Last year, I tried lasagne garden, but apparently had too much grass and everything was dying so I had to remove some of the grass. It was not a good year.

What can I do to the soil to finally enjoy a nice garden. Oh, one more thing, one of my garden is close to a pine tree. Does that make any difference?

There is no different if your garden is close to a pine tree. Plants dry up can have many reasons, such as:
- Soil pH is not suitable for kind of flowers.
- Soil struc is too tight (clay) so flowers can not develop strong roots to get water.
- Soil is waterlogging and damage to flower roots to get water.
- Your flowers may prefer shade plant, they are not suitable for planting in areas with direct sunlight.
- Soil is lack of humus and does not hold water well.

You need to check to know the exact cause.
To reduce weeds, you can try using the chips, use a canvas fill up on your flowers bed then punched to grow into. This will limited the weeds, and keep the soil moist. You can also try stripping drip system to irrigate flowers too.

Good luck.

Plants will need water.......this is just an indisputable fact of plant life :-) And the amount of water can vary widely depending on a whole host of factors - the weather, the type of plant(s), when they were planted, the influence of the pine tree, light conditions, the soil type, any mulch covering, etc. I may be making an assumption here, but "constantly running around giving this one water and that one water" doesn't sound like a very efficient method :-) Have you tried a soaker hose/drip irrigation or even using an overhead sprinkler to thoroughly water the area when you do water? Water must penetrate the soil down through the root zone thoroughly to be sufficiently drawn up and absorbed by the plant roots. A watering can or a light sprinkling with the hose is not gonna cut it!

Lloyd

Then you can enjoy your garden without running around watering.

There is no different if your garden is close to a pine tree.
Some of the garden is right below the tree. These trees are pretty tall, so there is not issue with lack of shade. In general, most of the plants there have not reached their 2/3 year potential.

Plants will need water
True, but my issue is the daily watering.

Water must penetrate the soil down through the root
True, as well. I think this is the main problem. Water is not penetrating down to the root of the plant.

Either a drip irrigation system or a filtered garden hose
This sounds like a good idea. What's a filtered garden hose and would a drip irrigation system kill the water budget?

Soil is lack of humus and does not hold water well
Highly possible. How could I remedy this? Actually this is what I was thinking. I think the soil is ng. In the past I have tried to add grass, leaves etc and it has gotten better, just isn't doing it fast enough for me. What are some other options to improve the soil? How do I get great soil without breaking the bank?

Do you mix the compost and the mulch into the soil? Or do you just spread it on top of the existing soil?

"I am constantly running around giving this one water and that one water".
Do you deeply water the flower bed all at once? Easiest thing to do. Or literally run around watering individual plants when they wilt? You might water the whole area well and see what happens.

Do you have clay soil? (When I see GA, I think "clay"). If so, clay should hold water pretty well for a while, unless it's not really watered well in the first place...

Or could you be overwatering now? That will kill off a plant faster than lack of water.

Keep in mind too, that some plants will just wilt in very hot weather. If you ignore it, the plant might look fine by evening when temps start falling. My hydrangeas do that all the time but I don't give them water every time they wilt.

Karen

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

A soil lacking sufficient amounts of organic matter can make keeping enough water in the soil difficult. The water may not penetrate deep enough in clay soils or may move through sandy soils too fast. A good, healthy soil should not need daily watering, even in Arizona in July.

Get a soil test.
Definately

... soil under your pine tree might well be quite dry and acidic and not the best for growing flowers and herbs.
True, so that means that I am going to have to move everything to another bed. Wanna give me a hand? BTW, is it too early to start moving these plants?

Some blueberry bushes might thrive there
Great idea. I already 2 plants. I'll take cuttings this fall and plant more. What else can I plant there, besides azaleas and rhododendrons?

In my zone this would be about the worst time to move plants around. But with that said, if the plants are doing horribly where they are, moving might save them. Do some google searching about preventing/curing transplant shock to help with the transition.

It is often difficult to garden in close proximity to pines or other large conifers. Large trees produce a lot of roots and these roots out-compete smaller plants for both soil nutrients and available soil moisture. And if the trees have been in place for many years, often the soil immediately surrounding them is relatively depleted in nutrients anyway. There is also often a shade factor to consider as well.

The bottom line is your plants are struggling because they are not getting what they need in terms of adequate moisture and nutrients. Deep periodic watering and a good organic mulch should help.

Unless they are annuals or planted in containers, daily watering is usually not necessary. Even in my area of recurring summer drought, a weekly watering of any established planting beds is all that is required. Less frequent but deeper watering will encourage plants to develop deeper root systems and therefore be less thirsty. A good mulch layer around the plants will conserve soil moisture and prevent evaporation and if the mulch is something nutrient-rich - like compost - it will continue to provide nutrients to the soil and the growing plants.

It would seem like the competition for moisture is great. I think the easiest thing to do would be not to fight the pine. (after all they were there first, plus they're bigger than me and the existing plants) The pines seem to be winning anyway. As time permits, I will slowly move some of my favorites to their new home. Some of these plants, I've only planted this spring so the shock shouldn't be too bad. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I'll probably leave the common ones such as the Black eye Susans and some others in place. How's that for a plan?

Research the plants you have and see what conditions they need. To reduce watering issues, group those that require frequent watering together and those that need less separately. And do mulch.....it will help a lot.

I am impressed with your knowledge of plants

Thanks, but it is nothing out of the ordinary......I've been gardening for a very long time and as a horticulturist, it IS what I do for a living. Me knowing about plants is like a doctor knowing about anatomy - it is a professional requirement :-)

:)

Selecting a plant that grows well in the conditions that you have is much easier than trying to amend soil to create a condition for a particular type of plant.