west9491, "Too shallow" would be too little soil to allow plants to grow deep-enough roots to support the full-grown plant. By "support," I mean physically hold up the plant AND provide enough water/nutrients. It will really depend on the plants. If you are just planting tiny-seeded ground covers, you may only need 4" of soil (some of my Star of Bethlehem plants "escaped" from the flower bed and are happily growing in about 3 inches or so of soil on top of a large rock slab). But if you'll be planting something that has deeper roots (such as carrots), or something tall (like corn), you'll obviously want deeper soil (12"?), so that the roots have room to grow. HTH! --Amy

Contact your counties office of your state Agricultural Universities Cooperative Extension Service about having a good soil test done (usually in the $6.00 to $15.00 range). These simple soil tests, 1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. may be of some help in determining what you have. A good soil for plant growth will have between 5 and 8 percent organic matter.

Just a couple of things I might add. First, my opinion of mulches is that the faster it breaks down, the better, for the reason that I assume faster breakdown means it is improving the soil, whereas slower breakdown means it is not improving the soil. I am thinking about the beneficial microbes, earthworms, and such. Admittedly, mulch that is not breaking down is nevertheless a moisture-retentive layer, but that's not as helpful as if it were rapidly breaking down and adding humus. Second, if black spot comes to a bush, the leaves that get spots will eventually fall off, and then will eventually decay, meaning that the spores are on the ground ready to be splashed back onto the plant. If the leaf is going to fall off and cause the disease to spread, it seems preferable to yank it off and dispose of it properly. If I have the time to carefully remove the leaves, taking care not to drape my hands and the bad leaves across stems and uninfected leaves, and then put the bad leaves into a trash bag, isn't that better in the long run than letting them fall and trying to pluck them off the top of the mulch, or letting them decay on the ground? Do I actually take the time to go around and pull off spotted leaves? No, not necessarily, but I believe that I "should". Some years I have raked away the "crud" under the drip zone of the bush and then put down Rose Tone, Azomite, alfalfa, spare soil if I have any on hand, compost, shredded leaves. Other years i just lightly plucked off fallen tree leaves and then added my stuff. I can't opine which is best for black spot due to other factors such as weather, the sporadic nature of my attention to gardens, etc. Incidentally, my cousin who is an arborist says the word for the stuff on the forest floor is "duff".

Misty, pretty much the only things where you can cover up the crown would be things that root all along the stems, and as far as I know, all the things you're talking about won't do that, so they'd all need to be dug and replanted higher up. Covering the crown of most plants will kill them. If they were tomatoes you could just add soil and let them root along the stem--but that's not what you have! I have, with a few things, been able to stick a shovel under them on a few sides and manage to "elevate" them, and then "pack" soil into the void I've created under them, but I doubt that that would work with big plants. It may sound like a big project, but if you do parts of it at a time it might not seem like so much work! MIGHT not! Having said all that, with my hardy hibiscus--'Disco Belle'--when I pulled all the nasty rock mulch out from the crowns of the plants I DID fill in the "depressed" area with soil, so, technically, you could say that I buried the "crown" (a couple inches) deeper, but with hibiscus there's not really a crown like with most other plants--it's more like "buds" like peonies. When I've done it, a couple times, it was over winter or in VERY early spring, before there was any growth visible at all, so, basically, what I was doing was just burying the "root" a little deeper where the new buds would form for the next year's growth, so when they started growing in spring the new "shoots" just grew up thru the soil to form the above-ground stems when they got to the surface. No guarantees! But it worked for me! If you try it do it when they're TOTALLY dormant. With hibiscus the depth of the "buds/eyes" doesn't seem to make any difference as to whether or not they'll bloom! I repeat! No guarantees! Good luck with your project! Maybe some day we'll get to come back at a swap to see "all your new improvements!" Skybird