Question
there is something wrong with the soil in one of my planters in front of the  house. I don't know if there it is diseased or infested with pests or both. Everything I try to grow there seems to start out well, but then starts to get eaten alive by something. The last hedges I planted there were jasmine bushes. they looked great for a couple of months and grew alot, but then I noticed the leaves starting to be eaten and black spots on the underside of some leaves. Now I have to take the bushes out (like so many others) because the plants just look terrible. the ends of the leaves are wilted and whitish, some are being eaten, and the berries that should be white are mostly black. I've sprayed the plants for pests several times, but nothing seems to work. I think whatever it is lives in the soil there because it happens to everything I plant there. How can I treat the soil to fix this problem?I've tried to determine what pest might be attacking, but I don't ever see any pests on the plants.

Answer
Hi Heidi
container gardening that experiences problems like this usually is a result of one of three things, enviroment such as bad weather, drainage in the pot itself, or an out of zone plant. The plant may be pot bound requiring a larger pot or infected with bacteria requiring changeing the soil or baking it to remove the bacteria. To avoid this problem in the future select a pot that is the right size, drains well, and select a plant that will survive in the location it is placed. with most pots watering and poor drainage seem to be the main focus of the problems encountered. Good luck  Larry  :-)