Gardening Success with Difficult Soils: Limestone, Alkaline Clay, and Caliche Soils

Best common sense book for gardening in North Texas.

Living in central OK, I have a wealth of problem areas on the property, from loose, silty soil to hard, compacted red clay, with an underlying belt of hard caliche under it all. I bought the book to help me select the proper plants for the worst of these conditions, and I've been pleased with it. It's not a be-all and end-all solution, but few things are when faced with the challenges of growing in the Oklahoma climate and soil conditions. I'm a very experienced gardener (a certified CA Master Gardener) and all I can say is that it can be . . . challenging, at best.All in all, I'm finding the book helpful and I'm glad I bought it. It's well written and easy to understand, and the sections are clearly defined. It does not take a Master Gardener to use it, but is suitable for all levels of experience.

We relocated 2000 miles to an entirely different climate and gardening environment. This book is chock full of information and help for understanding how to garden in our new area, south Texas. Easy reading. Highly recommend.

I bought this book as a Gift for my sister

I live in New Mexico. All the information I have found on the web about caliche soils has advised me to "get rid of it". This is stuff from master gardener websites, including some local websites! I simply dont have the funds or the muscle to dig out my entire yard and replace it with purchased bagged soil. I stumbled on this book by accident and i'm very happy with my purchase. The pages are filled with text and pictures. There are many examples of gorgeous plants n in this book, in color. I'm confident that I will find something to grow in my yard.

I'm part way through this book and am finding it very interesting so far. I particularly like that the author lives and gardens in Texas so he knows what we have to cope with here and which plants can handle the various very different types of soil. Will update with a few more thoughts on the content once I finish the book.

A must have garden book for all of us who struggle with plants that struggle with their soils. The book recommends the right ways of amending soils such as caliche and clays so that vegetables and plants can produce viable crops and beautiful flowers. A terrific book!

Good book, not exactly very sutable for AZ, Phoenix in terms of plants, still gave me some usefuul information.