Well I live South of you, way down at the southern most tip. Clay here too! What I have found that works well is mulched up DRIED leaves!Let he lay on the bed for winter & mulch them a few times in the spring. Throw a bit of manure on it & boom! You have much healthier ground. Add a bit of old mulch (black gold) & you are good to go! Works wonders even in the worst of clay. Karen

Thanks for the tips, Karen.

I mowed over my leaves last fall, put them on all the beds I could (about 2 inches thick), worked them into the first few inches of soil and left them to overwinter. It did help. I had many more worms this year. I just need much MORE. Thankfully, leaves are free and plentiful. I have chickens, so I have access to manure (mixed with shavings). I have been composting that along with kitchen and garden scraps. I find it has to sit for about 4 months with a couple of turnings before it is "done".

Are you a vegetable gardener, flower or both? I grow both, but vegetables with more enthusiasm. Do you have suggestions for particular cultivars that perform EXTREMELY well here?

Thanks,
Lisa

We grow both but I love my flowers most. I love my daylilies & coneflowers. I also have a lot of hardy hibscus that do well except for the durn jap beatles! I also have several fruits that I grow. Tame thornless blackberries, blueberries, asian pears, apples & just started raspberries! Gosh as far a veggies, we have grown just about everything! As far as production, around here, just depends on the weather! It seems it feast of famine, rain or dustbowl etc lololol Good Luck!! Karen

Hi Again, Karen! My name is Lisa, by the way. I, too, have daylillies and coneflowers and they are doing very well so far. Gladiolus were here when we moved in. They are small but have some of the loveliest colored blooms I have ever seen, and evidently they are very cold hardy. I planted my first hollyhock and it was coming along so nicely until the JBs ate it up! Argh! I take great pleasure in feeding those nasty things to my chickens!

We planted 11 fruit trees last fall; a few of them have contracted some diseases. It hasn't killed them YET, so I'm still hopeful. We also planted blueberries, strawberries and raspberries - and blackberries, but they didn't make it.:(

I'm growing Black Valentine beans along with Baby Thorogreen Limas. The Mexican Bean Beetle seems to prefer the Black Valentine, and I've decided to try another cultivar next year... maybe Provider? Have you grown those?

Hey Lisa, I have never even heard of Black Valentine beans! lololol Beans & such I had just stayed with the same old, same old. lol Yea our trees around here are really suseptable to that dang fire blight! I cut down 4 old bartlet pears when we moved in that were covered with it. I have gotten rid of MOST of it but still have to whack at it here & there! I would like to have chickens but the critters here would have a hey day with them! I have three labs & they rule the roost. lolooll Those beetles, they have attacked my rose of sharons so bad I took the lopers to them. The beetles are better this year. I have started planting butterfly bushes also & they have done well for me. I like their carefree sway in the wind. With two acres I stay pretty busy! There is always something to plant or whack down lolololol! Take care, Karen