Thanks, Frank, for the asnwer about old fertilizer. I'm going to sell
or give it away.


Now I have another problem. My yard is missing grass where the deck
used to be, and the ground is not high enogh everywhere. So I bought
a 40 pound bag of topsoil.

I opened it and it's black, but the rest of my dirt is dark brown or
light brown. I put a little down and it looks bad. Do they sell
brown topsoil too?

I thought it would be dry like a big powder, but I guess it got wet
inside somehow, and now when I use a 4 inch putty knife, it cuts like
fruit cake. Is it ever going to get powdery? So it isn't totally
clumped, so it has no clumps that don't break up when I hit them, and
I can just pour it out, and mix it with other dusty dirt?

I only paid 1.23 for 40 pounds. That seems cheap, even for dirt. (The
last time I bought some was 20 years ago.) Is there more expensive,
better topsoil? (not counting miracle-grow that's 7.50 a bag and say
it has nutrients that will last for 4 months.)

Thanks.