Wow so many different choices to planting in pots and adding soil amendments It’s mind boggling what to do..Ues a I agree totally on the raised beds 🆚 pots..I started with fiber pits this year and want to save the dirt for next year I guess I’ll add my Tomato pots dirt to the raised bed for other veggies with Compost next year and start the Tomato’s next year in new potting soil mix with compost and a little bit of Worm Castings some the price of a 10lb bag is thru the roof these days This is May 30, 2020 I ran into this old post trying to figure out what to do with renewing my Soil of my Tomatoes 5 of them in 15 gallon fiber pot’s Only to learn I can’t reuse any of the Tomatoes dirt again for 2 Years OUCH!! This is going to be expensive growMing Tomatoes in fiber pots I took them out of the raised bed this year Because in 2019 we got so much rain the Tomatoes got diseases and died I even planted my entire garden this year from seed because of that bad season..I wish I could find a cheaper way to reuse the dirt from the tomatoes What if I use the Tomatoes dirt in the fiber pots with fresh compost and grow Kale or Collards etc. In them over the fall and winter or Spinach Lettuce etc. Could I then reuse the soil for the tomatoes by adding a good Compost to the soil with some worm castings?? Thx for any advice if anyone is still following this OP God Bless & Take Care Sheila

Here is a garden under an ash tree in OH in it's even though the garden was just over a year old at the time, from previously being sparse grass. There are hostas, columbine, creeping phlox, Pulmonaria, Bergenia, Trillium, violets, Polemonium (jacob's ladder,) a few bulbs, Lamium, a little lilac, ready to be a tree if the ash got emerald beetle borers (I moved, remains a mystery,) and a few others I don't remember and can't see from this angle. 4" of mulch can retain moisture for weeks. Of your list, I would avoid the Vinca. Just too sprawling/spready to play nice with the other plants. In general, you don't want vines in a flower bed. Entities like Vinca or Ajuga that rapidly spread really do best in their own, well-enclosed space. Spreading through other more self-contained plants, these spreaders can make the whole thing look like a confused mess. But, like most things-gardening, this is subject to your personal opinion on the matter.

I would be interested in trading for all the above plants, also any other aquarium plants you might have to trade. I recently moved and am just starting up my 55 gallon aquarium again and it has no plants. I mainly only have white irises, no named ones except Iris ensata 'Variegata'. I have a few named daylilies back at my old house that I haven't moved yet; 'Rose Red', 'Chorus Line', 'Little Grapette', and 'Ruby Red'. I also have many named land plants to trade but my list is not up to date since I haven't traded any this year because I've been moving. Let me know if you're interested in trading. Dawna Here is a link that might be useful: my trade page

I for one think everyone has had a great comment here, and I would combine the answers into one plan! If this were my yard, I would enlarge that paved area by about three times - at least out to the ac unit and out to the line of the downspout. I think having that paved area (whether it's concrete, stones, pavers, whatever) would just help define the area, and as it stands now that walkway is too tiny and utilitarian. A bigger area will give some definition to the area as an entryway, a sitting area, etc, and look better in scale to the house. Might even be nice to have a pathway connect from that to whatever other path/walkway you have in the yard. I can't tell from the photo if there is already one there or that is just dirt. I have three rain barrels, and love them. I should note that not a one is connected to a downspout, as DH won't hear of cutting into the downspouts, so I can only dream of the abundance of water I'd have if I did! However, even without that, mine do fill up slowly but nicely, and I do use them with watering cans, either dipped in, or under the spigot, as my barrels are on cinderblocks to give just enough height to get a watering can under. These rain barrels help me cut down on my well use, and IMO are a great idea in general in terms of water conservation. I'm not quite sure WHERE you want to put a garden - along the wall where the ac unit is? To the left of the photo where that bag is? Extending it out from the bag to cover that green area? Is that where the moss is? IMO, you can have a garden almost anywhere, if you have the right plant for the spot. I've put in a bog-type garden in an area where it floods every spring, and which sometimes has standing water well into August. Again, it's the matter of the right plant. Determine just how wet this area is, and do your homework researching plants that like that moisture level and the sun levels you have. Amending the soil helps, but do it as nature would - don't try to change the soil there, but enhance it. It will take some trial and error but I'm sure it can be done. There are many plants you can use. As for moss, I too don't understand why some people dislike it so much. I had a friend who I used to help in her garden, and we live in a very wooded area. She had a quite damp yard, and lots of shade and trees, and along the edge of the lawn she had these wide swaths of moss - a good 10 to 15 feet deep from edge of lawn to woods. She tried for years to get rid of it and get grass to grow. I always told her it looked wonderful, it was soft, green, and from a distance who could tell? She was constantly worried about the resale value of not having a lawn (and it's going on a least 25 years that she's been in the house and worrying about this!). The one downfall to moss, IMO, is that it does rake up very easily when you are raking up leaves, so that is a pain. But other than that, if its green and nothing else will grow there (in terms of lawn, not garden), then that is the plant to have there! I don't know. I guess I'm just a big believer in working with nature and not against her. Good luck and keep us posted on your evolving garden! Dee