SteveB wrote:
I have several pines in my back yard. Nothing seems to grow well
among them. Is there any secrets about pines and gardening? ph?
What plants do well in the pine needles? Can the pine needles be
raked occasionally, and kept to a minimum? Are there soil amendments
or chemicals that can be added? I am losing space to the pines. Also, the
pines provide a lot of shade (duh), so which plants would
be pine tolerant AND shade tolerant? Any sites you could provide
that might give me info?

Steve

You have multiple potential problems - some you know about already.

- Big trees have deep and wide roots and suck up water and nutrients at the
expense of other plants.

- Fallen leaves, including pine needles, may alter the pH towards the acid
side, this may or may not be a bad thing.

- Shade, depending on how deep the shade is this reduces the range plants
that will grow there, especially if you want flowers.

- Fallen leaves may form a mat physically inhibiting other plants (this may
be good or bad depending on situation)

- Some trees, including some pines, exhibit allelopathy. That is they
conduct chemical warfare against other plants by producing substances that
inhibit growth or germination of them.

In summary, those pine trees are fighting you in many ways. Some promlems
you can deal with, it's a matter of how hard you want to fight. As a first
step I would find out what species of pine you have and research the degree
of allelopathy that they have to what you want to grow. If they are
chemical fighters your only weapon may be a chainsaw as you will not be able
to keep the needles off everything else.

David