Thanks, Mike. Tell Dale I said Hi! The tractor is open to ground on the bottom. The condition of my backyard is such that there is Not Much Grass anywhere. I don't think a few brown patches will matter. My mom runs a chicken ranch, with about 200 birds loose in the barn yard. One of the biggest reasons that my chickens stay confined! I already got a boot scraper. I rake a day after the tractor has moved, and I have been running a pretty big compost heap since we moved in. I also use pine shavings and cover any 'deposites', whether in the nest box, or on the ground. When I rake, I'm pretty vigorous at removing 'deposites'. I do have a few revisions to do. I gave them a dowl, not realizing that their feet don't grasp and that they would be much happier with a 2x2 for a roost. We are fixing that in the coming days. Where I am, it doesn't rain. We get MAYBE 10 inches a year if we hold our mouth right... Since I only have a handful of chickens, I don't feed large amounts of table scrapes, I'm figuring out what they will and will not eat. At first I only give a nibble. If two are interested, they might get a half cup of whatever. If all five come out and fight, they might get a cup. This ensures that by nightfall, most all of it is gone. I have found that my regs limit me to 12 hens, (TWELVE!) and I can get four turkey hens or geese or 12 rabbits on top of that!!! I won't get rabbits as I am highly allergic. But I was pretty impressed I can have 7 more girls! I'm not cultivating grass in my back yard. For the most part, if it wouldn't be totally a muddy mess for 2 months and a dust bowl the rest of the time, I would strip it down to dirt. More room for Sans, Brugs, and tomatos!!! Thanks Mike.

No, not likely helpful adding anything to the seed starting mix. Nutrients needed to germinate are already stored within the seed. What you need to provide is moisture, the right temperature, light if appropriate. Additional fertilizer isn't necessary until after the first couple of pairs of true leaves have grown out, you can cautiously add some then, typically mixed to about 1/4 the strength the directions on the package label of your product indicates. At what point to you think your prior issues have taken place, are you having trouble achieving germination, growing the seedlings on once they've germinated...someone here can help if you give more information.

Some of my most beautiful pools have no decking and some of my most user friendly pools have lots of decking and are equally beautiful. This is a question only the buyer can answer. Typically when I do a no decking pool we place cut rock slabs in an area near the steps. I purchased a truckload of slabs last month for the next one that comes up. These are rock slabs which measure mostly 8' to 12' by 4' to 8' and are 3" thick. We cut the sides to match and place them with about a 2 to 4" space in between for grass. In essence they act as a deck. Personally, I'd never have a pool at my house with only grass or with small pieces of rock (less than 2'+- squared) set in crushed granite or aggregate around it. The small rock look in crushed stone is best served as a nature trail on an acreage lot or for sidewalk down the side of a house leading from the front to the rear at a regular homesite. I think your pool will be awesome no matter which way you go. See ya, Kelly

This is so typical of how oil based paint looks after some time...with the cracking everywhere. You can fill gaps with paint sometimes if they are small gaps, but really the caulk is going to hold up better long term.