So I've thought about this for awhile now, and I've decided 1) I don't have as much room as I "measured." 2) I don't want to eat figs enough to grow them in an espalier. I was kidding myself. 3) I really want something in the plum/apricot family, perhaps enough to spray a bit. 4) I'm allergic to sulfa medicine, and sulfur in dried food, and that might be an issue in spraying. So the new plan is 2011 to work on the soil (and survive other things)and just maybe get the prunus mume in the ground this year - for winter flowers. 2012 build the kiwi and rose pergola, and plant front yellowwood tree. Work on flower garden. 2013 replace sod with clover, dig out the dry stream bed and raise the grape hill. plant kiwi and rose. 2014 build the grape structure, and sprinklers or something for water. plant grapes. 2015 get the berries and currants going. And then once everything else is well established, go back to thinking about something like a hedge of espaliered purple leaf plum, which would be pretty. I'm not giving up on my apricot yet, but I can put it off and see if something new comes out.

Well, after some more research, I've made some progress on identifying the weeds, and figured I'd share... I'm almost positive #1 is Virginia Buttonweed I think #2 might be nutsedge. Can someone confirm that? As far as #3 goes, I think it is bermuda grass. But I think I actually have some bermuda and crabgrass, particularly where the lawn meets the street. And now begins the long process of trying to revive my lawn. My current plan is... 1. Try to control the weeds as best I can for now by spraying them with weed control for lawns and/or picking them by hand. Already started and it seems to be slowly killing the weeds and leaving the grass intact. 2. Come early-September, I'm going to fill in some depressed areas of the lawn with topsoil 3. Top dress the rest of the lawn with a thin layer of top soil. 4. Add some milorganite (unless someone has a better suggestion) 5. Seed entire yard with tall fescue, or maybe a mix of tall fescue and kentucky bluegrass 6. Water daily until grass starts to grow, then only twice a week for a few weeks, then only once a week. 7. Pray that tons of grass grows and chokes out the weeds 8. Come early spring, spread pre-emergent herbicide on the lawn Thoughts? This post was edited by ryanhaub on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 0:40

Shrub 1 looks like Ilex crenata, Japanese Holly. I'm a much better identifier than I am a gardener, but my impression is that these hollies are pretty tough; if you sheared it back it might make a regrowth and look better. On the other hand, if you pull it out you're not losing anything rare. What you see is what you'll get; the flowers are inconspicuous and the fruits are little black berries, not showy. A healthy Japanese holly is a pretty plant, though. Shrub 2 is a Leucothoe, probably Leucothoea fontanesiana, it will have drooping clusters of white flowers in the spring. My guess would be that the black spots are just winter damage and will go away. Shrub 3 is Wintercreeper, Euonymus fortunei. This thing is practically a weed (it is a weed in a lot of areas.) There are loads of different varieties of different colors, etc. If the old growth is in a bad place prune it, if it isn't leave it; this plant probably won't care what you do to it. WW

You're still low in phosphorus. Your copper numbers this year are way high. Did you use anything copper to take your samples? The copper numbers were normal last year. Avoid lime. The CEC numbers this year are both low, whereas last year two were low and one was good. So maybe the 11 number last year was a fluke? A low CEC means your soil does not hold nutrients well. They tend to leach away. One way to cope with the problem is to do lighter applications more often. Another way is to use organic feedings so that more nutrients are held by the soil organisms instead of the soil itself. Milorganite is an organic fertilizer that has a relatively high P number. I would suggest 20 lb/k now and again in early October. Then in late fall, after the grass has stopped growing and before the ground freezes, use a fast release nitrogen fertilizer (like urea). Are you sure you used a fine fescue seed from Southern States? That seems strange. I've only seen tttf there. Fine fescue would not do well in our heat. A neighbor has fine fescue and it goes dormant in April and doesn't green up until October. What seed are you using this year?