It's true. Good soil absolutely means lusher growth, less fertilizing, fewer pests, and stronger plants.

My neighbor, Chris McDaniel, found this out when he decided to redo the foundation planting in front of his house. His kindly builder had stripped away every ounce of original topsoil, then generously applied a compacted layer of red clay subsoil over the entire yard. Plastic plants might have done okay in that stuff, but it's safe to say the living ones wouldn't be living for long.

Chris wanted to yank out all the old, scraggly plants and start over that summer. I convinced him to wait until fall. It is an ideal time for planting in most of the South, because while plants stop growing up top, down below they're still working on roots. By the time next spring rolls around, they have a head start on trees and shrubs planted in spring.

When starting out with awful soil, you have three options--dig out and replace the original soil (which can be both time-consuming and expensive); build raised beds filled with new soil atop the original soil; or improve the original soil. Chris and I chose the last option.