The only way to know what the soil might need is with a good, reliable soil test. What is the soils pH? How well does the soil drain? How much organic matter is in the soil? What kind of life do you find in the soil? If the soil has a pH between 6.2 and 6.8 and has a good balanced nutrient level then puting any fertilizer down is a waste of your money, time, and effort. If you add some fertilizer that is not needed you can create problems you don't want.

Get a handle on the lawn before you start planting anything. In the 8'x5' bed by your front door, mow it very close, scalp it, and then apply Round-up. Do this two or three times, and you will be able to plant this fall, which is the best time to put in perennials. Don't overcrowd your perennials--that bed isn't nearly as big as it looks now! A weed free lawn is an admirable goal, but difficult to attain. You want healthy grass that will eventually choke out most weeds. There is a pre-emergent that you can apply in very early spring which will take care of most weeds. If the weeds are broad leafed, you can get a broad leaf herbicide and use that now. Keep it away from any plants you want to save. After you mow several times (and don't scalp the whole area, grass needs blades to stay alive and to thrive) you'll see a definite improvement in your lawn. A gentle feeding of balanced fertilizer in early fall can't hurt. In addition to a lawn mower, you will need a digging fork, a pointed shovel, a leaf rake and a garden rake. A leaf rake is fan shaped and has flexible tines--a garden rake is straight with short strong teeth, something like a comb with a handle. Buy the best tools you can afford because you're going to be using them a lot for a long time. I personally like wooden handles on my tools, rather than fiberglass--more hand-friendly! These are the minimum tools. You'll find you need others as your gardening experience grows (pun intended!). Be patient, don't expect overnight results, and above all, enjoy your new yard and garden. Playing in the dirt and the greenery is such fun!

Thank you all for your nice posts. Here I am at my new house..moved on the 21st of August and I couldn't resist last week stopping at a garden centre where everything was half price and I started my new garden. I bought a Colorado Blue Spruce and an Austrian Black Pine. Bought 12 Thuya Occidentalis (cedars) 'Brandon' and 6 Thuya Occidentalis Smaragd. When I got to my new house there was a ninebark 'diabolo' and a Hydrangea Annabelle, some lilies and a Sedum Autumn Joy on the back steps (gifts from a friend). Very exciting to dig in the dirt again. Sweetannie: I smiled when I read your suggestion: "Include something whimsical in your garden to make yourself smile and remind yourself that life is good and you are a good person." Actually I deliberatly choosed an Austrian Black Pine that was a crooked because I know they get very big and it will make quite a statement on the front of my property and life is not perfect and I don't really like perfect gardens and I know he will grow into a beautiful specimen. Anicee

Hello Nora, I garden in Hyattsville, too. Can't speak from experience to differences between this area and NJ, but I can say that we have a nice long fall gardening season that you can take advantage of this year. Our first frost is usually around Halloween, and the first hard freeze not until mid-November. I often have tomatoes and zinnias still producing in November, and fall vegetables into December. So if I were in your position, I'd use July and August to get ready for Sept and October, as well as for next spring. Get a soil test and prepare one bed as a fall garden/nursery bed as soon as you can. The local soil is generally clay-ey and on the acidic side, but makes good garden dirt if amended. A locally made compost called Leaf-Gro is readily available by the truckload and inexpensive. Get a few yards or a whole truckload and start digging. Meanwhile, start seeds of perennials and fall-growing edibles in pots outdoors or, for cool-season vegetables, under lights indoors. (You can grow a lot of seedlings under a 4-foot 2-bulb fluourescent shoplight in the basement.) Come September, plant out your veg starts and direct seed fall crops into your new bed. After harvesting the vegetables, move the perennials seedlings into the same bed to winter over. While this is going on, you can also work on other beds to get them ready for spring. And, if you choose, grow things in containers, too. Steven