My friend Elizabeth has the same lousy, awful, no-good sandy, gritty dirt that I do. She lives four miles away from me and is also a gardener.

Last year she decided to deep mulch her garden area and see if she could turn her sand into soil.

Rachel and I visited her garden last night and I was able to take some comparison photos of the “before” soil and the “after” soil.

Check this out:

Which would you prefer to garden in?

It’s not just looks, either. Check out this pile of sweet potatoes Elizabeth just pulled:

And this beautiful Jing Orange okra:

And this lovely sorrel:

I love seeing all the life in a healthy garden.

Later this week I hope to film a video with Elizabeth where she explains how she built her garden. The soil is shockingly bad around her yard, yet her vegetable plot is an oasis of life and fertility.

Whether you have sand or clay, deep mulching is a great way to transform lousy native soil.