nfmgirl, Wow, you ask a question and get many different solutions! You can see that there are many different ways to approach this. That's why we're always learning on this forum. Personally, I would do it the way ill-mannered ache suggested. Cut the weeds lower, put the cardboard on top, and then place as much organic material on top as you can scavenge (grass clippings, leaves, compost, coffee grounds, etc.). Then cover with mulch. You will be shocked at the weed control that will give you for a long period of time. Even after the cardboard dissolves. I find that pulling weeds out disturbs the soil and brings more weed seeds to the surface to germinate, so I try never to disturb the soil. It also displaces the soil structure and upsets the drainage (think earthworm tunnels, soil organism homes, etc). Soil is expensive and precious. The longer it has been there, the longer it has had to develop the wonderful organisms that help our plants grow. I would add stuff like organic material, but wouldn't take anything other than the weed tops out. The cardboard will kill the weeds beautifully, and fast, and for a long time. I have to add that you are so lucky to have this perfect spot for your veggie gardening! Looks like the sun exposure and the bones of the garden are perfect. I know you will have so much fun with this. Keep coming here, there are such wonderful veggie gardeners on this forum with amazing results. They are inspiring. Lastly, I agree with Florah. Wait a year or so before you cut any trees down. Maybe limb them up. After you live with them through the season changes, it will become clear if something needs to go. Shade is wonderful in summer and trees take years to grow. Sounds like the previous gardeners put a lot of love in this place. You are lucky. Anna

My guess sight unseen: scrape and sand the walls down to what seems sound. Then prime everything with an oil based primer. Whether it is bare plaster or slick underlying oil paint, the primer should stick. Top off the entire walls with drywall topping compound, sand, prime again with water based drywall primer. Finish coat . This is labor intensive, but is not brain surgery.

Hi Nancy!! I also agree with Phalanx and what he mentions is spot on!! "First of all, take a deep breath and remember you’re pushing a plant to do natural things in an unnatural habitat; so the challenge is baked in. But I know you’re up for it or you would have given up by now. ". He is right about you are trying to grow trees that are engineered to grow outside. Most of us grow our trees outside as much as possible and that is what our trees truly need to give us the best results possible. I realize you like to grow inside and use artificial lights all year long, but I'm afraid that you will find times of problems that might arise like this! Your trees are telling you that something isn't right and I also would back off on the Neem Oil. I would use as needed and let your leaves try to breath without being spritzed every three weeks. I know you are watching your babies constantly and taking care of them as well! Let them take a break from fertilizing every so often by flushing the soil with water to help eliminate any salt build. Take it one step at a time to see what will cause them to rebound and start pushing new growth . Natural sunlight is the best and only artificial is second to Mother Nature!! I hope and pray that you will see a change with your leaf drop and that someone who is more experienced with growing under artificial lights will chime in for you! My trees ( seedlings and some small one years old trees will grow under artificial liggts for the winter. They always come though fine and are ready to make the switch to natural light for the spring; summer and then into the fall. They thrive in their natural environment and sometimes your trees might need to have a rest from artificial to natural for your summer... Just some thoughts for you, sweetie!! I seriously doubt that your have the awful virus that is mentioned by Dr Kukiat! You can google that info and check it out. The signs will effect the leaves and show sign in a green leaf.. not by your leaves falling off the tree. The other signs are the huge color breaks that the flowers show blooming during the blooming cycle. Most of us have color breaks at times during a high heat wave and it's just that... a color break, not the Virus !! Have a great day!! Laura

I'm a fan of letting nature take its course with: 1) A lot of help and 2) Trying to mimic what nature does just not at nature's speed. And I'm going to disagree back again. " Whatever woody or barky particles that may be present in compost (and you DO want them) " You don't want them if you're digging it in. If it's compost, it should be fully decayed and particles shouldn't be woody or bark-like. If they're recognizable as woody or bark-like, they're high in carbon and absolutely will suck nitrogen from any source they can get it to decay. That's going to be a problem, from very minor to very major, depending on the amount added. I've seen that too many times to count. It can be countered--and small amounts added may be unnoticeable--but grasses grown on it won't perform very well until the nitrogen balance catches up. Consider. Nature rarely adds wood directly to deep soils. She lets it rot up top and then the worms and beetles and termites drag the rotten bits down under. Often as poo. When things get buried unrotted, they sometimes don't decay...and turn into fossilized wood. Or fossils. It's rare, but that's the start of things. However, if it's fully decayed compost, smells like fresh earth, and has no recognizable bits and pieces, it can be dug into the soil--at amounts up to about five percent. With one warning---it is going to decay off to nothing within a maximum period of five years. Which means the soil is going to settle. Which means if you got everything nice and flat, it's going to drop into a divot within five years. Maximum. More if it's a nice environment. The rules change for adding stuff up top. You want to chop up wood and toss it up there? Go for it. Sawdust? Have at it, I do (I find Equine Pine pellets to be an occasional nice addition). At the air/soil interface, anything goes. The only restrictions are for things that are dug down into the soil. Some meals also work wonders at transforming soils. Cracked corn offers highly fibrous structure with modest nitrogen, and a mild anti-fungal boost to boot. It's one of the best combined boosts for feeding, soil, and protection out there. Plus I've been maintaining and improving soil structure quite beautifully just on soybean meal as the worms also rather like the stuff, reproduce quite well on it, and themselves do the work. Personally, I wouldn't rototill. It's very hard to get a flat surface after doing so without calling a professional to box-blade. I didn't when the back patio and gardens were installed and I had trucks going back and forth. I should have sprayed shampoo (or my own sodium lauryl sulfate concoction) but it was before Andy and I had developed the formula in a late-night creative chemistry session. I fed the area heavily and frequently with organic food, as well as the surrounding areas, and within two years the problem had corrected itself--worms and other critters from microbial to very macro had fixed it for me. It's completely indistinguishable from the rest of the lawn. One thing you certainly could do is rent or borrow an aerator and aerate the area several times over. Generally, it's done 2 to 3 times, but for compacted earth, I'd do it 5 to 7 times. Really tear it up. There's no reason to load food into the soil at that time or before seeding unless you want to feed any weeds that grow and losing nitrogen to the air and water. Without knowing what your soil is like or what it requires, you're blindly dumping resources, which isn't environmentally sound anyway. You could get a test through Logan Labs if you like. Then, wait for temperatures to fall off their high. For you, that's like July 7th. :-) (More like August 10th or so, just when you look out and notice in the evenings that summer is just starting to come to an end and the tree leaves are looking a bit tired). Seed at that point. Feed with a good organic feeding (I'd suggest Milorganite or Ringers or soybean meal or really, whatever you can get) then too. Search around for how to start a new lawn patch or ask at that time because everybody else will be as well, and we've gone through it a ton of times as well. :-)