We moved to our neighborhood five years ago, and our front yard was badly neglected. There's a spot in the yard where we're certain a tree had grown, but nothing will grow in this spot. The bare patch has been spreading over the years across the yard . Lots of weeds and dirt now. We're guessing someone poisoned the stump and the poison has leached into the soil. We want to begin an organic program - any advice on what we should do? We're organic newbies!

I'd suggest going down to your closest branch of the Plano public library and checking out a few of Howard's books on organic gardening, lawn care, etc. I've checked out books from the Schimelpfenig branch in the past.

As for the "dead spot," you may want to get a soil sample to be analyzed.

I have another theory. To test it you should dig in the center of the spot to see if there is evidence of a stump. Evidence would be pure wood chips and/or lots of big roots. The problem with the stump theory is that it should not be a problem that spreads.

My thought is that someone used that area to saw treated lumber. Treated lumber sawdust will leave a spot for a looooong time. I made that mistake in the mid 1990s and that spot is just now beginning to refill.

This is just a theory. Dig a hole to check.

This happened to me when I first moved into my 1st. house 20 years ago,I went a different way I dug up the soil all around the area,about 6 inches down,threw that soil away,and then bought a good soil mixture and put down sod and watered.It's been 20 years now and it's hard to figure out where it was.