Ah, gotcha. I have a lot to learn. :) I know its all up to each person's taste to a certain extent, but if they will grow together eventually, wouldn't I be pushing it to plant 3 side by side? I'm trying to figure out what to do with those other two Azaleas now. I guess it's not a big deal and dont want to plant them just to plant them. I may be able to find a home for them if no suitable place is on my lot. I'm not too concerned about the side of the house. The previous owners just had shrubs all the way from sidewalk and around the side to the privacy fence. I'm not a plain jane shrub sort of person, but thats the only thing they had planted. They did plant a Crape Myrtle out front on the corner, but thats about all the color the landscape had (red).

YMMV on the following Liz, but I use a dry 6-10-10 fertilizer (only about 2 bucks at Wal*Reich for a box that'll last me a decade), and apply a handful for every 4 square feet every 3 growing months. And every 6 months, I apply a light dusting of magnesium sulfate (epsom salts, just make sure they're the pure thing). The plants respond well, all else being constant. Congrats on all the newness! Just a word to no one in particular from my experience: stay away from anything that says "potting mix" for herbs... They will HATE it. Way too much loosley-packed raw organic matter. Always go for a landscaping-grade or home-processed compost, manure, or blend thereof... Or failing that, just plain topsoil. Throw in about half a cup to a cup of sand for every gallon of compost or manure, depending on the particular plant's requirements (IE more for rosemary, less for parsley). Just my $0.02 on the subject.

It depends on how your land drains. You can put in a fairly narrow bed.....let's say you put one alongside the garage or driveway that might be 20 or 30 or 40 feet long and only 18" to 3' wide. That would be fine for lots of plants as long as water doesn't drain down into it from higher ground. If no other water drains down to it or drips off of a building onto it, you can get away with planting at grade level, but if other water drains towards it, you need to mound up the ground a little so the plants will sit higher. Before you start trying to amend the soil, I'd do the soil jar test (I'll link it below) and figure out what your soil is actually composed of. On our place, we have several kinds of clay. We have a really dense red clay that looks like flower pot clay and a hole dug into it will hold water for days, or even weeks. We have other red clay that has a pretty high sand component so if you just add some organic matter (my favorite is chopped/shredded leaves gathered in the fall), practically anything grows well in it. And we had other clay (some of it is where our veggie garden now sits) that is mostly clay with some silt. For this area, I have mostly raised beds that are 4" above grade level although in some areas with unraised beds, I just add organic matter and plant at grade level. We did heavily amend the soil at grade level and then build those raised beds on top of that. So, all clay is not the same. Do the jar soil test first. Use the way your layers of soil in the jar look after the proper time (24 hours) to determine what you need to add. The quickest fix is to add Canadian spaghnum peat moss, but all that does is break up the soil particles and simultaneously help the soil both hold water better and drain better too. Peat is 'dead' in the sense that it doesn't have ongoing biological activity, so I prefer compost, which is alive and has good biological activity. In a first year garden, though, you can add peat and use fertilizer. As time goes on, your mulch will decompose and add compost to the soil and earthworms will carry it down below the surface. In a few years, you won't recognize the soil in those beds and will be asking yourself 'where'd my red clay go?'. So, I suggest the soil test and then everyone can suggest what to add to the soil you have to improve it. It really isn't as hard as it sounds as long as you aren't trying to grow something that is very, very demanding in terms of drainage. I grow oodles of things in all kinds of clay...unimproved clay, slightly improved clay, highly improved clay and raised beds with extremely well improved clay. It really is more a matter of matching the drainage needs of a plant to the type of clay it will tolerate. The good news is that clay soil is highly fertile and all it really needs is organic matter added to it to improve how it handles water. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Jar Soil Test

Cat Deterrents for your Garden: Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), what works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They're great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. Birds aren't stupid, they watch for cats and stay away. Sometimes natural law comes into play and the quicker animal wins, it's natural law. If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples' property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world. After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be 'pests'. * amonia soaked (corncobs, etc) * aluminum foil * bamboo skewers * black pepper * blood meal fertilizer * bramble cuttings * Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp * catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards) * cedar compost * chicken wire (metal or plastic) * cinnamon * citrus peels * citrus spray * cocoa bean shells * coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!) * dogs * electric fence for animals * essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils) * fresh manure(ditto) * garlic cloves * gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree * gutter covers * hardware cloth * heavy bark mulch * holly leaves * keep the area damp, they like dry soil * lavender * liquid manure (good for your garden too) * motion sensor sprinkler * pennyroyal * pinecones * pipe tobacco * plastic forks * predator urine * red wine vinegar * river rocks over the exposed soil * rocks, crushed * rose bush clippings * rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only) * short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart * six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up) * Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water * squirt gun with water * talk to your neighbors * tansy * thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings * toothpicks * upside down vinyl carpet * vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam * water bottle on "stream" NOT RECOMMENDED: *** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me. *** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way. Give them their own areas: (To keep them out of where you don't want them) (If you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters) + pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later. + give them their own plants - i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason) + if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too. + Barley Grass + Any type of "catgrass" from the pet store + Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade + Catmint Nepeta mussinicultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.) + Catnip Nepeta cataria (in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called nepeta cataria, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to. + Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum) + Flax + Oat Grass + Jacob's Ladder + Lemon Grass + Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch + Mints + Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out. + Sandy area + Silver vine (Actinidia polygama) + Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive) + Sweet grass + Trificum aestivum (type of cat grass) + Various Varieties of Cat Mints (Catnips) + Wheat Grass + Wheat Berries + Valerian This list compiled by Violet_Z6, email at violetgw@care2.com for comments and suggestions regarding this list.