[OvertaxedOnLI]

Gardening is my passion. I love gardening. I can't imagine living in a house without a garden! I've lived almost all my life on LI which for the most part is average garden soil and/or sandy loam. Drainage is average or good (unless near the south shore with its high water table). My only complaint about my garden soils is that it's not very acid, so I have to amend it if I want to keep any rhodies, azaleas, etc as happy as they should be.

For a brief time I once lived up on the North Shore of LI and made a small garden in a rental. That was not fun, because the soil was rocky clay over a hardpan layer less than 12" below the surface. It was a horror to dig in, and that was when I was about 15 years younger and didn't have a wonky back, a bad wrist, and a miffy knee. Not the kind of soil I'd want to to struggle with again, if I can avoid it…

I'm starting to investigate moving from LI to CT, and to focus my search in The Valley (Simsbury area), so I'm wondering what the soil and gardening climate is there. I'm staying at least 2 miles away from the river or any lake or pond (don't want water issues) and wouldn't buy any house on a lot that was in a "dip" or hollow below the grade of the road (don't want runoff/water issues). I know that the central/north CT soil must be on the acid side, which is good. But is it also heavy clay/rocky/hard to dig? I realize that sandy loam probably isn't found anywhere in these parts of CT and I'm okay with that; but I don't want to end up with a yard that I can't even get a trowel or a shovel into without immediately hitting a large rock no matter where I dig. (like it was in that rental) Also, I do all my gardening myself… no "help" whatsoever… and am sure not getting any younger.

I'd love to get some info/feedback from any gardeners in The Valley!! Soil, rainfall, summer and weather, nurseries, anything and everything garden-related will help. Especially local soil problems, if any (spots/areas that might be Gardening Nightmares). Also bugs: my area of LI is like Club Med for mosquitoes. And I am bug bait… if I'm in a group of people I'm the only one the mosquitoes will zero in on. Repellents don't work on me. (another reason I won't buy a house near a pond or any standing water) We have day-biting mosquitoes in July and August here – they're like vampires! So feedback on bug issues is vital too.

I do know the winters there are harsher (colder, twice as much snow) than here on LI. Plantwise that is probably a good thing, because here we have constant freeze/thaw cycles from December-March and perennials end up heaving/popping out of the ground like jack-in-the-boxes. At least with some snow cover they would stay put.

(okay, well, this winter is just downright weird! I've had a group of blue Anemone coronaria in flower for 2 weeks, and Loncera fragrantissima covered with blooms as I type this. Mother Nature is going to slap us silly with an ice storm one of these days, I just know it!)

[igione]

HI overtaxed,
I live in Simsbury and am also an avid gardener. I will be very honest with you ~ the soil here (most of the valley) is red clay and red rock. If you look at the old buildings in town they were built with red rocks that look very pretty. But if you try to dig down more than the top soil ~ better rent a teenager or an auger. But I stil have managed to have a lot of acid loving plants and a raised bed of perennials.
PM me if you want more info.
Alison

[OvertaxedOnLI]

Many thanks for being so honest! This is exactly the kind of input I'm looking for. It would be a shame to buy a house and then find out that if I want to create the kind of garden I want to spend the rest of my life working on, and in... I wouldn't physically be able to do it myself.

I had a hunch that might be the case (rocky clay) up north. I'm guessing that a bit farther south (toward central CT, not as far south as, say Fairfield which is totally unaffordable) is pretty much the same soil conditions too?

[igione]

New England soil is rocky pretty much everywhere. That is why the original settlers built so many stone walls! There are places where the soil between the rocks is better than others, but be careful about buying a place on old farm land (no rocks). Tobacco growers in this area used a lot of now banned fertilizers and the residue is still in the soil. When we bought we were careful about that after being warned by several natives.

[OvertaxedOnLI]

Originally Posted by igione

be careful about buying a place on old farm land (no rocks). Tobacco growers in this area used a lot of now banned fertilizers and the residue is still in the soil. When we bought we were careful about that after being warned by several natives.

Wow, that would be definitely be something that would be of concern to me and that I never even thought of! Are there ways to find out the "history" of a particular lot or development or neighborhood, to see whether or not it was ever farmed the way you mentioned?

I never knew that tobacco had been a farming industry in CT. Guess I always just assumed it was pretty much always grown in states to the south of us. Doh!