Hey, there everybody... I apologize for taking so long. I had to wait for the weather to get better as well as figure out how to post multiple images as I have never done it before.... So, here is the run down.... This first picture is a far back view to give you perspective and rough proportion of our lot. I shot it from a southwest angle. All the trees you see on the other side of the sidewalk are ours. The trees just west and south of the sidewalk belong to the village. This is a picture taken facing east, all the trees on the left side of the walkway are ours...There are mostly spruce, one mountain ash and two different species of maple... Do you see how close they are together? On this side is also the lily of the valley right close to the right of the side walk... All the trees to the right of the sidewalk here are ours. This side has mostly spruce, one douglas fir and what I believe to be a cedar tree... This was one of the trees that had the funky webbing happening, the pics I took were way blurry, but here there is reddening of needles and needle loss... Again more needle loss and reddened tips... The woodpeckers are buggy over this mountain ash, I don't know if it is diseased or infested... This pic is a south orientation pic of what I think is a douglas fir...This side of it looks very healthy, but as you can see in the next pic, I am a bit concerned about it. This is a pic taken from the eastern side of the douglas fir and there are almost no needles to speak of on this side. It's been this way since we moved here in July... The rest of the pictures are taken while I was walking on the south side of the lot going west bound then north, taking upward shots... These are mostly pics of the spruce trees and one of the shots has the other douglas fir, as you can see, the symptoms are mostly all the same: needle loss, reddening of needles, some spots are peeling bark... I wrote more at the bottom, sorry for all the pics, I got a little carried away...LOL Since each of you took the time to write, I would like to respond to each post... Btw, thank you so much for your time :-) Tom...When you say mulching grass doesn't count does it, as a mulch I mean...? I would definitely want to mulch with compost if anything, but do you work it into the soil, leave it just on top and water it in over time... just to the drip line or farther out??? I really have nothing but time as we are not moving for the next decade or so maybe more... Second there is a huge long row (you can see them if you look closely in the second picture) of lily of the valley than was planted under those trees, I think maybe a twenty foot long row of them... Should they be moved? I don't mind doing that at all... The thing I am wondering is are they hurting the trees more than helping??? I would like to move them eventually and when I do, will I be hurting the tree roots?? We have also been shoveling the snow here at the tree trunks so when spring comes there will lots of water for them... should I be moving the snow off the trunks and more onto the drip line? Thanks Tom Hey, there Sherry... how much pruning is too much?? Does spruce regenerate after it's lost needles? Or once it loses needles on one branch they never come back? Thanks Sherry Hello, Esh... I am starting to think, the more that I think about it that an arborist might be best... I haven't seen any initials carved into any of the trees, chemicals I am not sure about, what about parking under them is an issue?? All I can see as far as not being really good are lots and lots of woodpecker holes on the mountain ashes and the douglas firs and a little bit on the spruces... Hopefully you guys might have more advice after this epic saga of a post... Thank you... Hey, there Spruceman... I am thinking that weed killers are most likely... the village where I live has this thing about dandelions... and I think this lot has been sprayed alot in the past... The only place that the grass looks healthy is where the original owner used to have her formal vegetable garden... on the northeast side of the lot. The rest of the grass is sparse, brittle and very dead looking... Would it help if I used one of those tree & shrub root watering thingys (long spike that you plunge into the ground and hook up your hose to) and water them just for the sake of watering like once or twice a month?? Thanks Spruce... Hello there, terry... We were thinking the same thing too as far as thinning them out... If we did cut every second one down... wouldn't their roots keep on trucking...and thus in turn still affect the other trees in competition for nutrients and moisture?? Thanks for responding... I feel really bad for these trees and I am a sucker for hardluck cases.... The more I am typing this thing out to you guys the more discouraged I am feeling LOL... We will probably have to get an arborist out here to check it out... I would still like to see if you had an opinion... If I did at some point in time still want to plant that living fence like I was talking about like a hedge or Virginia Creeper or something, do you think it's wise or possible to do that with the way the trees are situated on our lot...? I don't think we can get away with a traditional fence...Not on the west and south sides anyways... Ach, sorry guys I am just bombarding you with stuff... Thanks for listening and reading...Sorry this post was so long... Thank You. Kristie

New homes (like ours 22 years ago and probably yours) are generally leveled and graded with the subsoil extracted from digging out the basement hole. The topsoil is stripped and if any soil has to be added for final grading (i.e., even after spreading the basement subsoil), it is not topsoil generally. This "grading" soil is usually very rich soil but devoid of organic matter. And, as you now know, organic matter is needed to get this soil "alive". You just have to add MASSIVE amounts of organic matter to make it friable. Every year, I mulch mow a HUGE amount of autumn leaves all around the yard and garden. It is something you have to do every year (i.e, adding organic matter). Raised beds are good for veggies and flowers but you can amend strips of the existing soil by adding massive amounts of organic matter and digging it in. (You'll have to make the raised beds out of purchased topsoil, Canadian peat and compost, etc., to get them "ready to use" immediately. I'd keep the compost in the new raised beds at about 10 percent IMHO.) Now is an absolutely perfect time to do this. Go around your area and see if you can find any curbside leaf bags and dig those into flower or veggie growing areas you want in the future and/or mulch mow them EVERYWHERE. Now is the time to do this and I recommend you do this on a MASSIVE scale. You'll have to run the mower over the thick layer of leaves 3 to 4 times to get it real small. Over time you will see dramatic results IMHO. All this organic material addition/amending is alot of work but it is great exercise and very rewarding IMHO. Good luck!! Tidbit: I talked to Dr. Elaine Ingram (she's an expert on soils) a few years back asking about the typical suburban soil around new homes and she basically said: "You probably can't add enough organic matter in your lifetime to make the soil 'too organic'." What she was really saying was "have at it" and don't worry about mulching massive amounts of organic matter onto the soil. Compost, shredded leaves, mulched grass clippings, wood chips, etc. Dr. Ingram isn't big on digging stuff into the soil but she said for new suburban soils this is fine to get things "started". She also said autumn leaves are great organic material.

