In the meantime, you might also go to your local grocery stores, talk to the
managers, and see if you can get permission to pick up the veggies and
fruits that they are throwing away. Cook or remove the seeds first and then
compost them all over your ground. As others have said, manure is also a
great help, but be sure it is aged. Horse manure will grow a lot of grains
that you didn't plant. "Force Fed" chickens will produce a lot of extra
plants also. Be picky or you may have to pay for it later in additional
weeding work.

Adding sand will also benefit your garden, as will peat moss. If you have a
clay based soil, these will aid in the drainage, if you can get them deep
enough.

I used pressure treated wood for my asperagus gardens, strawberry beds and
some flower beds. I have never seen any sort of problem from their use.

Dwayne

"Patskywriter" wrote in message
...
dwayne, great suggestions! i definitely plan to do much of the
"structural"
stuff this winter. because the dirt that was trucked in is so bad, i'm
going to
build raised beds for my fruits and veggies and add composted manure and
good
topsoil. i'm hoping that the "new" pressure-treated wood is OK. for the
tropical garden, bird/butterfly garden, dwarf fruit tree mini-orchard, etc
i'll
have to improve the soil area by area. i can't afford to bring in good
topsoil
and compost for the entire yard at one time.

i've actually planned the layout although i haven't committed it to a grid
yet.
i should probably do that. i have also compiled a list of all the plants i
want
to get--many i'll start from seeds.

thanks again for the great suggestions!

pat