Expert Advice on Home Improvement TV Host of Emmy®-Nominated Today's Homeowner® and home expert for The Weather Channel

Creating great soil is like making good lasagna according to Florida landscaper Rachel DeToro. It’s all about layers. Not pasta and cheese. Organic material on top of organic material.

The potassium in wood ashes encourages strong stems in plants while the phosphorus in the ashes encourages root growth. Soils low in potassium often benefits from wood ash but be careful with acid-loving plants such as blueberries, rhododendrons and azaleas. To use wood ash safely, add a small amount to your compost pile.

Even the most novice gardeners know the benefits of using compost in their gardens, but nobody wants to look at a compost pile. One solution is a pre-fab compost bin made of plastic.

Choosing the right fertilizer for your lawn can be a confusing proposition. The Turf Expert Dr. Trey Rogers tells us it doesn’t actually have to be that way. According to Trey, your local garden center usually selects only what you need in your area for that given time of year.

Dr. Trey Rogers, Briggs and Stratton Yard Doctor, gives us some great tips for applying fertilizer. If possible, use a broadcast spreader instead of a drop spreader. This minimizes the chances of leaving lines in the lawns.

As a gardener, mulch can be one of your greatest allies. This often-neglected stuff maintains soil moisture and temperature while blocking the growth of weeds around plants you do not want.

To keep seedlings healthy and growing feed them gelatin. Any flavor is okay as long as it’s sweetened with sugar - not artificial sweeteners. The gelatin contains the nutrient nitrogen, which helps plants form green leaves. The sugar actually feeds beneficial microbes already in the soil that help young plants defend against disease causing organisms.

The fist step to getting the soil in your garden right is figuring out what you have. There are three types of soil: clay, sand and loam. Clay is comprised of very fine particles that pack together very tightly allowing very little water to drain out and making it difficult for roots to dig in.

Dissolve an aspirin in a cup of tea for a perfect “perk” for your plants. All soil has a Ph rating ranging from 1 to 14 with 7 being neutral, and this cup of tea is great for plants such as camellias, azaleas and orchids because it will raise the level of acidity in the soil giving the plants exactly what they need.

Few of us are blessed with the perfect soil for our lawns and gardens. If yours is the rocky variety, here’s a great solution. Take a section of metal hardware cloth (available at home centers with ½” or ¼” holes) and cut a section slightly larger than your wheelbarrow.