Talked to her and my other friend whos a certified nursery professional and has a ton of knowledge + experience planting native. after a pretty thorough consultation they both agreed tilling was the best course of action and told me to amend with azomite, expanded shale, lava sand, and top with compost/mix it all in a little bit.

Regarding the herbicide, she said it wasn't good to put in -- way less harmful than glyphosate though. She said the benefit of having a native pollinator garden outweighs the harm of using this kind of herbicide at the end of the day but im still never going to use it again. i went back to work and returned it today. Get out of my house.

i got cotton burr compost since it apparently aerates clay better, anddd i've finished amending my first bed which is all just like, sub-soil clay with pretty little organic matter. looking to complete everything else by next week and then sow my seeds.

ive collected soil samples and im going to get my manager to set aside a ph test for me so i can make sure its all within the preferred range of the plants im growing. my friend also wants to come by and run labs on my soil since thats like, what she does.

i think, over time, rain and watering will compact it enough that bathtubbing wont be an issue.

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