I had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM and solved it. It's called anearobic... or something like that. It's very bad smelling, like sewer. Yep, know it all too well. Here's what I did and now the smell is GONE! I'm not sure exactly which of my remedies worked because I did them all around the same time. Oh, I should tell you first what DID NOT work. Amending the soil made it WORSE. Adding lime and peat made it WORSE. I dug 8 hole, about 18 inches deep and threw in a bunch of rocks I bought in bags at Walmart. Then I added 1 bag of playsand (about a dollar or so at Walmart). Then I capped them off with their old soil 'hat'. Then I sprinkled another few bags of the playsand all over the yard, especially in the wet, mushy, smelly areas. Then I threw some Perfect Seed grass seed (also at WalMart) on top and my yard quit stinking. So... in effect, I made some french drains, removed some of the clay soil and replaced it with sand and then top treated the whole thing with sand. The grass took off and now I can be in my yard without any problem. Do a search on the forums for this anaerobic soil condition (some kind of bacteria build-up I think) and you will probably recognize your situation right away. And the posts may have better solutions than mine for you to try. Best of luck! Sheryl

the tree was struggling and I figured it needed all the leaves it had ==>> pure genius.. if i say so myself ... i have quoted you a hundred times .. in the last few years ..... lol ... at this size ... age ... etc... i think you ought to go find something else to worry about ... this thing is bulletproof ... i see the clay cracking in the hole... but some peeps say a root mass can be twice as big as the tree ... though in a different form ... so even if the disturbed soil at the trunk is dry ... who cares... its roots are 20 feet in every direction by now.. and it is not suffering for water ... and the pic shows that ... and i think i see some fine lawn out there.. if you fert the lawn.. this will get any and all fert it ever needs.. no need to ever fert this tree again.. in any manner .... and finally.. nice to see a planting ... with a tree planted far enough from the house.. that it wont crush it ... in the decades to come... its like you really thought this all out.. and acted accordingly .. in other words .. great job all around ... it so refreshing to see someone who did not plant it 15 inches from the house.. and now wants to know.. if it will effect the foundation .. or on top of the septic field.. etc ... two thumbs up ... just dont worry about it any more ... ken

Brad, I wouldn't tuck them around the shutters because the vines won't like having the shutters block their sunlight. They may untuck themselves to reach for sun, and fall down. Or weave themselves into the shutters so you can't get them out without cutting. Besides, unless they're already tall enough to reach the top of the window and drape around it, they'll need help getting up that high. That looks like vinyl siding, so I'm guessing you don't want to put holes in it. If you're OK with holes you can get screw-in eyehooks, put them where you want them, and attach wires to the hooks. Some of my neighbors do this and it looks great when the vines grow. I've seen the wires run vertically, horizontally, and a grid of diagonals; supporting clematis, morning glories, Dutchman's pipe, and wisteria. It all seems to work. One house has a row of hooks in the front porch roof and another row in the railing. They ran clear fishing line vertically from roof to rail using the hooks. The fishing line is almost invisible. Their clematis is trained horizontally across the lines so it looks like it's floating. Otherwise - homemade trellis built to fit around your window. Jasmine in bloom around a window will be heaven. Ideally that's a bedroom window you'll open on summer nights, so the perfume can drift into your dreams. I was sorely tempted by hanging baskets of a vining jasmine sold in the supermarket(!)this spring. Maybe next year. I just did a quick online search for you. Sources differ on j. officinale's hardiness but agree it can be reproduced by cuttings. Some say only it's only hardy to zone 7, so a second plant kept indoors would be insurance in case the outdoor one doesn't make it. I'd definitely take cuttings if I had one. Not just because I don't yet know of a variety that can survive winter in zone 5; I've heard some will flower indoors in winter with the right care. Wouldn't that be a treat? Edie

Kimm, good points all. Perhaps the choice of materials added combined with their method of application led to an anaerobic, state. Perhaps going with alternating layers of straw with the alfalfa, corn meal and manure amendments would have helped keep oxygen in the layers. By themselves, those amendments would tend to have little pore space except for the alfalfa prior to wetting. Glad to see I'm not the only one still learning the hard way at times:)