Caliche

Growing up in the Southwest

Two hours with a pickaxe to plant something
that needed different ground entirely.

years become decades become centuries; the desert being no place for citrus expectation.

Prickly pear splitting itself open
for its own unlikely flower.

Dust on top.
White rock under that.
Then more of the same.

each layer a testament to rainfall that never fell, to water that rose and vanished.

Not New England.
Not Shade and loam.

Not rot feeding root feeding leaf and mist-covered hills.

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Caliche (also called hardpan or calcrete) is a sedimentary rock layer composed primarily of calcium carbonate that forms in arid and semi-arid regions where evaporation rates significantly exceed precipitation. As water percolates through soil and then evaporates or is absorbed by plant roots, dissolved calcium carbonate is left behind and accumulates over time—sometimes over thousands of years—into a cement-like layer that can range from a few inches to several feet thick. This impermeable stratum creates a natural barrier to root penetration and water drainage, effectively limiting what can grow above it. In the Southwest United States, caliche is ubiquitous in desert soils, particularly throughout Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas, where it has shaped both the native flora and the labor required for any agricultural or horticultural intervention. Breaking through caliche to plant non-native species is often futile; the layer regenerates, and the underlying soil conditions remain fundamentally inhospitable to plants adapted to different climates.