Reply #62: pots. Or lots and lots of manure/compost

[Retrograde]

our "soil" on the San Francisco Peninsula is adobe - that clay that dries to a brick-like consistency. It can only be worked during the rainy season, when it's the consistency of heavy goop: that's when i work in 3-4" of compost and/or steer manure. I double-dig: it's a lot of work, but it really improves the soil over time. I also much heavily to keep moisture from escaping.

Otherwise, I grow a lot in containers. There are a lot of books available on container gardening these days - I like "Kitchen Gardening in Containers" by Anthony Atha. Warning: it's a British book, so you'll have to translate his climate to yours - "full sun" does not mean the same thing in England and Texas!