My gardens were all nearly unworkable clay when I started in 1998. Today, they all have beautiful, workable soil. I used TONS of compost...I bought humus in bags from Walmart, it's cheap and worked great. It was backbreaking work double digging all of those beds, but the effort plus time took care of the clay. Any time I re-planted an area, I would take the time to incorporate more humus or compost...it made every job big. There was a soil conditioner that was very expensive which I found at Bachman's in 20 or 40 # bags. I believe it made a HUGE difference, probably even more/faster than the Humus. It was in the 3rd or 4th year that I re-dug my gardens and mixed it in...I was really getting tired of that clay! Probably mixed more humus in at the same time, knowing me. My gardens got overgrown and were unmanaged the 5th and 6th year, as I was ill. When I went back to working them again, I had beautiful, friable soil that is now a pleasure to garden in. Very occasionally, I find a hunk of clay, but it's usually near an edge of shrubs or something that didn't get worked much with the humus or the soil conditioner. Bachman's has a good article on working with clay...to their credit, they don't try to sell you the conditioner and state that the jury's still out on that. I think it worked wonders, but since I did a lot of humus, too, it was probably the combination. And, somewhere along the line, I think I put gypsum in there, too. Gypsum is usually quite cheap. For the conditioner, I'm not sure if the brand was Shultz, or not, might have been Turface (Profile) or something else. In fact, I think the Turface people may actually sell the product to Shultz. bachman's link: http://www.bachmans.com/Garden-Care/divHomePage.html?cnb=GardenCare&categoryCode=02&pageIndex=_pageIndexToken_workingWithClaySoil Here's a description of the Shultz product, I nabbed it from the Amazon site for you: Instantly improves any soil! Turns hard-to-work clay soil into a loose, rich growing medium - permanently. Adds thousands of storage spaces that hold air and water in nearly perfect balance in the soil. Clay Soil Conditioner improves drainage and aeration in heavy, compacted clay soils and helps improve water and nutrient retention in dry, sandy soils. Made from 100% natural fuller's earth, this unique mineral is kiln-fired creating ceramic granules that work to improve soil structure. Just one application lasts year after year! Clay Soil Conditioner? is a stable mineral that will not break down or compact over time. Use at the rate of 15% by volume: (1 part Clay Soil Conditioner? to 6 or 7 parts soil.) Here is a link that might be useful: another review for soil conditioner

looks like nice parkland! are those fruit trees or just ornamental? by the way, some growers from thailand ship internationally - it all depends on agro import rules where you are and how fast the plants can ship so as not to die! may be better selection/shipping from australia? rainy Hilo on big island in hawaii /carribbean/thai/philippines/aussi tropics - would be similar to your area somewhat. there are subsets of garden web for australia/europe/etc i'll poke around to find some links for seed/fruit shippers in asia. i like learning and reading about tropical anything :). by the way you should have some incredible alocasia/colocasias (elephant ears) locally - are you familiar at all with them? colocasias are edible. prime example is taro - traditional hawaiian crop. not that i like it myself. but there are various kinds of very tasty tropical sweet potatoes that you might grow instead: yams, batatas, boniatos (cuban white sweet potato). also you should be able to grow monstera deliciosa - it produces an edible large fruit (cousin of swiss cheese houseplant). peas like it cool, but some beans can def take hot/humid like lima beans and some you can eat fresh from the pod. and all are available as seeds. e.g. from australia but shipping only locally - see tropical beans at the end. http://www.greenharvest.com.au/SeedOrganic/VegetableSeeds/Beans.html it's worth looking into indian stuff (which i know very little about, except i can see it in the freezer in the supermarket!). they grow all sorts of beans/long squashes in the steamy south. oh, you might be able to get some seeds/info/sites thru UK on that! found what i think is a good place in philippines (at list to start looking, not sure about international shipping) - info on fruit trees.ships nursery trees. http://www.dizonexoticfruittrees.com/index2.htm it was referenced last year - Q on shipping/visting with recommendation on http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=3111.0 seems to be a very active and useful forum too! here some useful links info/growing hawaii/fl/china http://www.lycheesonline.com/links.cfm this is Caribbean puerto rican site(us territory): they ship internationally. even just getting familiar with names can take time:) http://www.montosogardens.com/tropical_fruit_trees.htm