I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy prescreened fir bark for the gritty mix, and the pine bark I buy for the 5:1:1 mix has never been so fine I need to screen some of the dust out - IOW, I wouldn't find need to screen the bark for the 5:1:1 mix unless it was because it was too coarse. I usually find, with the bark I get, that I need a little peat for moisture retention, but if I had PBFs on hand from screenings, I'd use that up instead of the peat. If I had a LOT of fine screenings, I'd use them to topdress anything I have growing - the gardens/ beds/ lawn .... I like coarse seed starting mixes because I don't want to start seeds in a soil I wouldn't grow in, and roots simply grow much better in a well-aerated medium. I usually sprinkle seeds on top of either the 5:1:1 or gritty mix and keep the medium moist. Sometimes, I'll cover seeds in the 5:1:1 with a little peat, or seeds in the gritty mix with Turface screenings. Frequently, I've used an over-turned pot on top of the seeds to lock moisture in but still allow some air circulation via the drain hole. Al

Stone dust is also known as sand. You should be fine. It will be different from other parts of the lawn. I prefer to use sand as fill in my yard. You can clearly see where I put the sand because the grass is doing excellent there while it struggles elsewhere. I would strongly suggest using organic fertilizer for awhile on that part of the yard. That will help build up organic matter in the soil. My favorite for this year is alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. You can buy it in 50-pound bags at your local feed store for under $15.

I have a flagstone patio about 15' x 10'. The spaces between the stones are filled with dirt and weeds, and I'm planning to dig out some of the dirt and replace it with stone dust. The stone yards sell it by the ton/cubic yard, or in fractions thereof. I have no idea how to figure out how much I need. Any suggestions? thanks.

I would try to vacuum the worst of it up before your hardwood guys come. Even though they'll generate some dust (but nothing like I expected, they must use newer machines), you want to try to keep the area as dust-free as possible when it's time for the finish to go down. I recently went through this -- I didn't dust beforehand and saw a lot of bubbles and trapped particles in the finish. I called the floor guys back out to screen & poly (and then I dusted/vacuumed before they came), and the new finish is much better. I don't know if I made the difference giving them a much cleaner room to start with, or if they did a much better job cleaning up the dust before putting down poly (or both), but I'd say why take a chance -- get the worst of it off the counters, other surfaces, and maybe you'll improve your changes of getting a good finish on the floors.