Hello, I am building three backyard raised beds, 4'x7' each, for growing some vegetables and herbs, and also planting echiums and different Ceanothuses (California lilac) in front of the house. The soil is very hard: partly because of the drought, but mostly because it's what looks like clay. When digging holes for plants I had to use a crowbar. With a crowbar, the soil breaks into big chunks and barely soaks any water. Please see the pictures: [ATTACH]71352[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]71353[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]71354[/ATTACH] Was wondering about the type of this soil, is it anything close to sandy loam? Can I improve this soil by breaking it and adding a good fraction of compost, or potting soil, or potting mix? Or should I just remove the current soil and fill the beds and holes with potting soil from the landscaping yard? Would appreciate any comment or reference. Best wishes, h.

I don't know if this is the correct area to post this question...but here goes. We have 3 large trees in our back yard that we are considering cutting down. Two of the trees (1 cedar 1 fir) are so close together (less than 2') that they would both have to come down. The other is a cedar is 14' away. That is the one I would like to leave standing if we could. That tree has always been blocked by the wind by the other two trees. I'm not sure if we would be undermining the root system of that tree if we cut the other two down. That, and the fact that it would then be exposed to any high winds that we may get. Any opinions on this?