My first thought was-- "The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank"--why would you need to water? Then I realized that the systems have come a long/changed way since my childhood. Have you asked the company that did the install/spec'd the the field? They may have some specific suggestions. melanie

Hi everyone: Thanks for all of your comments! This is what I've decided to do: I'm going to amend the soil this summer, let it lay fallow over the winter and put the berries in early next spring. To do this I'm going to "roundup" the marginal amount of grass on the site and turn over the soil/sod, incorporating elemental sulfur and pine sawdust (and pine needles if I can find a source). I'm not planning to dig down past about 8" - I've been told by several folks that as long as I don't go into the sand or gravel of the field I should be ok. Once that's done, I'll mulch the whole shebang with pine chips for the winter. I would like to plant blueberry sod, but the price for the size area I'm covering ($3/ft) is pretty steep for me (plus husband will have a heart attack). I've found a source in Fryeburg, Maine that sells lowbush blueberry plugs and so I'm thinking I'll go with that, or perhaps a combination of plugs and sod. This is all kind of risky, given how dry the leach field gets in the high summer, but a) I think the mulch with help somewhat; and b) there are lots of blueberries growing on Pum Island on the sand dunes and they seem to survive the lack of water ok. So, once again thanks for all of your interest. If any of you have leads on other sources for lowbush blueberry stock I'd appreciate the tips. I'll post a follow up next spring (hopefully with pictures) to show what I did. Have a lovely growing season, papercarver

Hi everyone: Thanks for all of your comments! This is what I've decided to do: I'm going to amend the soil this summer, let it lay fallow over the winter and put the berries in early next spring. To do this I'm going to "roundup" the marginal amount of grass on the site and turn over the soil/sod, incorporating elemental sulfur and pine sawdust (and pine needles if I can find a source). I'm not planning to dig down past about 8" - I've been told by several folks that as long as I don't go into the sand or gravel of the field I should be ok. Once that's done, I'll mulch the whole shebang with pine chips for the winter. I would like to plant blueberry sod, but the price for the size area I'm covering ($3/ft) is pretty steep for me (plus husband will have a heart attack). I've found a source in Fryeburg, Maine that sells lowbush blueberry plugs and so I'm thinking I'll go with that, or perhaps a combination of plugs and sod. This is all kind of risky, given how dry the leach field gets in the high summer, but a) I think the mulch with help somewhat; and b) there are lots of blueberries growing on Plum Island on the sand dunes and they seem to survive the lack of water ok. So, once again thanks for all of your interest. If any of you have leads on other sources for lowbush blueberry stock I'd appreciate the tips. I'll post a follow up next spring (hopefully with pictures) to show what I did. Have a lovely growing season, papercarver

You really need to find out what your soil needs by testing it or at least do some basic stuff to find out the organic matter of the soil. Is it clay or sand etc... from there you can find out what actually needs to be added. What I found was that if your not sure peat moss always seems to help if you don't have any compost. But as far as what to plant, not knowing your location, but anything you plant now at the end of July is going to take a lot of watering even on top a leach field. What kind of septic system do you have? I have an areation system with a drip system connected. I'm actually looking at possibly running a sprinkler system of it instead of it going into a small area of yard that I have to cut every few days. According to the manufacture and EPA the water that comes out of the system is "drinkable" but neiter one recommeds it. So I figured it can't hurt to use it to water the rest of my lawn and flowers.