The county agent can give you a box in which you put a sample of your soil and you get back an analysis of it and what you need to add. Just call your county extension office.

Sorry about the accidental edit, I posted my answer in your post.

If you're growing fruits and veggies, I highly recommend EarthBox. Back in the day, when I owned a house in an area with hungry hungry deer, I used EarthBoxes for my tomatoes and cucumbers, and I always had an awesome crop. I put them on my deck so the deer couldn't get at them.

Also, I forgot to mention azaleas! They are low-maintenance and do well in shade. They flower in May in the Northeast, possibly earlier in TN.

Pay a professional.

Fun fact: two of my nieces count as “professionals”

Additional Fun Fact: my degree is in biology but I weaseled out of botany at the last minute

I’m kind of like an unintentional mass murderer of plants. But good luck to you.

fun fact: I have a Ph.D. in horticulture with a minor in botany but I hardly admit it online because then people start sending me photos of sick plants to diagnose or weeds to identify. I taught it on the college level for years but now I teach foreign languages.

Now I know what those soil samples were that we used to ship when I managed a FedEx Office store. I’m not sure if they were soil samples for the same purpose as mine but they were samples we’d ship. They were always from one of the local colleges/universities out here. All of this useful info is in my notes on my phone.

One thing about GC, there’s a lot educated people on here, so at least someone knows something about whatever question one might have. It just takes a thread start about it Lol.

What zone are you in? I am a gardener and live in zone 9. I try to buy mostly native plants for my landscaping as it gets very hot here in Texas and I need drought tolerant plants. I have 2.5 acres and also have 11 raised beds and grow tomatoes, squash (4 types), cucumbers, eggplant, blackberries, dill, basil, parsley and milkweed (I have a large butterfly garden). I usually put shade cloth over the entire garden as it gets very hot. It is suppose to be over 100 for the next week so I will have to water pretty much everyday. I have a well but it dried up last year so I am having to use city water until it fills back up which hopefully, being a La Niña year, will be this fall. There are some great garden videos on you tube-I highly recommend Garden Answer and The Millennial Gardener. Gardening is my passion and if I am not at work I am outside in my garden. Good luck! I find gardening very therapeutic 😊

I’m in central daylight time zone if that’s what you mean. Otherwise, I’m not sure what you mean by zone.

She is talking about plant hardiness zones. The U.S. is divided into zones based on climate, which helps gardeners know which plants are best for their areas. Plants that grow wonderfully in Ohio probably won't be good to plant in Arizona.

Here's a link: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/

Type your zip code in the box on the upper right and a little drop-down box will tell you which gardening zone you are in.

Ok, got it. Mine says 7a, unless I’m reading it wrong.

If you click on the interactive map and then click on your state you can keep clicking to zoom in all the way down to the nearest main road (I didn't click further to see if my street would pop up).

Its weird because where I live there is like this weird small pocket that puts me in 6b, where the surrounding parts of the county where I live and even neighboring counties are 7a. Go figure.

Also with the zones for example if you buy a packet of seeds it will often tell you on the back of the packet when to plant based on the zone you live in.

One other final thought, if you want to buy flowers like daffodils, tulips and others, usually home depot/Lowes will start selling bulbs later summer at least at the stores near me. Those you will plant in the fall for them to bloom in the spring. Just remember if you plant perennials especially flowers wait until the leaves turn yellow/brown before pulling them out, otherwise they won't flower the following year.

Sorry about not explaining the zones😊. Anyways, happy planting! I was just out this morning and almost heatstroked😞, I wish I was in zone 7!

Nice! Thanks for the tips, andthen. I didn’t know that about the seed packages. I’ve been opening them, planting them, and throwing the packages away. Last weekend a lady who lives a couple of miles from where I live - we talked about some garden tips. I was asking her how she keeps her yard weed free. She said she’s got plants that get rid of a lot the weeds which gives her less work to do. She told me I can come back a take a few of her hostas since they’ll spread. Apparently they’re great weed killers. I’m going back this weekend to dig them up and replant them in my yard.
No worries, aggieAXO. I learned something new.