Your comments tend to stimulate and help organize my thinking on this project, even if they seem to have no connection with where I'm headed. It is hard to directly address any particular post because of the flood of thought each one stimulates. I considered a piece of raw land and then putting up a 900 +/- sqft abode. I have spent a great amount of time living and working in the bush. I do not want to park there permanently. It is not as Idylic as many people seem to think. If you opt for one of the villages it gets even more complicated. If it is convenient to the city and its amenities, it usually has too many restrictions or is a parcel with too many problems for realistic consideration. With other factors figured in also, it seems that I'm being directed to locate in one of Anchorage's older neighborhoods. I envision it as a reclamation project, returning it to something like its original condition, EXCEPT in a more park like setting. I enjoy the fall colors of the blue berry brush, high bush cranberry, Canadian Dogwood, Bear Berry, etc., as well as the summer succession of ferns and wild flowers. I am aware that the vision is much grander than reality will allow. But, nothing ventured nothing gained. My area is a modified marine climate. Summer days are long. Around here, they reach 19 to 19-1/2 hrs. at summer solstice. The sun is not intense though. And, many days are lost to overcast. I find that the sweetest blue berries are the ones that get the most sun. The story may be different in the interior, say around Fairbanks, where the days are even longer, warmer and with less overcast. After I threw the last of my kids out of the door, I swore that I'd never own a vehicle with room for more than 2 people, a lawn mower or a snow shovel. So far, I have kept that promise and intend to continue doing so. Plus, I am activly busy with things I'd rather be doing than mowing lawn in the summer: getting outdoors, out of town and out of sight of anyone else. I have other priorities. I guess I've ranted enough for now. I've been down with a cold this weekend, so I've had time on my hands to kill. I'm healing up and life will be getting busier beginning tomorrow. I'll try to get back at least one more time. But, I feel the nudging of things that need to be done will eventually take precedence. For those that might like to look. My photo album: http://mr-correll.t15.org/ Take care folks.

I couldn't find a write up by dchall, besides bing an organic furu, he does an excellent lawn seeding write up. If you're interested in a slightly different take, do a sight search for "dchall" and check some of his seeding advice. This one is by tiemco, he is a seed and soil guru, and this is one of the best seeding step by steps: ":RE: The order of rehabing a fescue lawn Posted by tiemco 6ct (My Page) on Mon, Aug 20, 12 at 21:56 Well I seem to do a write up every year regarding this, so here goes. When you kill everything and start fresh it's called a renovation. To do it correctly, one usually starts with a soil test in the spring to give you enough time to add amendments to bring your deficient macro and micro nutrients up to a good level. You said you are adding lime. Is this due to a low pH, or is it just something you generally do? Are you using calcitic or dolomitic? Anyway, lime should be added either way before or way after seeding, say a month at the least. It will take a while for lime to dissolve, and if you apply it at seeding you can get interactions with starter fertilizer and the very top layer of soil can have a much higher pH than you want. So if you are going to lime, either do it now, or wait till a month or two after you seed. For Round-Up to work its best, the grass and weeds need to be actively growing. Watering a few times a week prior to applying Round-up and after applying will make it more effective. Once you notice the grass starting to die, usually in 4-7 days, you will want to mow it as low as you can before it lays down. Once it's down, it's a lot harder to mow. Many people allow a period of fallowing at this point, applying water to get any dormant grass to reanimate, and any rogue weed seeds to germinate. If you aren't going to fallow, that's fine, it's optional. So now you have a brown lawn, and the soil should be fairly moist from the waterings. The next step that I like to do is power rake, especially if you have thatch, or the soil is obscurred by dead grass. TTTF seeds are pretty big, and they can have trouble getting to the soil if thatch is an issue or you have a lot of dead grass matted down. You can skip this step if you want, it's optional, but I like to do it. It also loosens up the top inch or so of soil. After a power raking, either rake up all the loose dead stuff, or use your mower with the bag to remove it. Now you are ready to seed. I like to do all the prep work the day before, and the seeding the next day early. A light watering the night before seeding is also a good idea. So now you're ready to seed. Use a broadcast or drop spreader, whatever you feel more comfortable with. Apply the correct amount of seed, more is not better. If it says 8-10 lbs per 1000 square feet, shoot for 9. Make multiple passes in different directions to make sure you have even coverage. If you do this, be sure you lower the setting on the seeder so you don't put down too much on the first pass. Once all the seed is down you have a few options. One is do nothing. Some people like to roll the seed with a water filled roller. Some people like to top dress the seed. Some people like to do both. If I could only do one, I would topdress. Another thing some people do is apply Tenacity herbicide at the time of seeding. If you have a lot of weeds, or anticipate a lot of weeds it can really help reduce them at seeding. Now that the seed is down, and you rolled the seed and or topdressed, an application of starter fertilizer is a good idea. I like to use a half app at this time, the other half after the first mowing. You can use a full app if you want, but with all the watering you do I feel that you lose a lot of that full app due to leaching. Now it's time to water. Watering is probably the single biggest factor in success. The seeds need to be moist continually until they have all germinated. This generally means three light waterings per day. If you have a sprinkler system, then you are golden. If not, you need to set up hoses with timers. You can do this when you water prior to rounding up. Make sure the whole lawn gets adequate coverage. You are watering to keep the seed moist, so no puddling. Generally this means 5-15 minute watering cycles depending on your water pressure and coverage. Three times a day is generally enough. Then all you have to do is worry about your seeds, and the weather, and everything else that can go wrong. Once all the seed is up, and you see the green fuzz, you can start to cut back on the waterings to twice a day for about a week, then once a day for a week, then every other day, etc. Your first mowing should take place about a month after seeding, or when the new grass is 3 inches tall. Mow it down to 2. I'm sure I forgot some things, so please ask questions, and this isn't the only way to go, but it has worked for me very well." Good luck to you on your project.

As suggested above need to know what engine? My CC RTZ42 has a cheap briggs on it and alot of them now have Kohlers. I would you take the spark plug back out and see if it turns over while watching the spark plug hole in the engine head. Do you see liquid gas coming out? (If yes then the carb. float is sticking/leaking and letting gas into the combustion chamber)Simple fix remove carb and clean it or at worse change the needle and seat if the float not leaking). If you don't see no gas spraying out then I would look at all the switches, this includes the elect blade clutch switch (make sure it pushed in)the steer handles (pushed all the way out so the activate the switches that will keep the engine from starting, the brake is set (switch has to activate with brake set for engine to start, and last the seat switch (your butt has to be in the seat for the switch to be activated. If it still don't crank then I would check the cables from the battery to the starter and from battery to ground. if thats OK, then I would get me a multimeter and start checking all the safety switches mentioned above (they are on and off switches very easy to check, either they alowing current or not). If it still don't start I would find somebody that's willing to look at it. some things I would do I'm sure others will have more suggestions.

Seed heads are why people sometimes have to mow their bermuda 2x-3x per week. Your lawn is very normal. Your version of the correct mowing height is at the far upper end of being practical. That height is used because most rotary mowers can't go any lower, but if you had a reel type mower, 1/2 to 3/4 inch would be better. When bermuda is kept very low it takes on a different growth habit and becomes more dense. If you ever visit a golf course, look at the greens and how the grass stems grow sideways with the blades coming off the stem. Most residential bermuda lawns have vertical stems.