Liz K & bunti: I am in 7b and planted a Brown Turkey fig two years ago. It died to the ground but returned and even produced a few figs. Last year, I covered the base with pine straw and wrapped the branches in bubble wrap and cardboard. Semi fell apart but mostly still covered thru winter. All branches (~4' tall) seem to be alive and sap is rising slowly so only the lower portions have budded out but all buds appear healthy.

No problem with the questions...sorry for slow response, been busy painting the house. Now there is a job I hate. I love organic, but it's not a short term deal, it might take a few years to get your lawn "back to nature" with some headaches along the way and it's not cheap. At least for me and the wife watches me like a hawk when it comes to spending. Be careful about going overboard on the lawn. It's just the lawn and don't get carried away tossing money into it. To me, my first choices is CGM but too expensive, then SBM, but could not get it, then Alfalfa, corn meal. CGM - You have to put it down when the temp is above 50 for more than 5 days...check on the web..there are a few organic lawn sites that give advice on this product and timing. I put it down during March, but that is for Central Fl. You can put CGM down anytime you want, but be careful about watching out for cynch bugs if that is a problem in your area. I put it down in March and late Sept. (Of course, don't put it down in the snow, depending on your area). CGM worked great against crabgrass, I did not have a problem. When I used the lawn service, wham, I got crabgrass and other weeds that they can't defeat anymore. The restrictions on the commercial lawn spray companies is preventing them from using what works to what might work. Alfalfa is cheap where I live. 14 dollars a bag from Farm City, but they won't order the SBM anymore due to low demand. It was 34 dollars a bag 2 years ago. Last week I found a lady out in farm country that sells grains on the side and she said she could get SBM for 19 dollars a bag which is pretty good price. Corn meal is a weaker fert. but a lot of people claim it prevents fungus problems. I put it down a few times and still got hit with fungus, but Florida to me, is difficult for lawn care so I think fungus is a never ending problem. It's not cheap going organic, but I really liked the results I got using this process, except weed control. CGM controls some, but not all weeds so you will still go out there and yank them. Also, if you can get a soil test to give you a basic starting point that is a good idea. Then dethatch you lawn. I did not do the dethatch thing and regret it. The machines are cheap, 120 bucks off Amazon. Then, if you can get the CGM, put it down as a prevent for the weeds. Figure out your temps for you area. You can always toss down the alfalfa. I like the smell, and it is small pellets so just toss them by hand and water them in. Wait a month and see if the CGM greens up the lawn, which is should. Then in June try SBM. It's a lot of fun to see the results and I tried different products on different areas of my lawn. The area between the sidewalk and the street has always been a headache for cynch bugs due to the heat. Also, I put some of the alfalfa pellets into old milk jugs and let it sit for a few days, boy does it stink, then poured the stuff on the base of the various bushes and trees. One thing I did notice was my oak tree really "greened up" going organic compared to my neighbors trees. Don't store any of these grains in your garage, house etc..buy them, use them same day or next. If not, mice etc..might find them..also they might have bugs in the grains so never store them, buy them and put them down. I'll search around and see if I can find that really good organic site I used to read. Now those guys...they got it down...lost that url when the computer crashed.

any comments? response about the corn meal issue? (i've looked it up everywhere on the net and it's very confusing, especially given that some places seem to lump them together or confuse the terms.) Sounds good. For your first year, if you want to fertilize more often, do so. No less than what you suggest, but more is not a problem. Corn meal is a slight to moderate anti-fungal (but shouldn't be avoided because of that). Cracked corn is pretty much the same, but not so dusty. Either does fine as a very mild fertilizer. I can't get corn meal but can sometimes get cracked corn (oddly enough, not as often as you'd think here in corn country). It's quite inexpensive. Corn GLUTEN meal is fine, powdery, and kind of yellowy-orangey. To my eye, more orange, but others describe it as yellow. Whichever. That's a strong fertilizer (the strongest nitrogen-supplying grain one I can think of at 9-0-0) and reportedly something of a pre-emergent. It's moderately to very expensive, comparatively. CGM (Corn Gluten Meal) seems to have pre-emergent capabilities at higher usages, but others here can describe that better. I've never used it. Another option that you might be able to find is soybean meal. It's fairly strong (7-1-2 or so), fairly inexpensive, and doesn't have any pre-emergent capabilities that I've ever heard about. Any of the bean meals (like coffee grounds) are great, though.

There is alfalfa pellets, 1/2 inch diameter 1 inch long horse feed. Cannot be applied via regular lawn spreader. This one is TOO BIG. Alfalfa meal is very dusty, blows all around, in your shoes, your pants, your face and hair. This one is TOO SMALL. And then there is the tiny pellets for rabbit food. This one is JUST RIGHT. Its all alfalfa and works the same. Rabbit,gerbil,guineau pig food spreads easily through lawn spreaders. I found horse pellets more expensive than rabbit food. Getting back to the topic of CGM, If you cannot find it at a reasonable price, then use Soybean meal. As far as crabgrass prevention, What you should know is that it takes time and numerous applications of CGM over a number of seasons for it to even approach the effectiveness of readily available synthetics. It also takes rather large applications, something like 20# per thousand sq. ft. Repeatedly. Have you read the Organic Lawncare FAQ Bill Hill Here is a link that might be useful: Organic lawncare FAQ