These simple soil tests have helped many people over the years get the soil they have into a good healthy soil. Working on getting the soil into a good healthy condition does not, as Prof. Chalker-Scott states, imply the soil you have now is unhealthy. Soils lacking adequate amounts of organic matter just are not as healthy as they could be. 1) Soil test for organic matter. 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. For example, 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.

Proper watering is the most important aspect of container gardening, no matter what you're growing. More plants are killed by improper watering than any other cultural thing. This is very true. I only bottom water my African Violet and a few of my seedlings that are not planted in a gritty, porous mix. Everything else is watered from the top, fed with liquid fertilizer solution from the top, and leached every once in a while from the top. How you water will be dependent upon the environment you garden in, and the type of medium you use. I think my root comparison is most certainly valid... especially when you consider that the the Rapido bulb had been planted for a much longer time period than the Papilio... almost a year. Pamela does not fit into the comparison, at all, and is simply an observation of what can happen in a medium that retains too much moisture. Pamela is not an old bulb... it is a very injured bulb. It's been practically peeled away to nothing in that photo, because most of it was rotting away. Once you understand the facts behind my observations, they become clear. The Papilio was given only a few months to grow those beautiful roots in Al's Mix, while the Rapido bulb had an entire year in cocopeat to grow its inadequate root system. This tells me that a medium which allows for better aeration and oxygen/gas exchange is better for root growth. Sir Hans grows beautiful Hippeastrums. How we both grow them differs. What works for him, does not work for me. The reason it's not good to layer substrate is because this causes a perched water table at the joining of the layers. Water cannot adequately drain, and is trapped where the two types of medium meet. Gravity does not pull the water to the bottom where the drainage hole is located. Al can explain it much better than I, but one layer of medium throughout a pot works best. The key is making sure all the different ingredients in your porous mix are roughly the same size. The smaller the particles, the more surface area, which increases the capillary attraction and thus the water holding potential. I admire Sir Hans for his ability to grow beautiful bulbs, and I appreciate his input... but I have learned a thing or two, myself, in the short time I've been growing... and I'm having better success using a single layer of sharp-draining, porous medium that leans toward the inorganic side. For me, bottom watering doesn't work as well as top watering.

Whatever your "landscaper" used for "topsoil" was probably about 95 percent mineral (the sand, silt, clay part of soil) and 5 percent organic matter and what your soil really needed was organic matter. Whether cottonseed meal, or any other meal, would help would depend on the Soil Food Web and how active they were. Things like cottonseed meal need to be digested before the nutrients in them are available to plants and if the soil has little organic matter the SFW is not there to do that. First you need to look closely at that soil to determine what it needs and that requires a good reliable soil test for soil pH and major nutrient levels and balance. Then these simple soil tests may also be of some help. 1) Soil test for organic material. 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. For example, 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, to a point. Too much organic matter can be bad as well. 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. kimmq is kimmsr

Drainage issues such as you describe are best addressed not by the homeowner but by a landscape professional well-versed and skilled in addressing these matters. Grading may be advised, however the presence of the tree prohibits much. But diverting accumulated water way from both the house and garden and to a suitable drainage collection system requires some professional input.