Scarlet Oaks do nicely in slightly acidic clay soil. You found out when digging the hole, the fact that clay not only holds on to water very well, it also quickly releases the moisture it contains into voids in the soil. You dug a hole and not only the rain filled it with water, but all the water in the clay soil around the hole kept filling the hole until the water pressure in the hole became close to the same as the water pressure in the soil. Then as evaporation occurs the water which turns into vapor and rises away is replaced with more moisture from the soil, until there is not enough water in the clay soil to replace that which has evaporated. At that point the clay will begin to absorb enough of the water in the hole to once again bring the pressure of the water in the soil to be equal with the water pressure in the hole. Only once that process begins to happen will you be able to notice the water level in the hole beginning to lower. This is the very reason why it is a bad idea to dig a hole in clay, plant the tree, and backfill with a different kind of soil. In that case the backfill soil will remain full of water, not only from rain and your watering but also from being kept filled with water that the virgin clay soil is holding. The backfill soil needs to be the same as the virgin soil which came out of the hole. By doing so the pressures remain more even and the there is much less of a void in to soil situation presented. This is also why it is bad to plant a root ball that is full of potting soil directly into clay. Instead as much as possible of the potting soil need to be washed away from the rootball mass and refilled with the virgin clay soil as what is found around the planting hole. That is why it is best to plant trees when they are in their dormant stage. If for any reason you want to amend the clay soil where your tree is to be planted, there must be amendment fairly evenly mixed into the virgin soil for a very wide spreading area. The more clay ratio in the virgin soil the farther spreading you planting bed needs to be that you amend. The amended area needs to be at least 6 times, if not more the width of the tree's rootball. Also, plant the tree with the rootflare about 3 to 4 inches above the soil level. After the tree is securely planted, and staked if needed, only then back fill the exposed 3-4 inches of raised rootball with a good quality and fairly finely shredded cedar mulch. Just make certain you do not pile any mulch above the topmost part of the rootflare. The trunk should not appear to look more like a post sticking out of the ground. Instead you should be able to just see where the topmost part of the root flare is growing out of the trunk. Finally never pile any mulch all the way against the trunk, make certain to leave all mulch at least 4 or more inches away from the base of the tree's trunk.

Thank you for the pictures. You can't imagine how much better that is than our collective imaginations. You are not overthinking this. You are thinking it through properly. It's just a lot to put down all at once, but I thank you for going to the trouble and not scattering it all over the place. Your soil is poor and thin not because of anything that has been done to it, but because you have not been using organic fertilizer at least once a year. There is a FAQ on organic lawn care in the GW Organic Gardening Forum. Check that out for a basic primer on the new approach to inexpensive organic lawn care. If you want to improve your soil very quickly, go straight organic and go often. This year rather than using corn (too expensive) I have been using alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow). When I wrote the Organic Lawn Care FAQ, corn was selling for $3 per bag. This year is was $15-20 per bag while alfalfa was "only" $12 per bag. Alfalfa is a better fertilizer than corn anyway, so it's a much better deal. I've been on these forums for 10 years. There are two approaches to getting rid of creeping charlie that work. One is to dig up the top six inches of every square inch of the yard and pull out all the roots. Start in one corner and go as far as you can. When you come back, start AGAIN in the SAME CORNER and repeat because you will have missed some. At least the second time it goes much faster. Continue doing and redoing the area until you have nothing but soil. Or the other approach that works is to use non-organic chemicals. I will not address that approach in this forum because this is an organic forum and because the people here are not well versed in the use of the chemicals. If you decide to use something like RoundUp, check into a lawn forum where the members know how to use it. The same goes for bermuda. You can get rid of them, though. Sand is not a problem in the soil. In fact I prefer sand to anything else when I'm leveling or filling in low areas. If that was your jar test I just commented on, you have mostly sand anyway. Good news there is that sand does not compact like other soils do. Bad news is that sand does not develop a structure like other soils do. Tree work will not involve equipment. You will get a crew of men who climb trees like monkeys and drag stuff to the front where the equipment is. Drainage needs to be addressed. You'll need an on site landscaper to fix that for you. For your small lot he might use a tractor with a tool called a box blade or he might just use a group of labor guys. The tractor would be done in 10 minutes. Dog urine is only a problem when the basic soil is not fertilized. If you had adequate fertilizer down, dog urine becomes instant fertilizer. When you don't have the biology right, then that instant fertilizer burns the roots. If you are interested in an alternative turf grass, look into the wheatgrasses that might do well in your area. They are normally considered a prairie grass, but when you sow the seed like a lawn and mow it a few times, it looks like one of the best lawns you'll find. Here is a picture of a wheatgrass lawn in Utah. He's in a high desert area and waters his lawn beginning in late May or June. Mowing is monthly. His is a mix of wheatgrasses, blue grama, and strawberry clover. When seeding you might try doing half the yard at a time. At the bottom of your steps you need a landing. It can be a easy as several inches of shredded tree mulch or it could be more formal like a wooden landing or even stone.

Thank you All! There is one really big pecan tree. I might be able to have it limbed up a little, but it really looks like a grand tree. And I'm such a procrastinator... There is an old sprinkler system under the yard. If we replace the sod, we'd have to replace it too. During the summers, I water the trees, but could also use a big sprinkler and do the yard. The one really dry summer, the horse herb was the only thing that made it, it would have looked much better if it had been watered. At this moment...or how the breeze blows today. I'm thinking about having some company rather than ME this time, set in some of that black plastic edging and fill the really shade area under the neighbor's myrtles (they are gorgeous) and around one side of the yard and have it filled with mulch. I'll have them dig up the area on the sunnier side (not a lot of sun) and I'll plant turks cap and Salvia Black and blue according to amount of sun. I'll find some horse herb seed and toss it everywhere, after THEY'VE raked up the stones that have fallen off our 50's white rock covered roof and have THEM tote the rocks over to the side of the yard where all the shade is and mulch all around the house where there were concrete edged beds poured decades ago and where I've pulled out loads of english ivy. pj....I've been wondering where you were. ARe you still running and running? thank you all, if you know anything about seeding horseherb please let me know. I have moved clumps around and yes, I'm prepared for neighbors to think I've gone further over the edge. smiles c

Hi all, thanks so much for all the incredible advice! Having read way too late into the night on more than one occasion, I took a relatively short list down to a local nursery to see what they had in stock. Turns out they had quite a few from our list, so we looked at which ones looked the best and then picked out 3 to have delivered: Fruitless Mulberry, California Live Oak, and Ficus Nitida "Green Gem." Hooray! The order came today, and of course, there always has to be a hiccup... instead of the California Live Oak, it seems they brought a Holm Oak: Quercus Ilex. Needless to say, I'm bummed. Question for all those experienced folks here is, how bummed should I be? I've only just started reading up on this new species, and the fact that it's not really a CA native already has me quite disappointed, but it does look like as a Mediterranean tree it might do okay in our climate. Does anyone have any experience with it? Our landscaper is coming tomorrow to plant the trees and hook up dedicated irrigation to them to give them a good start. I'm not sure if we should try to get the nursery to correct their error before he comes, or if the Quercus Ilex might fit our needs. Thanks so much for any advice... and for helping us get this far!