You first should test your soil.............it needs to be amended.....mulch, old grass, leaves, hay, straw and old cow or horse manure use a cultivator and turn it over........we put about 20 old bales of hay and also lime in a new area that we planted this year. You can even have a spot where you put your clippings and yard waste....no meat or bones.....but some even add some sand to the mix....depends on what is in your soil before you amend it. When we did soil samples, we found out we need so much lime...we were told that we could never over do the lime because this was part of a glacier years ago.