Pat and Jim's Gardening Adventure: I always thought it was the squirrels

soil and climate

Our yard is clay. Clay, clay and more clay. Clay all the way to the center of the earth. The people at the conservation district told us that " we're at the wrong end of the glacier". I nodded the nod of the intimidated and have repeated it ever since. We are true belivers in sweet peet and work in 15 yards every spring. Our back yard faces north and is a good 6 feet lower than the house. Most of the back yard is moist year round. Except for the north east corner, the yard is under shade or partial shade. The front yard is mainly sunny. We are in zone 5b.