I really love your neck of the woods and have many great memories of fishing for Wallys with my late father up there on the lake. I have fished out of Conneaut, Ashtabula, and Port Clinton. Maybe a few other places. I grew up in Poland, Ohio and moved down here in '75 as a kid but returned each Fall to help the folks with their 2+ acres of gardens (Getting them ready for Winter) and Dad would take me up to the lake on the weekends. Great times that I'm glad I shared with him since he died very young. We always think there is time for everything but it just isn't true. Anyway, the soil we had at our place was great stuff but it needed all the organic stuff we could throw at it and more. Below the topsoil was a yellow clay. I hauled countless tons of manures from our farm that was just across the road for those gardens. Also, I would suck up mountains of leaves in the fall and run them through my Troy-Bilt Super Tomahawk chipper/shredder and the resulting product was huge piles of leaf dust. I spread that leaf dust at least 4" thick down each crop row every Fall. We sometimes dusted a little lime and or wood ash onto the rows as well. I guess my point is that though I suppose it could be possible to get too much organic matter into the soil but I sure don't see how. I busted my hump to get all I could to enrich that clay soil and the ground just ate it up and smacked her lips for more. I used a .22 for my groundhog gun as a kid and it would kill them but not fast enough to suit me. The darned things would crawl under the garage or barn after I hit them and then stink all Summer. I much prefer the .223 because it explodes them. They go nowhere! Well, pieces of them do but you get my point. LOL The bluegills will be great fertilizer! I usually don't have problems with critters digging up the fish but I have had a kitty or two that dug into the stuff in past years. I'm sure I just didn't put it deep enough. I try not to put it all that deep so the nutrients will be where I want them. Just give it a shot and you will figure out what works quickly and catching the bluegills will be a hoot! One other thing about the groundhogs: I have made a sport out of stalking them with my rifle. I bow hunt deer up there in Ohio and I would often see them (the groundhogs) out there while I'm in my full camo hunting clothes before or after a hunt. I can litterally walk up to easy shot range. The trick is to never move when their heads are up on "alert" but only move as they drop back down for another bite. It can take a long time making the approach but I think it's a blast and I sure have sent a bunch of them to their reward in this fashion! Have a great Summer! "Thanks for the reply. Some year when I get some cash I would like to come to Fla just to go fishing. I live close to Lake Erie and we have walleye, perch, etc.. but nothing really cool. I never thought of composting the varmits, I usually throw them in the back for the buzzards to eat. I picked off a coon last night lurking around the chicken coop. The ground hogs usually come out when I'm not around, I see them running away when I pull up the drive, mocking me as they run. I have a .22 with a decent scope on it which works good(cheap and quiet) I also have a 12ga and a 7mm but they're too loud to be discrete. The garden is on the far side of the pond near the road and I don't shoot in that direction so I use a live trap (try to anyway, damn skunks). I have 3 ponds on the property with WAY TOO many bluegill. I might have to start some intensive fishing when the wife's away. Do the fish attract critters when buried? Corn likes "N". I'll have to try the crow trick, I'm sure my neighbor will think I'm nuts :-) Thanks for the tips, they're appreciated."

ibuzzard - yes, constantly adding organic matter after harvest before the next crop. To speed things up bring in a lot of organic matter as manure + bedding to compost in piles set aside from the current gardening beds. Then after harvest rake those on to the beds if you let some lay fallow or put what is crumbling & dark brown on beds you plan to replant right away. It takes awhile to build enough compost to cover all the beds at all times, but with diligence you can do it. The small animal manures like chicken & rabbits are potent, but not the quantity you'd need. Get a hold of some horse manures and you'll be able to speed up the process. Ten years of using chicken, duck & rabbit manures from our backyard animals (Plus liberal amounts of used coffee grounds + shredded leaves mown over on the lawn in fall. Plus our kitchen waste compost bin contents.)... didn't up the soil organic matter content as much as when we started adding horse manure as well composting first in piles or spreading in fall on fallow beds. Volume made a huge difference though I was quite skeptical in the beginning, afraid of weeds & then learned about the herbicide residue in some hay fed to livestock. I made sure we used manure from horses fed alfalfa hay instead. Now after at least 3 years of horse manures we no longer need 6-12 inches of it added in the fall to break down. The soil is light, fluffy and diggable with hands rather than pickaxe like before.

The rudbeckia [probably the family of your black-eyed Susans] would likely have done better if it were watered regularly... it will tolerate poorish soil, and likes the good drainage of a sandy soil, but it must have a regular drink! The problem with not using mulch is that the soil is bare and ready to incubate every passing weed seed, not to mention open to let all the inground weed seeds sprout. Using plants as a shade crop to help deter weeds requires that the plants used be spaced *very* closely [if you were growing vegs that method is called 'French intensive"] as well as requiring enough time that the desired plants can establish better/sturdier root systems than the invading weeds. Even when planted closely, weeding is required until the plants are near-grown (else the weeds take over) and also after the good guys are grown, because there will always be weed seeds sprouting, just not quite as many as there would be if the plants were spaced properly. In all cases, unmulched soil is going to grow weeds -- so if you don't want to mulch, you must either plan on the labor-intensive and time-consuming task of pulling those weeds, or develop a liking for weeds rather than conventional flowers. If you inspect those "old-fashioned" flowery meadows, you'll find they are mostly weeds (and their flowers are in bloom for limited periods). And, if you were to look closely at those lovely garden beds full of blossoms with no apparent mulch you will find one of three things: weeds; or a person with lots of time who is willing to pull weeds; or a well-planned bed with layers of plants properly spaced to make the bed look "full" which also conceals the mulch used! Also, remember that to use close-spacing of plants for shade-control also decreases the amount of air circulation (which will increase the chance of mildews etc) and increases the amount of water needed per square foot of garden. Lack of mulch also means any available water will evaporate more rapidly, which means far more water will be required (easily 50% more) just to meet basic needs. Read up on 'lasagna' to improve the soil; you can adapt the method to layer around existing plants (just not as many layers at once, and each layer very thin). And before you ask: you can spread any of the many chemical formulations, but they don't improve the soil-just provide specific nutrients for a specific (usually limited)period of time. There is no miraculous fairy-wand we can wave for weed-free gardens; but we can plan ahead, and expect to labor either before- when preparing the soil and spreading mulch, or during- while trying to grow the wanted plants and pulling weeds.

Civil Servant, You have struck gold with all the excellent advice given by so many well informed Roses Forum Rosarians. My comments basically reinforce what they are sharing with you. Fish emulsion stinks, literally. It has its good uses in some cases. It is mostly nitrogen, which you are already applying in a sufficient amount if you opt for the Miracle Grow Pellets or another well balanced rose fertilizer, organic or non. Too much nitrogen is not good: weak, over abundant, lush, and disease/insect prone growth at the expense of flower production, is the outcome. Ditto for blood meal. Be mindful of those animal product fertilizers in light of their critter attracting nature. Even if you live in the city, alley cats can be drawn to your garden, and they will not leave your garden without voiding. Then there are urban wildlife, particularly raccoons and opossums, even skunks, coyotes and coywolves. You don't want to attract them. I do like seaweed fertilizer as an occasional foliar feed because of the multitude of minerals it contains, but it is not really critical to use it. Its use is more like dessert in comparison to a well balanced main meal. Also, there are no odor issues.