Comments on: reading the land (with the help of trees), with noah charney

By: Margaret Manzke

Margaret Manzke — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 13:57:38 +0000

My property was a working farm when we purchased it. The soil is amazing.

By: Tom Farrell

Tom Farrell — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 02:25:23 +0000

I know very little of the actual history of my yard but can tell a fair amount. The top soil has been stripped down to clay. This may have been in regrading the area for houses or further back since this was part of a large far area in colonial times (well before soil conservation). The clay has many rounded cobbles, up to several inches in diameter, nothing larger, and almost all quartz or quartzite. They are likely glacial runoff due to being spread so far and wide through the neighborhood. In Maryland we are well to the south of glaciated areas. Some clays nearby are from a broken down, weathered schist but they have angular pieces of quartz/quartzite that was left as the schist weathered. I see very little schist in my neighborhood. Below the clay layer is a marble layer that sweetens the soil and the ground water but does dissolve to leave small sinkholes.
One of the most interesting areas is about 20 feet in diameter and is much more sandy than other areas. It possibly could be builders sand but the fact that it sits near the highest point also suggest there was maybe a sand layer on top of the clay. Interesting to think about. Collecting fossils has spurred my interest in geological processes.

By: Diane

Diane — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 15:38:24 +0000

I live in an urban environment in a home built in 1830. I had a very old black wanut that recently I had to cut down because it was struck by lightning 6 years ago and was dying. I live Pennsylvania, and my soul is clay underneath, but because the yard was used for food production through the early years it has been built up with loose organic materials and has many small stones mixed throughout. The only large trees currently are a Kentucky coffee bean tree and a silver maple. There several small viburnum trees scattered around. I often dig them up because they are not always in a good location. I have about 10 growing in large pots, and sometimes give them away to friends who would like a small tree for their yard.