Heavy clay soil

QuestionI live in zone 4 and have a couple areas on the shady, north side of my house where I have transplanted (approx. 2 yrs ago) various rhododendrons, hydrageas, and yews. The heavy clay is taking its tolls on t

Help!

QuestionI have recently bought my first home and acreage. I have just over three acres of what you to be a soybean field. It is filled with ruts, immpossible to mow, hard to bush hog. And brush that stay

Mulch

QuestionMr. Clark, what would be the best mulch to use on my vegetable garden to control weeds and make the clay soil more workable since I will be tilling it into the soil at the end of the season. Thank You Answe

Getting Started

QuestionI am not a gardener. I have recently moved into a new construction house. Between the front porch and sidewalk is an area approx. 20X2.5. I asked the developer not to fill it in so it is ap

What plants like rich soil?

QuestionWere spading up an old barn area for a garden. The soil is basically just well-rotted manure that is spongy in texture. Do you know what plants might do well here? AnswerCow manure can have alot of salt in

ground cover for wooded area

QuestionI have 1/3 of an acre in my back yard that is heavily wooded. We have recently had all weeds and brush removed by the roots and raked it to the ground. What is the best way to prevent weeds and brush f

Soil mildew?

QuestionI am growing a grapefruit tree from a seed in a pot. It started quite well but I recently transplanted it to a larger pot. I noticed that the top layer of the soil gets a white dusty coating on i

Regrass large parts of lawn

QuestionI had some bulldozer work done. Now I have to reseed large part of lawn. My question is besides putting grass seed down, is there fertilisers to use before or after seeding. I planned to use a hand held seed

soil test results

QuestionI received my soil test result back from our county extention office The soil test was done for a lawn area based mehlich3 extraction following was listed phophores 130 (target 72-138) potassium 368 (targe

soiltest

QuestionSoil test from lawn area ph 5.95 (Adams-Evans LRI 7.50) Phosphores 130 (target 72-137) Potassium 368 (target 146-277) Magnesium 451 (target 144-295) Calcium 2328 (target 1401-1790) instructions: add 30 lbs

measuring soil

QuestionHow much soil is a yard? In a truck or trailer? Dumped in a pile? AnswerDoug, A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, per cu.ft. soil weighs about 90 lb. for sand more for gravel(maybe 100+ for la

soil additions

Questionlooks like our highly shaded yard is mostly silt (and tree roots) and that the correction is to add clay. Where do ya get that, how much, etc? AnswerHi Tom Clay? what are you trying to acomplish? most

I have a small amount of mold...

QuestionI have a small amount of mold (green) in my soil and would like to know how to correct it. I have clay soil and have been working over the past two years to eliminate the clay soil from my flower bed.

Controlling mushroom growth?

QuestionHello Larry, We recently laid some cedar mulch in and around some shrubs & small trees. The area is primarily shaded and were are starting to see some patches of mushrooms growing, especially at the base of

My soil is pretty much PH...

QuestionMy soil is pretty much PH neutral but it has 0 nutrients. Ive ammended the soil a lot but it still is pretty much the same. The new soil seems to disappear in a season and Im left with the

soil ph and limestone homes

QuestionDear Larry, I am wondering if a ranch style limestone home constructed of IN limestone will have a great effect on the soil for foundation plantings. Shoud I try to lower the ph, or is there not much o

Kinnikinnick in clay soil

QuestionMy landscape plan was designed using kinnikinnick as ground cover in a large area. I do NOT fertilize it, I put chicken manure around the plants to amend the soil, I put barkdust in the area to keep we

stauntonia hexaphylla

QuestionI bought 2 of these plants last year and have planted so they grow over a pergola. They have grown at a terrific rate (8ft in fisrt few months) but no flowers! this is the main reason for having them. Have I

Soil is too wet

QuestionLast year we planted azaelas along the front of our house, and they did real good until the end of the summer, they began dying. My step-mom said she thought they were burning because the soil stayed t

re-doing a flower bed

Questioni have two large flower beds in front of the foundation of our house. the problem is that the old owners put white rock on top of their plant beds and i would like to remove the plants. do i have to remove a