I live in the middle of a California desert...... The ground here is phenomenally hard in most places, and pure sand where it's soft. Luckily I don't have to buy growing soil. Even this ground can be good for growing after much back breaking work, and mixing with horse manure, of which I have plenty
Sent with one hand, the other is busy vaping.
What part of the desert USMC? We are in the Kern River Valley out towards Ridgecrest. We are about 3,000 feet above sea level with 7 to 8K foot peaks around us but it is desert as the native vegetation is Joshua trees and sagebrush here. The soil is mostly like DG (decomposed granite) though some parts are washed sand so it is either so soft you will get stuck or will pack so hard you cant get a pick into it unless you wet it first.
Same with this soil on the organic material Andria, your clay soil is just swung the other direction from us. OM is the great balancer to brings either towards the happy medium hence all of the pony poop. I got lucky that The Offspring happened to talk to someone who had a need to remove a lot of it from their property so I have been hauling all I can because sitting in a pile it just keeps getting better.
Nice to see so many folks into their soil regardless of what challenges it may be. Wasnt too sure how well a manure post would go over here but then I suppose mine wasnt the first :/