If your garden soil is going to continue to produce for you, it needs to be fed plenty of organic material.Soil life eats and decomposes organic matter, which causes minerals to be released in a form that plant roots can absorb.  In addition to this fertilizing effect, all the organic waste helps the texture of the soil - loosening hard-packed clay or binding loose, sandy soil.  Humus gives the soil its necessary sponge-like texture that allows air circulation and moisture retention.

For these beneficial processes to take place, the life in soil needs fresh fuel, (organic matter).  Without this food, earthworms leave and microbes die, causing nutrients to get locked away by soil particles, unavailable to the plants. Insect pests and diseases then attack the under- nourished and vulnerable plants.  It doesn't help to pour on the I2003 8 PATTERN TELESCOPIC WATERING WAND chemical fertilizers; they don't contribute to a flourishing soil life or spongy soil texture.

Haul in compost, buying it in packaged form or by the yard from nurseries.  Processors in your area (cider mills, canneries, etc.) often have organic material for the taking.  Farms nearby might welcome removal of animal manures: horse, cattle, chicken, rabbit are all good.  Of course, chop garden residues and weeds into the soil after the crop is finished.  Also chop in the hay or straw that was used as mulch.  Gather leaves and lawn clippings and dig them in.

Here's the quickest, least hassle method for taking just about any stretch of soil and turning it into excellent loam.  Grow a cover-crop, or green manure, and simply till it in.  This practice, when done over time, actually replenishes the top-soil instead of removing it with harvested crops. This is a particular benefit for gardeners who are growing food in the same location over a period of years.

In addition to its benefits to soil, there are many good reasons to grow green manure. They help with weed control, bee attraction, and provide a beautiful green cover that keeps the garden looking nice right up to the time snow flies.And while on the subject, "field-stripping" a cigarette (an old military trick intended to avoid detection by the enemy -- or the drill instructor in boot-camp) is just as bad, if not worse. The malady can wreak havoc among many different varieties in a once-healthy garden, causing stunting of plants and a discolored mosaic pattern on the leaves, accompanied by unsightly leaf distortion (puckering).

These prolific bloomers also attract protein for the birds in the way of insects.Nepeta: throw in some catmint and your yard is set with smells only a human could appreciate.These smelly plants offer some soft and bright colors to any yard.They give you texture and offer different heights for backdrops and boarders.

Here are a few plants also shown to be deer/rabbit and woodchuck resistant.Paeonia: peonies, the everyday garden variety never gets munched on does it?Peonies offer up protection for birds to scurry under and a place to get out of the summer sun.Astilbes: astilbes are the backbone to any shady garden. They ad color,texture with the foliage as well as the feathery bloom heads.

Attractive and soothing, astilbes offer seed late in the year if you leave the seed heads on like I do.Asclepias: milkweed or better known as butterfly weed offers up beautiful heads of orange (rare in any garden) that attract butterflies and caterpillars.The milkweed family is toxic, for this reason, birds have learned to leave monarch butterflies and the caterpillars alone and animals wont munch it either.

Aconitum: monkshood is a beautiful flower that offers up nectar and seed for birds. For humans and animals it offers up a very lethal dose of toxins.Very few nurseries tell you just how deadly monkshood is

A few centuries back, monkshood was used for poison darts and to put an enemy to death (a warning for those with little kids).

Animals just seem to know that some plants are dangerous.Stachys: lambs' ears have a soft green gray color that give way to tall spikes of pink flowers.Lambs' ears also offer up a soft downy material used in making certain birds nests.Aquilegia: columbines are famous for being one of the first bloomers in my Michigan garden.