds
- 1/3...bagged topsoil
- 1/3...bagged garden soil

Hopefully that works. Turned out looking great!