digging a cauldron in bad clay soil .. then amending the planting hole ONLY ... can lead to severe drainage problems ... and that might be why they come back smaller ...

have you ever perked your soil ... to find out if your clay drains??

my OH friends in horrible clay ... basically dumped 18 to 24 inches of good soil on top of the clay.. and gardened in that ...

what about growing them in pots???

ken

That may be a good solution, Ken. But first I'll have someone till my new location to see if it has too much clay then I'll decide. When it is tilled, I'll replant all of them there and mix the soil with topsoil for good drainage?

New potential bed (less the old grill):

I can get the soil perked also.

perk you soil before you do anything else ... do it in 2 or 3 spots across the area ..

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=perk+garden+soil&t=ffcm&ia=web

from deep experience.. DO NOT TILL UNDER TREES ... every broken root.. will sprout new feeder roots.. in the soil you tilled.. and anything you put on top of it ...

save the tilling for when you become a farmer ... lol...

what is the big tree???

ken

I thought tilling was no longer recommended anywhere because of the soil strata/organism disturbance?

Top dress with compost every chance you get and use organic mulches that decompose. Over time it will improve your soil.

Ken, no tilling till I get the soil tested. It's only $6.00 and it's right by my job. The big pine you see is the biggest tree and another about 20 ft across from it.

Lindalana, you are too funny! I only have pine straw in my yard - no leaves. I only have one neighbor that's 83 and she rakes her yard EVERY day after she gets off work. She has pine trees and sand.

Ceabhaill, I till for my veggie garden every year (except this year). I will till for my winter garden (moving it to another area).

It's raining so much I can't do anything right now. We've had a downpoor for about 3 or 4 days now, then comes the hot weather. My husband thinks I'm crazy when I'm out there in the drizzle.

Cearbhill,I am with you in no till camp. Respect your soil. Cathy,lasagna method is one of the easiest ways to improve your soil. You might have something avail to you locally?

Ok. I'll check it out. I guess I'll be sorta mulching for a while. I may do as Ken suggested a while back and put the Hosta that are not doing well in pots till I find out about my soil and get the other bed ready to plant next year. I can start seeds while I wait and pile on compost.

I saw a gardening show years ago where a gardener in GA grew hostas in pots..he said they got colder in the winter (which was good)..his hostas were big and his garden was beautiful..he had some in the ground also but put the special ones in pots..

food for the thought http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/lasagna-gardening-zmaz99amztak