okay so since i have a house now i can GARDEN which is a dream i didn't realize i had until now, so ive been gardening like crazy plus now i live in a zone with a much longer growing season so its not a huge deal that im starting a little late BUT
the ohio soil is fucking clay. And the last person who lived here dug up the garden in front of the house, covered it in black garbage bags to suppress the weeds, and then covered it in mulch but the ugly foundation of the house was showing so i wanted to plant some shrubs asap to cover it up so my wife and i went to the garden store and asked for help and they showed us a bunch of shrubs but i didnt think to ask what kind of soil bc they just told me to mix it with compost and it would be fine BUT I SHOULD HAVE RAKED UP THE MULCH AND PULLED UP THE GARBAGE BAGS AND TILLED THE SOIL AND LET IT DRY BEFORE I PLANTED THE SHRUBS
plus wife was being snotty about it and was like just leave the garbage bags bc they suppress the weeds and i was like wtf no that's stupid like i'm not an experienced gardener so i can't articulate why but i know it's dumb......anyways i already planted some clay soil tolerating native plants and some potted herbs & annuals but i really want to dig up the china holly bushes bc i know they are not going to grow in the dense clay without some serious amendments 😔
i'm giving myself grace bc i'm a beginner and trying not to be frustrated with my wife for being so dismissive about it bc she has been mostly supportive but with a 7 month old baby it has been hard to focus on optimizing the garden.....










