Connie - The advice I see from blueberry growers is to use a raised bed for clay soils. You do not need to build any sort of fancy structure. Lots & lots of commercial blueberry operations in Oregon & Washington have mounds of various growing mixtures on top of the native soil. Since blueberries have shallow root systems, you can easily build a big enough mound such that the roots are contained in the mound which is your raised bed. The growing mix allows you to control the pH and water dynamics which are very important. While there is slight variation from blueberry expert to expert, the consensus is pH 4.5 to 5.0 as the ideal range. There are plenty of pictures & descriptions in the book "Blueberries: For Growers, Gardeners and Promoters." I think it is the best $60 dollars you will spend to grow blueberries. Below are a whole series of links to different blueberry resources. While the 5-1-1 mix should work, you may decide on a different mix after a bit more reading. Here is a list of links to a number of free publications that I have found very helpful. I have been growing blueberries in pots very successfully for several years thanks to what I have learned in these & other publications. http://www.extension.org/blueberries http://www.extension.org/pages/30658/blueberry-online-resources-social-media-newsletters-websites-etc http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/em/em8918.pdf http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/pdf/1422.pdf http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8207.html http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/12202/ec1304.pdf;jsessionid=34C1D8724B28E1018BFDFB7C8DC84200?sequence=1 http://nysipm.cornell.edu/organic_guide/blueberry.pdf http://berrygrape.org/blueberry/ http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/smfr003/smfr003.htm You are fortunate that there is an excellent blueberry group at Washington State University. I believe you should be able to contact a blueberry person for advice through information found on this link. http://smallfarms.wsu.edu/crops/berries/blueberries.html or your WSU Extension office. http://extension.wsu.edu/locations/Pages/default.aspx For your mole and vole problems, you should find some very useful advice here: http://www.gopherslimited.com/ Good luck with those blueberries! Here is a link that might be useful: Blueberries: For Growers, Gardeners and Promoters

1) Volume 2) If you're using Reptibark (or prescreened 1/8-1/4" other conifer bark), Turface/calcined DE, and grower grit (no crushed shellfish shells), all you'll need is insect screen to eliminate the fines. If you're screening your own pine bark, you'll also need 1/2" and 18" screen. Ask for hardware cloth at hardwares or big box stores. Real hardwares probably sell it by the foot. 3) You may not need the extra water retention, but if you do you can use 3 Turface or DE 2 bark 2 grit or the next step would be 3 bark 4 Turface or DE 2 grit I don't, but you can if you want. When it gets really hot, you'll want to reduce the amount of fertilizer you use, and you can't do that using CRFs. If you do use one, try to be sure it's as close to a 3:1:2 ratio as possible and that it contains all the essential nutrients, including Ca & Mg - most don't. I like Foliage-Pro with the gritty mix because it has everything in the right ratio and it doesn't utilize urea as it's N source, which is a considerable plus for houseplants. Al

I am located just outside of Boston, MA. I too have some bumpy areas that I plan to level out this spring, and I have a soil test on its way out the door. I'm guessing the soil test is going to tell me I need more organic matter in the soil, and if so, I'll topress with a similar mixture as those recommended above. Assuming that is true, my questions is in regards to the timing of the topdressing vs the timing of the application of Halts. I'm probably still a week to a few weeks away from seeing the forsythia bloom, and thus my Halts application. What I'm wondering about is if the order of Halts vs topdressing has any implications? Obviously the Halts timing is more important, and needs to be applied at a specific time. But should I try to get the topdressing and top soil leveling dropped and spread prior to dropping the Halts in a few weeks? Do I need to give the topdressing time to get down into the soil before applying the Halts? Or, on the flip side, if I drop the Halts at the recommended time, but then a week or two later add a topdressing, would that topdressing on top of the Halts have any impact on the effectiveness of the Halts? Anyone have any thoughts on the proper timing in trying to get both Halts and a topdressing applied? I want to do both, but want to make sure I don't negate the Halts barrier. Thanks in advance.

Rager, Like several MistaScott, I thought you were using "concrete" as a metaphor for really hard soil. Which seems appropriate for some sandy clay soils, like mine. How did you resolve your issue? Did you core aerate and topdress with a sand peat mixture? if so, did the lawn come back lush and green? In some locations, my Saint Augustine is perpetually yellow and thin. i suspect there is not enough permeability to facilitate deep rooting. If I run the sprinkler too long the water goes into the street. So, I run the sprinkler more frequently, and the stressed lawn develops fungal problems. These patches oscillate between severe dryness and mold issues, because the clay soil is impermeable to water, and fails to retain moisture. That area of the lawn is like a hydroponics operation. I have attempted the baby shampoo approach, using an Ortho Spreader, a cup of beer, some milk and J&J Baby Shampoo (Laurel Sulfate). I figured I could feed bacteria, combat the fungal issues, and break down the clay in one fell swoop. Let's see if the shampoo hype is more than just hype. Ultimately, I have littel faith. I suspect i will need to import viable soil to amend these patches of hardened clay. I will need to core these spots and topdress with a soil to prevent the clay from rendering the cores impermeable. The holes will trap water and fertilizer becoming the Normandy beach of my grass invasion. Any advice on what soil mixture to use on compacted Houston clay? And no . . . I'm not really invading Normandy.