My source for pure manure appears to have dried up, but I've found a closer source for manure. This, however, is mixed strongly with sawdust. I read up that sawdust will leach out the nitrogen of the manure and actually stunt plants unless supplemented with a strong nitrogen source. I went to my local garden store and found that they had no idea what I was talking about and the only thing close to the Ohio State recommended level of 34-0-0 was chemical lawn fertilizer. I was talked into getting some blood meal, good but expensive and only 12-0-0. I decided to use it in a couple of small areas with the lasagna method but to go ahead and get the lawn fertilizer as I have over 60' of fence that I need to improve as the soil appears sterile. I intend to put Virginia creeper along the fence and hope it does get invasive as that would save me money. :) I don't have any problem combining my love for organic gardening with the addition of some chemicals...if in the long run they benefit the soil and are not toxic. It looks like my compost pile is going to get interesting and I've also decided to do some lasagna beds closer to the house for this year until I can get the compost cooked and find and afford the Virgina creeper. Thanks for all your input. This thread is fascinating. Here is a link that might be useful: Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet

Thanks for the replies. Dan ... the dirt was indeed placed directly on the native soil, although calling it "native" might be misleading because it was backfilled against the front porch when the house was built 3.5 yrs ago. The width of the bed is about 6-7', and the distance from the bed surface to the previous surface is probably a couple of feet under the tree. The bed is held in place by a retaining wall about 3' high on one side and the front porch on the other side. I'll try to snap a photo and post it. Ken ... you may be right about the sprinkler, but I didn't want to trust my diligence in watering it so I had dedicated heads put on all of the plantings in the primary landscaping beds ... the head seems to soak the area pretty well, but my wife and I were planning to investigate as you suggested to see if we needed to do something different ... The heads are small adjustable units that spray a continuous wedge-shaped curtain of water ... we have this head placed about 18" from the trunk so that it covers a fairly wide swath around the base of the tree. In the hot season, I run it twice (with a break to allow the water to soak in) every other day ... other times I back it off to every third or every fourth day. The tree is about 30" tall, with a canopy about twice that in one direction and about 3' in the other (it's growing mostly in one direction, which is why we selected it for this area). The trunk is perhaps 2-3" dia, so it's a fairly solid little guy. Thanks again for the feedback ... I still have so much to learn!

Terri, I can offer you my brief history of GG in considerably more harsh site in zone 4: I planted two different groups of Green giant at two different times. In both cases, one up in a windswept filed, the other right down in the swamp directly adjacent to the closely-related native Thuja occidentalis I have growing there. In both cases, these trees took off like a shot. I felt certain I was going to be expanding the Thuja gene pool in that one little area! Silly rabbit....two winters ago, we had severely cold temps. All of the GG's browned up like toast that has been left in the toaster too long. I noticed a bit of life was left in them so left them be for a few months, this all being two summers ago. Finally, I got sick of looking at these ugly things, especially in a place where the native cousin grows with such ease. My saw tells the rest of the story. I think your home is probably somewhat less demanding of a place than my tree farm land in N. Wisconsin. But nevertheless, I feel pretty sure that the cold-hardiness parameters of this cultivar have been overstated. Definitely not hardy enough for where I am. Maybe the same is true where you are. +oM

What color did you paint the walls? For walls or for bedding, I'd go with ivory or light beige, being careful it doesn't look yellow, not stark white. White might make the black furniture look harsher. Even though apple pie always has very good advice.