Some good news is you never need to rototill in preparation for a lawn. In fact that is the worst thing you can do. Start now to get into good lawn habits. Here they are... Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in Las Vegas your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it. Too little is better than too much. At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide. Seed in the early fall. Is shade an issue? If not then Kentucky bluegrass is the type of grass that will spread to fill in holes and thin spots. But it does not grow in shade. In shade you'll need fescue. Hence the sun/shade seed mix. Fescue does not spread like KBG. If you can get a seed with no rye in it, I would take that over one with rye. Rye can be beautiful but for beginners it can trick you into making a mistake at the outset. Rye does not spread either. For a rental you can get your seed at any box store. Seed from there comes with weeds but who cares? You'll get your deposit back anyway even with a few weeds.

Trying to picture snow... Nope it just melted. lol Congrats on your new home! I don't blame you for being anxious. I've been thinking about what I want to plant next year even though I'm struggling to keep everything watered right now in this crazy heat. I just checked your trade page and it's still blank. You need to get your want-list going. It might encourage me and others to go out and collect seeds rather than letting the birds get them.

The only way it could work is if you pruned the plant to a single stem. So why sacrifice all that tomato production just to use this particular staking system? Dave Here is a link that might be useful: clickable link

go into the backsplash first, maybe like on a seperate square foot piece of wood for practice. Mosaicing is pretty straightforward, but I still think it's smart to do a sample to get the hang of it. Also, beach glass can be tricky since the shapes vary so much, and the look changes when you can't see through it (which you won't be able to do for your backsplash). Also, you might try asking this same question on the kitchen forum (or maybe you already have?). I think it's a great idea and would love to see a picture when you're done!