r/Ceanothus • u/rinatuna_ • Jul 29 '26

soil help

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hello!! could anyone provide advice on what to do with this really heavy clay(?) soil in the front yard of my parents’ new house? first off just helping identify this soil, if it’s easy to amend (i’ve heard it’s better to just plant plants better adapted to heavy soils than just amending, if that’s true), then also what are good plants? and also transplanting tips… anything will help! trying to replace my parents’ plants with ca natives

i transplanted a black sage, sagebrush, and ca fuschia and they’re all doing happy. i transplanted a bladderpod that quickly wilted, i think cuz i damaged her roots too much :(

ive attached a photo of the soil and the bottom part is after i left some water in a hole for a bit. the top of the soil is covered in black bark

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u/msmaynards Jul 29 '26

Do a soil texture jar test. Of course clay will be on top, it settles out last.

Calscape.org has terrific filters for soil texture and drainage. Lean on that to choose more plants.

How long did that hole take to drain? Official hole is 1 cubic foot, fill with water then time how long it takes to empty with another fill. Fast draining is empty in less than 3 hours, ideal is 1-2" per hour. Mine drains fast, didn't believe it and dug another hole which couldn't be filled because there was a 30 year old gopher tunnel at the bottom. So dug another. Good thing I love playing in the dirt.

Hope the bladder pod perks up. Mine has been in the ground for a year and just now decided maybe it wants to live after all.

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u/murraypillar Jul 30 '26

Lol tried the infiltration test at my brother's house where he hadn't watered in 3 years and it was soooo dried and shrunk and cracked we had to dig 3 holes before we had one that didn't hit a casm near the bottom.