EXPANDED SHALE? NEVER HEART OF IT? WELL, YOU BETTER ADD IT TO YOUR VOCABULARY BECAUSE I GUARANTEE IT WILL BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF TEXAS HORTICULTURE FOR MANY YEARS.  A few years back I inherited some truly nasty soil in test gardens at the Dallas Arboretum. One of our contractors had filled my beds with that bane to Texas horticulture, clay! Sticky, glue-like when wet and hard as concrete when dry, black-land gumbo clay. My choices were limited, either dig the whole area out or add an amendment. My first choice for ANY soil problem is to add well-composted organic matter, but in this case the soil really needed something more to help it drain. Also, compost breaks down quickly in our high heat and humidity; was there something that I could add once and solve the problem?

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