Magnolias & Dogwoods (Cornus florida) also have shallow feeder roots and the areas under the canopy are usually lacking in sufficient moisture to permit growing many types of perennial plants. I have four Southern Magnolias (M. grandiflora) that are underplanted with several types of shrubs and perennials that must have additional irrigation, even with normal rainfall. The evergreen foliage acts as an "umbrella" and the plants underneath receive little moisture, even after a heavy rainfall event. I use imbedded soaker hoses to provide supplemental moisture for the plants there. Growing shade tolerant plants underneath Maples is not difficult, if a few conditions are observed. Add 4-6" of compost, leafmould and pine bark fines to establish a shallow raised bed and to provide nutrients for the plants being installed. Leave at least a 6" air gap around the Maple's trunk. Don't add any other amendments to the planting area. When encountering small tree roots, cut and remove them. Above all, do not add fertilizer to the planting area. If you determine supplemental nutrients are necessary, they must be applied to the entire area, under and around the Maples, well beyond the drip line. Same rule applies to irrigation. Don't water individual plants. Provide an equal amount of water to all of the area under and around the Maples. Add an annual layer of compost to all of the area during late winter or early spring. I have planted dozens of different shade tolerant perennials, shrubs & small trees under all of my Maples for more than 40 years and some of my greatest plant successes have occurred there. One of the most challenging adventures was establishing Native Azaleas near the drip line of Flowering Dogwoods (C. florida). Water, water and more water was determined to be the solution! Even then, it required several years for the Azaleas to become well established and compete with the massive near-surface root system of the Dogwoods. SATWT Rb

This makes for interesting reading. It is clear that Lucy thinks that manhattanmatt is a crazed lunatic because what he is saying CAN'T POSSIBLY be true. Only it is true. Lucy, how can you be arguing this without at least taking two minutes to research and try and understand how this antiquated system works? You just think it sounds so crazy that Matt must be lying. Well it's true. Sad but true. My old market had rent control. Even in owner occupied two or three family homes, rent control is in full force, EVEN IF THE APARTMENT IS VACANT!!! Example: You have a rental unit inside your own house that you live in that is vacant and ready for a new tenant. It should be worth $2200/ month, but you can only charge $1100/ month. You're not kicking some poor, hard done by tenant to feed your own evil landlord greed - the place is vacant. You are free to rent it to anyone. Yet the rent is still controlled. WHY?????? I simply don't understand it. It makes absolutely no sense. So while the owner/ landlords expenses and real estate taxes go through the roof (some of these homes are now worth 1 - 2 Million dollars with re-assessed taxes to match), yet the owner cannot charge a market rent for a vacant unit. So Lucy, is it all the owners fault? They should move because they can't afford their taxes and the tenant holds all the cards? You could rent the apartment to someone with a 6 figure income (maybe someone making more than the owner) and yet the apartment will still be rent controlled. The situation in these big buildings is much, much worse. At least the house has some value because an owner can move in, and if it's less than a three family they can kick all tenants out and make it a one family. So out with the middle classes who need the income and in with the rich. Is this a better situation to you lucy? The big buildings have NO VALUE because no-one wants them. Some people take a risk, buy the buildings and then try and buy tenants out. Why should they have to pay a tenant thousands of dollars to move out of a place which is not owned by them? It is supremely unfair. I do actually think that there is a place for rent control. If it were subsidized by the government. The government put these rules in place and it should pay to keep them running. Why on earth should a poor unfortunate owner be bankrupted by something over which they have no control? I am not surprised that Matt got het up - it is very aggravating having truth dismissed by someone who clearly knows nothing at all about the subject.

I actually do something like this when I'm planting my tomatoes, not just going around digging holes. In my normal processes, I continue to work the soil deeper and deeper through mulching, composting, and mixing, but particularly in the first few years I may only have the first 6 to 8 inches or so well worked. As I rotate tomatoes through an area, I dig holes for them with a post hole digger fairly deep, up to 15 to 18 inches. I'll put unfinished mulch or compost down deep in the hole, covered by a layer of soil, before setting the tomato plants as deep as possible with all side branches and leaves pinched off up to the top growing leaves. Even if water collects there, it is below where the plants are growing, and it will help the overall garden. If there are wells that will hold water, it provides moisture to the soil above when dry, and plants will send their roots down to find it - both good things. I never remember hitting the same holes again when I go around replanting an area in tomatoes again in three or so years, so for me it is all just a part of improving the soil in my garden beds.

Perfect. Good info. Land of Oz. For the non Aussies reading this, I'm not going to do much translating from American English to Aussie English. Since you already have Santa Ana couch (bermuda), you probably want to keep it. If that is the case, you will have to take a tough love approach. Killing grassy weeds with grass killer will also kill the grass you want. But with couch grass, it's going to come back in a month or so. Still, if you spray a grass killer, I would protect as much of the couch as possible with cardboard to prevent overspray. I don't know about the availability of seed for Santa Ana, but seed or sod would help it come in sooner. You should wait until at least January to seed couch. It needs HOT soil to germinate. Air temps in the mid 30s at least. If you seed it now, it still won't germinate until the soil is hot enough, so you might as well wait. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 3 cm all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps from 33-38 deep water once per week. With temps from 25-32 deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps from 21-24 deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 21, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. In the USA this deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont (for Oz think Hobart to Darwin including Alice Springs), so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. Always mow couch at the mower's lowest setting. Mow it at least once a week. It can take fertilizer once a month. Something to know: couch will not grow close to the south, east, or west side of any building, fence, or shrub. It needs more sun than that. If you have shady conditions you could put in flower beds. Or you could put buffalo (St Augustine) in there. Buffalo, when mowed at the mower's HIGHEST setting, will absolutely overtake and remove all the other grasses including couch. Unless a grassy weed is well entrenched, the buffalo will take out the weeds, too. It takes the same amount of water, but only half the mowing and only 3x per year on fertilizer. If you can put a couple pieces in the shade to get it started, then it will grow out 5 meters per year on its own. It will be sparse the first year, but it will fill in the second year plus grow another 5 meters outward. I've used buffalo to reclaim hundreds of square meters of weeds this way. The downside to buffalo is that if you let it dry out for several weeks in the hot summer, it might die completely. Couch will go dormant, but buffalo will go dead. When that happens the couch will fill in before the buffalo can come back, but the buffalo will easily take over again the following season.