1. Be absolutely sure the soil surface drains properly, is settled (not fluffy), and is P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y level (no little holes or hills). Think "putting green." Bermuda should be mowed at your mower's lowest setting so small surface imperfections result in scalping the grass. Keep the soil moist. Water it every day at least once. This will do two things. First of all it will help sprout weed seeds that you would not have seen under the bermuda sod. Secondly it will help the beneficial microbes living in the soil get established. I know you're wondering about fertilizer. Since you don't have roots to take up the fertilizer, that would be a waste of money and time. Don't fertilize until you have mowed the grass for the second time. After the sod is down, be sure your contractor rolls it down to get good sod-to-soil contact. Roots cannot grow through the air to reach the soil. If they don't roll it down, make a mental note not to use that contractor for anything in the future. Then go out and rent a roller from your local equipment rental or your nursery. Rollers can be filled with water to adjust the weight. All you need to do is push the sod down. 2. I'm an organic guy and have been for years, so I can't help you with this. If you wanted to use corn gluten meal as a preemergent, it goes down when the forsythia are in full bloom in YOUR neighborhood. 3. Check into Lesco brand fertilizers. If you are out in the country you might have to check with a tractor supply store. Feed stores seem to carry other odd brands but not Lesco. Don't even thing of using a fertilizer already mixed with weed control. These are called weed-n-feed. They have an inherent problem with timing. Weeds die best after they have been fertilized. Unfortunately when you apply the two products together, by the time the weeds are growing well enough to take up the herbicide, the herbicide is worn out or washed away. It is FAR better to fertilize with a real fertilizer, then two weeks later spot spray individual weeds with something like Weed-B-Gone. That way you are not spreading unneeded herbicide over the entire lawn. 4. The only place you will get good gardening advice locally is from a nursery that has been around for 10 years. These are usually family owned. It is the owners who have the experience, but remember, they are trying to sell you stuff that you may or may not need. Scotts is DEFINITELY selling stuff you don't need (weed-n-feed is a prime example). Your feed store is the next best bet for information. Or you can search this forum and other Internet forums for "bermuda" and "alabama" for more info.

Hi , It is a datura and I know it's a white one if it survived a winter. There is only 1 sure shot datura that'll grow back over our winters. Up to zone 4 so I've read (with lots of mulching) There are two white datura's. The innoxia and what your neighbor has is probably the Belle Blanche - the hardiest white. I have both whites this year. The innoxia have a very very light purple tinge around the very edge of the white flower just before it opens, the belle blanche has a very very light yellow tinge around it's outmost edge up until just before opening. The annoxia grow no taller than 3' (in my garden and from seed this year) but branch out much wider than the belle blanche, of who's branches tend to prefer up and out equally. My belle blanche have reached 4'+ when you include blooms, and all this in their first year from seeds, not from a big overwintered root. Although the innoxia are very beautifully fragrant, the belle blanche are hardier (my innoxia severely wilted over one evening of a low 40F temp. The belle blanche are as nothing happened which is the same with my brugs up until this date (I live in a zone 6 pocket, but as all pockets go, can easily have a deadly evening of zone 5 low temps anytime through a winter). I'm sure I have my info accurate though, except what is only observation in my own garden (size) and a neighbours experience as I've seen it. The belle blanche are from a root that grows thick in the ground and will come back next spring, though I'd through some mulch on. The annoxia, I doubt they will as there leaves already speak of a tenderness to cold, though I was told they would (an iffy would) for my zone. But the foliage looks horrible right now, which is about 1/2 of it's blooming season, so I'll stick to potting these or not at all. I'd rather have my pots used for the yellow or purple. Mulching will only do the roots good!! Karyn's picture shows you what all brug pods will look like, that's the one thing that pretty much looks the same on them all. The datura's are prickly ball things that I remove most of while they're in flower. Even 1 pod will be more than sufficient, there's dozens of seeds in 1. I don't find any datura easy to grow, more because of not knowing when they're going to germinate. Make sure you let your pod start drying out, though I did get mine from a fresh big fat green one a neighbor gave me of who's returns every year from the root. He says it get's to be a big invasive root, and we're up in a zone 6 pocket of 5. I plan to move my roots around come next spring as the place where the innoxia are is going to be bare. Happy Gardening - Sandy

Now that I think about it, it was actually Home Depot (I updated the post just to clarify). Doh!! It was the one near the Cardinals stadium. gosh me and my bad memory. However I did pick up a few normal sized Fukushu Kumquats that were fruiting back when they had the bigger ones instead of the "patio citrus" types. So far only one has ripened at it was pretty sweet. There are a few more that have yet to ripen on my healthy ones. Though I am most likely going to take this one back for a refund and get a dwarfed mandarin which I remember seeing they had in stock and a lot more healthier/more leaves. This post was edited by kodo2988 on Sun, Dec 23, 12 at 0:31

Tammy, You won't get it the way you want it to look the first year. After this year, you will see how things grow, how they look together, how the spacing works, and make changes. In year two, it will be much better. But then, you have to think about rotating the third year! It never ends, but ENJOY it. But definitely plan on pulling out the peas in May and replacing with either cukes or pole beans. It works out perfectly. And find shady places if you want the chance to have salad greens almost all summer. I tuck mine under the tomatoes and underneath my A-frames on which my cukes and beans are planted. That gets me through until fall planting. Carrots also like it under the tomatoes and I like the way the lacy foliage hides the bare tomato stalks close to the ground. You'll find ways to tuck plants into your spaces to make more room and get the look you want. Marcy