The south bay where I live used to be riddled with them, but I haven’t seen one in years. I have squirrels and the occasional raccoon. I worry more about the damn crows! lol
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The current state of the veggie patch. You can see the cover crop coming in. Top of the photo about 40 feet of planters tilled and amended awaiting my lilies and other fancy flowers
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I think I see a ganja leaf looking like ‘Where’s Waldo?’ 
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Hahaha! I see it! What do we win? I moved the ganja to the other side of the patch. Hoping the cankerworms can’t find Waldo for a few more weeks. So far it’s working! They found the other spot.
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So some of the fancy flowers I ordered have arrived! 4 types of lilies, Tall phlox, shasta daisies, pink daffodils, brodeia rudy (a flowering bulb), fragrant hyacinths, saffron crocuses and 2 types of violets. The phlox, daisies and violets came bare root so all of the leaves are dead. Watching and nurturing them back to life is probably just as exciting as sprouting from seeds I’ve come to realize. If nothing else, gardening teaches us patience with a kick ass pay off… wait for it 
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Haven’t seen a worm yet, but I turned some of the soil today. It’s starting to look amazing! Is it weird that I smelled it? It smells so rich and earthy! Amazing! By spring I just may have some super soil!
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Try my worm bait: cornmeal, regular 'ole flour, soggy cardboard. throw some straw over since they run … well crawl away from light. they like warm temps compared to our typical deeper worms…around 75F. They also love cantelope.
(and poo 
)
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More flowers have arrived in the mail. Some fragrant Lily Trees, they get up to 6 feet tall, Snake’s Head Irises (probably some of the coolest flowers I’ve ever seen) and some shade plants Cyclamen and Astilbe. The shade plants will be hit or miss, they have been planted in the front and side of my house where I’ve yet to get anything to grow, but I have hope. Of course, I planted all of them immediately. 
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Nope. Using the senses you were born with is one of the best ways of figuring out how your soil is doing without getting out the spectral analysers, microscopes or sending some off to a lab.
Pick some up, try to make a worm out of it (if you can make one easily you have too much clay, if you can’t get it to stick together at all you don’t have enough, if it makes a worm that easily breaks up, it is just right), smell it, rub it between your fingers.
From your picture, it looks just right.
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Thanks @cannabissequoia Still feel like poop. Mustered the strength to go get sick supplies. Working today is doubtful as I don’t believe I can focus enough to crunch numbers. Gonna take it easy and rest mostly. btw… your blueberry muffins looked so darn good I bought some Betty Crocker mix. I think I’m gonna have to sit at the kitchen table to mix them up though as I don’t believe I can stand up long enough to make them. lol Dammit! I will have muffins if it kills me!
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I used a box of Krusteaz mix 
but added 3x the berries from frozen, and it took me about a month to get it over with 
so we’re all here to support you. 
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Alright guys, I need your expert opinions. So, I’m getting ready to start the marijuana beds. One of the huge concrete planters lining the back yard is going to be completely dug out about 4 feet and replaced with living soil from build-a-soil.
My question is… Is there something besides the soil I should start as a first layer like rocks maybe or some other organic matter as say a base before I put tons of new soil in? These are gonna be specifically for my outdoor grows throughout the years and I want to start them right, put these ladies right into the ground so I can grow monster trees organically without all the transplanting.
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4’ deep? Is there a pic in the thread here to look at?
It’s hard to say exactly, but my first thought is the depth is unnecessary, and you’ll want a stout drainage layer at the bottom. E.g. gravel(cheapest), or lava rock. Even mulch can work (a la hugel-kultur soil) but it will decompose and sink.
hugel-kultur sounds like an 80s east german music group 
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Almost all of the pics have planter photos in the background. They line the entire backyard. I’ve read that you have to dig at least 3 ft to get to the clay layer. I want to dig that up for maximum root penetration. So gravel layer for good drainage, got it!
Haha! Sure does!
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Ahh. There’s different kinds of clay, and some can become a f’n inpenetrable layer when WET! You might want to investigate soil maps & USDA/USGS stuff. I have this stuff called “hardpan” that requires 
dynamite & jackhammers. In the past, I had adobe clay in Sonoma that did the wet-layer-impermeable barrier thing. It has to do with particle size. 
There are “augers”, big drills & you can hire landscaping type companies to do the heavy work. IIRC you have a hillside at hthe back? water will come down from that too, complicating it.
(Don’t wanna compromise any retaining walls or anything serious).
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You don’t need to go that deep @Meesh I’d say no more that 2 foot you’d probably end up wasting money well spent else where , ya have to remember that good microbiology and organic matter will make great soil overtime it will work for you! Clay will continue to aggregate over time plus clay has lots of minerals in that hold those special nutrients in the matrix so don’t get to crazy on removing all of it , I’d go with a lasagna technique alternate layer of base soil and organic debris or like hugel-kultur like @cannabissequoia mentioned. Daikon radish is a well know veggie to help break up clay soils ! Get you covercrop in and you’ll have great soil in short order!
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Honestly guys, I don’t know what kind of pesticides, chemicals and weed killers have been put in those planters over the years. They’ve got junk in them, rotted wood and other debris that I’m clearing out. I kind of want to start pretty clean, especially since these are gonna be my permanent mj planters. Want the absolute best for my babies.
My Dad’s buddy has a digger and my clay layer isn’t as bad as all that @cannabissequoia
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That’s understandable I hear where your coming from we all love our plants!
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Before putting in a drainage layer, search out the term “perched water table.” If theres a significant difference between composition of the layers – which there always will be with this kind of project – the water doesnt transfer the same, and instead of getting extra drainage you might end up raising the water table closer to the surface.
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