My husband and I just re-did our landscaping out front a week ago and have made a big mistake. Because we have had slow growth in these beds, my husband bought many bags of a 3-in-1 compost mix (Scott's brand -- made of compost/cow manure). He had us use it just like soil, i.e., we dug holes, put in a couple of inches compost underneath roots of all the new plants, then filled the holes around the plants with compost. Now, one week later the areas around each plant is totally soggy. I see on the directions (which I wish I would have read!!!!!) that we should have mixed the compost with the existing soil. The climbing jasmine is dropping flowers like crazy, and I don't know how the rest will fair. We planted a japenese red maple tree, a weeping cherry tree, leather leaf sedge, little henry shrubs, hosta and pixie lilies.

Is there anything we can do now to salvage this mess????

Julie and Hubby,

Ouch s about all that can be said until others,with more knowledge that I,come to your rescue.

1] How long ago did ya'll do this?
2] You said that you placed the 3 in 1 under the roots. You may have damaged the root systems.
3] You said soggy. Too much water and being soggy has cut the air off to the roots.
4] Can you reverse the steps you took and remove what you can and replace it with new soil?

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ZIP
[The Alamo City]

I have seen the 3 in 1 compost mix from Scotts as well. I question if it really is compost or something else like the Scotts lawn fertilizer. I will never use any Scotts product after Ashton Richey refused to come back on Howards program to discuss what is really in his fertilizer. I believe he knows there are nasty chemicals that hurt our environment and that Howard is correct in what he says about Scotts products. I even refused to buy a new Scotts fertilizer spreader and settled for a cheaper one with a different brand name.
Sorry it is hard to give up that soap box that says 'Totally Organic'

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Greg...
Converting one person at a time to Organics, the only way to go!! [ ME ]