compost always settles or compost further so you need to top off the beds after every harvest OR keep adding enough mulch to break down further to maintain volume adding coffee grounds or dried grass clippings (herbicide free) as mulch will help retain moisture once the soil warms when tulip petals fall in western WA we don't have your heat, but we do have dry summers. your raised beds will warm more quickly than clay soil, so congrates for the mixture over time it just gets better & better if you keep adding compost we have to add lime yearly because of acidic soils & rain that leaches it out ask around what other raised bed gardeners do in your immediate area - that is most helpful to you What works here for us with small raised beds 1. check soil temps affects what germinates now more than soil mix later planted seeds catchup with early, so no rush until soil is at least 40 degrees (it's hard to wait when you want a garden now!) 2. grow what you love to eat or want to try to disguise in family meals because it's good for us (kale & swiss chard are grown here for those reasons) 3. plan for succession of crops & 3 season or almost year round growing spring planted: peas, lettuces, green onions from sets followed by summer warm weather vegs (trellis to save space & improve fruit quality or picking ease) save some space for midsummer plantings of fall & winter harvested crops 4. protect from pests such as: slugs, rabbits, deer?, dogs, cats, balls/frisbees... great ideas on SFG forum for cages (doesn't have to cover entire bed, just what you need to protect netting propped up with sticks covered by upturned water bottles/jugs upturned clear totes 2 windows as a tent or wire covered frames lots of creative options out there & something to keep you busy when you can't yet plant the garden Enjoy a productive gardening season! Corrine

Are you sure those trees are big enough to support a hammock without damaging the bark? Beyond that, the far corner of a yard does not, for most people, create a cozy feeling of retreat. Nearer the house, or some other shelter, is more likely to inspire a feeling of security. However, it's you that will be in the hammock, so only your feelings matter. With an energetic dog like a Brittany, you might want to design a yard that gives plenty of room to play with the dogs. One of our dogs is a Brittany. They seem to like lots of brush to crash through looking for birds. Keep that in mind when choosing plants. Kelly

I am hearing so much diffuseness in what you need--mostly putting out fires here and there--whereas you need a set of goals and a plan for addressing them. For example, now you have bare spots under trees and are talking grass one minute and then groundcover. Perhaps you have not really defined what needs to be under trees and where and how much based on what you want to do there and what you want it to look like. In other words, don't define what you do based on the size and shape of the bare spots left by fallen leaves you just removed. I like to pay attention to what falls out of my trees and where, because as you mentioned, someone has to remove some or all of that in the fall. Different leaves (or other tree stuff) is handled or tolerated differently by different plantings underneath. Some groundcovers "absorb" leaf fall well and some do not. Some shrubs tolerate drifts of leaves and others are messy and misshapen as a result. The life cycles of some perennials works better under some types of trees than others. Grass could be your best friend if the type of tree, light conditions etc allow a shade-tolerant grass. Mass plantings of hostas can be effective when you need to remove leaves in fall, because then you can rake when bare in winter but have very effective weed-blocking growth throughout the warm seasons. All these are things you might need to read about, research, discuss with a professional. Of course it is easy to feel overwhelmed when trying to get a large lot "under control" so deep breaths are in order! You will likely have to mow weeds, mulch areas, use some Roundup here and there, as you won't wrestle this property back from nature overnight, or maybe never, meaning, there may be large areas you need to think of as how to do as " woodland natural" or leave sort of bare and weedy, letting the trees outcompete the weeds, to some extent, and enjoy smaller cultivated areas that give you pleasure. Read some of the threads about lawn vs. garden--what I mean is, it is not realistic to expect to make a very large (meaning like the size of a yard, not a garden bed) shady area under trees look like a manicured landscape without lots of mulch and maintenance.Further, it won't look like the magazine pictures of a "woodland garden" either without a lot of maintence, usually, or very judicious choice of mass plantings. OTOH with a plan, you might be able to determine where to create some civilized areas and what to let go as "natural" and what can be in between. I just think it may be too much to expect to get your solutions by asking, what to do about this? then what about that? That is not a criticism, but trying to be realistic. For example, if you decide on what you want to achieve in the front yard, and let's say you chose a certain area to put to groundcover, then you want to identify the area, make sure the soil is amended, identify the ideal groudcover for the conditions, plant on adequate centers, then water/mulch/weed/maintain until established. You don't want to plop a few things here and there and scatter your efforts all over the yard. Here's another to-do to think about--if you are likely to stay there awhile and be an avid gardener, identify an area to start your compost pile. You can make something elaborate, but until you have a plan for what goes where, you can outline a big 3-sided rectangle with a few landscape timbers to fill with leaves. This can always be moved later. This is if you think that will give you the sense of control and satisfaction known to compost-whackos, to have a ready supply of a bushel of partly decomposed leaves for mulching around a newly planted shrub or of compost to dig in when randomly planting something--it's not for everyone.

Morpheus informed you earlier that, "The Milo will help, but it'll take more of an organic base to stop the dog burns. Usually you need enough carbon in the soil (and soil life living on said carbon) to fix and immobilize the nitrogen from the dog pee. And there's a lot of nitrogen in pee." It takes time, frequent feedings of organics (grains such as corn, soybean, alfalfa, etc.), and constant mulch mowing (both grass and leaves) in order to establish a higher organic base. Four applications of milorganite is definitely not enough.