bboy: You must be referring to the last picture of the amaranthus. I thought it was lack of nitrogen too, but it has been receiving regular fertilization. Turns out, that is how that kind of amaranthus tends to appear after awhile... pepperd: Thanks! And yes, the soil we got that was advertised "Garden soil" locally, turned out to me basically sand with ground up wood in it. I amended with compost at the beginning of the year, and as money allows I am now top dressing with fish compost (about 1-2 inches). I will add more compost this winter... maybe from my compost bin if its full enough! Here is an updated picture... more recent.. Visitor on my apple tree, not camera shy... A mason bee was nesting under one of my seed trays... plastic is slotted on the bottom. I moved it this morning not knowing... and look! A mason bee nest, with mom sleeping inside... I thought she was dead, but I blew some air on her and she got up, walked around, and flew off. Purple Broad Beans (from nelson BC, imported :), and broccoli from seed. Lettuce in a pot! Used Sungro #4 mix, some granular slow release fert (8-20-20). My Lilly's are looking good My patio is no longer suitable for humans... I have 6 more pots also... Am now upsizing, note some have a 1/2 sticking up out of them? Got some 7 gallon pots, screwed in the 1/2 inside the pot to hold it. The supports are about 6 feet tall, should hold for the year..

If you could go back in time, you should have had it finish graded the first time. Whatever you do to this soil will have to be repeated when the final soil is in. Then you could have started watering it as if you wanted to sprout new grass seed. That daily watering would have sprouted all the weed seeds and then the RoundUp would have given you a perfect bed for new grass. Even if you kill all the weeds in this current level of soil, the new soil will bring in more weed seeds. When you start watering the new grass, the new weeds will sprout and you'll be starting with a weedy lawn. Looking forward if you had the soil delivered today, you could begin watering daily now to sprout the weeds, spot spray the Round Up in a week, and then do your seed.

At the risk of writing an indictment of soil testing, I'll dip my toe in here. First, I want to make clear that soil testing is an important and useful tool, regardless of innate weaknesses. It is not an exact science, however, with over 70 years test development, field testing, data collection and refinement, there exists some pretty dependable data reflecting ranges of nutrient levels at which plants (including grasses) respond favorably. Sufficient nutrition (or lack thereof) is a major factor in plant health and crop production (for turf grasses, this is reflected as aesthetically pleasing lawns, thick, soft green and insect and disease free). Consequently, it makes sense to adjust nutrient levels to insure that they fall within these broad ranges and eliminate one major factor from the lawn/garden "problem" equation. As I like to say, "It's more hand-grenades, than darts." There are so many variables, that there is a lot of unavoidable "fudging" in soil analysis and recommendations. One example, out of many: Recommendations are made on the basis of weight. One weight used is an acre furrow slice calculated to be 2,000,000 lbs. That's 43, 560 square feet to a depth of 6.7". Why 2,000,000 lbs? It is assumed that the soil is a loam with a bulk density of 1.33 g/cm3 or 83 pound/ft3. 83 X (43560 X 6.7/12) = 2,024,458 lbs. What's a few thousand pounds between friends? Rounded, let's call it 2,000,000 lbs. Are all soils loam? Wouldn't a clay soil with a bulk density of 1.0 or a sandy soil with a bulk density of of 1.6 make a difference? A second weight used is for nutrients. Nutrients are measured in parts per million (ppm). It has been determined, that multiplying measured ppm by a factor of 2, will result in the total poundage weight of any nutrient in one acre furrow slice of soil. All nutrients weigh the same? Isn't a defining difference between elements their unique differences in molecular weight? The point is, despite all of the variables and "fudging", as long as things are done as consistently as possible, the result will be a useful scale for comparative purposes and a reasonably accurate basis for nutrient adjustment. So 0-4" or 2-6"? It really is important to determine the nutrients that are available in the root zone (it's why farmers commonly test at both the 0-6" and the 6-24" layer). A couple of things to keep mind: 1. Common consensus is that the majority of roots for our elite turf grasses is 0-4". 2. Deeper roots result in lawn turf that is less affected by fluctuations in environment (weather, drought, etc). 3. Studies have shown that plant roots will propagate/proliferate in areas of soil where nutrients and moisture are present. Ideally, tow tests would result in the greatest collection of useful information. Say one from 3-6" and one from 0-3, or 0-6". Realistically, most people aren't that anal and neither want to pay for multiple tests, nor do the number crunching that would make multiple tests beneficial. Therefor, measuring from 0-4" is preferred (as long as fertilizer granules aren't included) as it takes into account nutrient abundances that may exist in the top inch of soil and avoid detrimental over application if they aren't taken into account. After all, gravity will always eventually win and those nutrients will move down...s o m e t i m e.

Could very well be hawthorn. Native Crataegus douglasii pops up all over the western side of the Cascades. Also hybridizes readily with C. monogyna, which is classified here in WA state as a non-regulated noxious weed. Another native, C. columbiana, can also mix into the picture :-)) So shrubby forms of hawthorn are very common in this area.........