| Franklin, "The two big problems I have with gardenin' here is not enough direct sunlight...the best area maybe gets five hours direct...and real sandy soil." I consider our sandy soil a blessing. It drains well, breathes plenty of air to the plant roots, is very easy to work, and responds well to soil amendments such as compost. As for the trees, are they your trees? If so, it should be OK for you to cut them down. I had exactly the same tree/shade problem with our garden and for the last year I have been methodically felling trees that shaded the garden. I now have over twice as much sun in the garden as when I first started, and the felling continues. I think I may complete the tree felling project this year. Many of the trees were dangerously close to the house and garage, so I had to control where they fell with nylon ropes attached high in the trees. I use up to four ropes on a tree. When the ropes were new they had a breaking strength of 1200 pounds each. Today, after a year of heavy use, that is probably closer to 800 pounds each. Still, 3200 pounds of force applied 30 to 50 feet up in the tree has a lot of power of persuasion. And of course I cut the felling notch so that the "hinge" is aimed in the direction I want the tree to fall. Several large oaks overhung the garden so that it was impossible to keep them from falling into the garden, so I waited until after harvest last fall and felled them into the garden. Up until that time I had been felling trees with an eight-dollar 24-inch bow saw, but with a lot of big oaks lying in the garden, I purchased a good chainsaw to cut them up into firewood and clear the garden for planting this last spring. That would have taken forever with the bow saw. I now use the chainsaw for most of my tree felling because it goes much faster and easier. But there are still special situations when I use the bow saw. When the bow saw blade gets dull, I purchase another blade at Sears. I don't think it is practical to sharpen a bow saw blade. They are expendable, like razor blades. MM | 
