What's under there?

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mass_burner

Minister of Fire
Sep 24, 2013
2,645
SE Mass
So, I'm trying establish english ivy/japanese crawler in our driveway border that's elevated and can't be mowed. It's taking fine, but there is a 2x2 spot that ivy or the crawler won't grow in. I dug it up before and removed a football size stone, filled it with soil and replanted. But it stll wont grow, the japanese crawler is now struggling, where is fine in the rest of the plot.

Have I found the portal to an evil underworld?
 
Answer: No. The portal to the Underworld is located in your woodstove when the secondary combustion kicks in. You may see Ol' Beelzebub at that point.
 
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At the top of the bed is a Japanese Andromeda. Bed is bordered by grass.
Allelopathy? Anything else growing in the area?

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When you refilled the hole with soil, did you use new soil? Could there be something in the soik?
 
I had a spot in my yard once like this. I kept digging until I found a half full can of PVC glue buried there. I guess it was there from when they built the house. I remember we had a place in a yard when I was growing up that would never support any plants. Local lore was that a salt truck had spilled a load there.
 
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Our yard developed a patch that stayed this way for years. It was from diesel fuel spilled when they were can fueling equipment.
 
i have 6 spots in perfect circles that are in my front yard like this.... the grass made it for a little bit, but now they are back to being dead round circles. I blame the aliens.
 
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When they remediate contaminated soil, oflen they dig it up and send it through a rotary kiln to burn off the volatile contaminants. When I find spots like this, I dig it out 6-12" down, and spread it in my fire pit. I fill in the hole with dirt from a different spot in the yard, with a few inches of topsoil on top. Then I collect grass in my bagger when I'm mowing and mulch with a couple inches of fresh clippings.
 
Periodically, I dig a few inches of soil in the bare spots and mix in potting soil/mulch. It's not getting worse. A few ivy vines are starting to take root, so I guess that's good



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Seems to be filling in now, I added a few of the low growing Andromeda type plants that are mixed in like the other bed opposite the driveway.

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