G'day to all! A Chamber of Commerce day here in central Georgia. Been out in the workshop building a table for a farmer friend of mine and starting to get in the short rows with it. The same table on the internet sells for $549 with shipping. Just a token of appreciation for all the help that my life long friends do for me and my family. I am chomping at the bit to get started planting. Corn will probably be the first thing I plant as it can handle a frost and keep on ticking. Yall mentioned earlier about planting cowpeas in the corn. I tried it, but didn't care for it as corn loves nitrogen and peas don't need much of it or you get a lot of vines and not many peas. Plus, my favorite cowpea is Red Rippers and they make a heck of a bush with runners. It gets too 'snakey' to harvest either of them! I live near Eastman, Georgia (Home of Stuckey's candies) and buy my seed at a local home garden center (Chas Mar) as they have a good selection and are reasonably priced compared to ordering from the internet. Soon I will be taking my wife down there to choose the peas and beans she wants me to plant this season. My wife was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, but loves the country. It does my heart good to see her so pleased at looking at the different kinds and making choices. Getting all sloppy now... lol Mr. Brown, I have a friend that lives in Avon Park, Florida (below Orlando) that loves gardening too and wonder if your 'winter home' is near there? George, we should keep quiet about the country life... hee hee We might not be in the country long if the word gets out... Shot

The following is an account of our experience with a company called "Offshore Pools" based in Brick, NJ. We hired them to install a large in ground pool about 8 years ago. Please see my review from about 9 months ago posted elsewhere(and see the update following the review)I will post pictures if possible: "We hired Offshore to build our higher-end pool. They acted like our best friends until they made the sale....after that we were just a number to them. Despite all the proper maintenance, within just a few months the liner began pulling out of the corners. They said it was "normal". We believe the liner was incorrectly installed. A stone "waterfall" from the hot tub section to the main pool developed leaks that caused excessive water loss. The outer wall tiles of the hot tub portion fell off. Worst of all, the concrete patio they constructed developed deep, full-thickness cracks requiring removal and re-pouring of an entire section (at our cost). Now, two other sections have also developed similar large cracks. Three years after they built the pool, the township called us and informed us that Offshore never obtained a permit and we were threatened with a fine. We had to call Offshore and demand that they remedy the situation. No explanation or apology was forthcoming. The last straw was calling them several times in the spring of 2011 to schedule repairs and an opening. No call-back. No response. No service. I will never give them my business again and would strongly recommend that others avoid this company as well. There are other, better pool companies out there. It just takes some research and face-to-face discussion with the owners to weed out the incompetent and the negligent ones. Good luck. See my other reviews for my recommendation." UPDATE 6/16/2012 We are currently in the process of having the concrete repaired by a more reliable pool company. When the new contractor removed the concrete poured by Offshore no reinforcing wire mesh to strengthen the material. As a result, according to our new contractor, the concrete developed horrendous full-thickness fractures and heaved so much that there are now areas where the concrete is cracked and lifted 2 or more inches and others where the concrete has sunken. In addition, the paver coping was found to have no significant concrete footing (see photo)and as a result the coping pavers became undermined and had absolutely no support and sunk down. The cement joints between the coping pavers separated and the pavers began to slant downward and then to sink. Thirdly, Offshore failed to construct or to even recommend a French drain that should have been placed in order to divert ground water away from the pool area. The current contractor tells us that such a drain would have likely prevented the above problems to a large degree. In summary, our current contractor told us that the structural problems we are experiencing are a direct result of the failure to use reinforcing wire mesh, failure to place a concrete footing under the coping and failure to construct(or to recommend)a French drain to divert ground water away from the pool area. As noted above, several prior attempts to get Offshore to respond to this situation were unsuccessful. Our calls were not returned. The repair to our pool is costing us $10,000. We would advise avoiding Offshore Pools at all costs.

Just a quick update: I suppose this weather in northern NJ is really helping me out... warm, sunny days and cool nights. I seeded Sunday and have been watering 4 times daily: 9:30, 12, 2:45 & 4:45 for about 3 minutes each. A nice misting - enough to keep the soil dark. Wednesday morning I noticed a few blades popping up... Just a few scattered throughout. Didn't want to get my hopes up. Yesterday, quite a few more. This morning, no question that the seeds are popping. Still scattered but looking like a crew-cut from the 50's. A few leaves have fallen on spots (very dry here) so I can expect some scattered bare spots but I'm not complaining. Feeling very fortunate. Will snap a pic once a little more length can be seen. Once again, thank you all for your input and help

You have henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) and chickweed (Stellaria media). Both are very common cool season annual weeds that should be quite easily removed manually. Or if growing in a lawn, addressed by any broadleaf weed herbicide for lawns. The best preventative is a lawn that is thick and healthy enough to outcompete them and to never allow the weeds to flower and set seed.