Jeeze, MeMo, what a rotten thing to have to do. I've been debating whether to say this, because I don't want you to feel worse about the situation, but it's hard to see how a foot of dirt, more or less, is going to do much toward keeping the house warm. I think you would get a lot more bang for the buck out of adding 2 inch slabs of Styrofoam (or even 1 inch if money is tight) to the outside of the crawl space walls. That would cover any cracks and add some real insulation value. The foam can be covered with some gray acrylic goo that looks pretty much just like concrete when it dries. Dryvit is one brand, but there are lots of others. Look up EIFS online. With a one foot crawl space, I can't see this costing a whole lot of money, and you wouldn't have to move your gardens. There may be some reason this won't work, but from here it seems like a good idea. You didn't say so, but I'm guessing and hoping that your insulation man has some ideas for the attic and maybe inside the walls that will help even more than crawl space fix. Generally you will lose a lot more heat from the top of your rooms than the bottom. I hope it's been OK that I've said this. I'm just concerned that you might not be getting the best advice from your people. And I really don't want you to have to move all those plants! ThinMan

For 8 years, I grew tomatoes right against the east side of a west-facing brick house. So at best the plants had 6 hours of direct morning sun -- and a lot less in the spring and late summer. Growth was adequate, all things considered. Several years ago there was a GW member in MN whose yard was quite shady due to neighbors' trees, and the sunniest areas were all under 6 hours. IIRC, he grew tomatoes in large pots which he set wherever there was the most sun. I don't remember if he moved the pots over the course of the summer. He did get fruit. Afternoon sunlight is always stronger than morning sun, so you might want to take that into consideration in deciding where to put your tomatoes. (I don't know why that is, but I've learned the hard way that plants advertised as "partial sun" will die if the sunny part of the day is the afternoon!)

*chuckles* ... "yard worker"??? when was it declared non-PC to call Mexicans, Mexicans? Oh, I get it. You must be one of the fabled "job creators" that is mentioned so often in the evening brainwash sessions 'round these parts. pardon my engrish. Gardeners are yard workers, and gardening is yard work. Gardening is universal in this earth and feeds both rich and poor. It don't matter who you think you are really. You should heed the advice given by others more subtle than moi and get your little paws dirty and dig down the dirt and determine how much moisture is reaching out to the roots of the plant. It should feel moist, not wet. Yeah, dirt and compost is smelly and yucky, but that is what plants use to make food. Even with my multiple health problems and crippling back pain I look forward to get down and dirty with my yard work and tend to my plants my self. If you'd rather keep your hands clean and manicured, then heed the advice of the yard worker and check for those weeds down there. I think it's the American thing to do that European-Americans pay yard workers for work that you refuse to do. Or you can round up a couple of yard workers and put them in a shack in the back 40 and feed them some food, and have them pick cotton for you from sunrise to sunset. Healthcare would be optional, of course. Just like the olden days when European settlers 'worked' the land back in, oh 1850's? At least old-time Euros were not squeamish about dirt. How's your royalty checks coming along these days? Grandpapi sure was nice giving you that piece of land down south fertilized with oil. Must be nice. Back to reality, gardening can be frustrating, but when you finally see those veggies on your table, it gives you a sense of accomplishment and connection to the earth like no other thing you can buy. I do not think the cardboard was an issue. Maybe you should have poked some small holes in it like another gardener suggested. But if your yard 'workar' mentioned to you that there was something still alive back there, you should follow his advise and pay to have the raised beds moved to a weed free area or replace the card board bottom. One layer should be good to go.

moccasin - those are some nice lights! i can see why you like them. I bet they're more than 20-30 $s each tho... I loved that the globes come in colors... I'd stay away from the red tho. OTOH that could be good for an emergency signal to a neighbor. I'm too poor to pay much for the lights - even if I find a SWern one i like it's sure to be more than 30.00 and I think I should limit it to that. I need 3 - plus a few (plus) inside need replaced based on they are UGLY. I found these 2 at lowe's. both plain but would do the job - cheaply. it'll probably be the first one unless I find something better for the price in the store. around 25.00 with clean lines. I'd have to see how my chubby little fingers fit for changing the bulb. it's better I don't have to mess with those little screws and chance dropping the globe since things seems to jump out of my hands. I remember changing bulbs in the screw on globe type yrs ago. max wattage is 100w this one is about 21.00. I like it, again clean, simple lines - this one has a frosted globe. has the little screws tho and max wattage is 60w.