(1) When I replant the tomatoes, how deep should I plant? Since I didn't prep the underlying clay, should I dig that out and add something to it (compost, e.g.,) before replanting the tomatoes? Plant them so most all of any exposed stem is buried. Either deep holes or trench them in. More digging sure can't hurt but it would be easier to just add more compost and mix it in to the top so you are working with a good 8-10" of new. Let the worms do the work of turning it in. (2) I've got a 2' fence flush against the bed but something is getting in and eating the strawberries. There's no obvious tracks in the soil, could it just be bugs? As mention - slugs snails and many other possibilities. Move them to a container for the good of all issues. (3) Do I need to move the strawberries? There's 3 plants, I'm told the yield will be low the first year, I'm considering moving them to a trough this year and then to their own bed next year. 3 plants won't give you much yield. Not even a small handful of berries. Honestly not worth planting so few plants. Put them in a pot and plan to plant many more next year in a larger container. (4) The row of scallions and row of carrots have sprouted, I planted densely planning to thin - when should I thin and by how much at first? Growing up we didn't thin until we could at least discern which plants were doing better. I'm nowhere near that point but since I planted so densely I'd want to make sure I thin on time Since this is such a small bed and sounds like it is heavily over-planted already if you want any carrots at all you will have to thin aggressively. Begin thinning as soon as the seedlings are large enough to ID individual plants - usually 3/4-1" tall. Do a follow up thinning when they are 2-3" tall and again until they are approx. 3" apart. (5) I'm pretty sure this soil mix is only good for about 60-90 days and I'm not sure what I need to do then. Dig it out and replace it? Add something to it? Not at all, you just keep mixing in more compost and nutrient supplements. You will not be able to count on this new soil for sufficient nutrients without you adding supplements. There is no active soil micro-herd yet to convert the compost to nutrient forms. (6) Assuming our garden is successful (so far, so good, I've maintained it minimally) we plan to expand next year. What should I do with the soil this summer/fall, if anything? Raised beds again is what we'd prefer. Just build more of the same or my personal preference is 3' wide and long as you have room for. It's a more efficient use of space and provides easier access. 2x a year additions of lots of fresh quality compost. If you can get some well-aged manure for adding in the fall - great. otherwise buy several bags of composted manure now while the garden centers have them and add them in the fall. Good luck with your garden. Dave

Pinch off the lower leaves & plant deeper & you will get more tubers in the fall from where all the leaves were pinched off. When we plant the new seedling babies out in the field Walt always takes off at least 2 sets of leaves & plants deep- just like tomatoes. BTW-- 189 new "seedling babies" as of yesterday!! Love SPRING!!

Goodness, I would never get anything growing around here if I had to excavate all that dirt when something died. I would get some amendments, compost, horse manure- whatever, and mix it with the same soil that came out of the hole. Put it all back in the hole and plant the amaryllis. You only plant them up to the shoulders of the bulb, and I never saw one that was a foot and a half tall. I am not being a smart alec, but I can't believe somebody told you to do all that. I think the thought that maybe the rose was in the wrong spot was probably right. How old was the rose? HTs are not known for being very tough, and they don't live all that long anyway. Please do not obsess over the dirt being contaminated. Try your amaryllis there. Or plant some seeds there, and see what happens. That rose could have been sick when it was planted. You never know. The only situation that I have ever seen the soil needing to be removed was at my BILs new house. The hedge in front of the house just fell in where a piece of machinery had sat all during the building of the house, and it had leaked something at that spot for months. Who knows what? But every little Japanese Boxwood that was plunked in that spot died. They finally took the shrub out on the other side of the sidewalk, so both sides matched, and set a pot on each side and everybody was happy. Do contact Malcolm tho. He is great, and loves to talk about dirt! AND.....he knows a lot about it, too! Janie

Nothing wrong with trying. I did not look at the video at this time, so can't comment directly. But in truth, too-deep planting of trees is an absolute scourge. The problem is that the issues involved with this don't show up for years to come. So, a too-deep planting may seem just fine for a while. The issues raised by this are slow-acting fungal pathogens which just love to infect that root crown area. sloughing-off of bark, cracks, and other anomalies are the end result, as is total plant death. All that said, there are some floodplain species of trees which do handle deep planting better. The theory behind this is that such species have had to adapt to soil/silt deposition in floodplains and as such, have made the necessary adjustments to their physiology to withstand same. But take that same situation and try it with an upland species, and very poor results will be had. Interesting, but I'd be extremely cautious about letting that info out to the wrong endpoints, basically, everyone who's not an expert plantsperson! We're still fighting to get people to not plant their stuff too deeply. I shudder to think what this information could lead to in the wrong hands. +oM