You've got a lot of good advice to start you off. I'll add my 2 cents worth :-) My backyard is almost entirely shade except a bit in the center, which is now the only space where there is lawn. (See the link below to a thread on the Woodlands Gardening forum for pictures, plan and description of my shade garden...) The biggest problem with the shade garden here is mosquitoes! I do the vast majority of my gardening work in the spring before they come out of hibernation and again in the fall when they've gone back into hibernation. In mid summer, I relax and enjoy the garden largely from the shelter of the back porch! When I do my regular tree seedling patrols, I wear a bug shirt :-) By 'long needle pines' do you mean white pines? I have two and there are others on the neighbouring properies that affect us too. They are my favorite evergreens! The annual needlecast provides lots of lovely mulch - it all gets raked into the garden beds where it is left to rot down naturally to the benifit of the plants there. Directly under the skirt of the pines, Sweet Woodruff is the main planting. Closer to the edge of the canopy, other shade plants tolerant of fairly dry conditions e.g. perenial geraniums, brunnera, some ferns will do well. Hostas and Solomon's Seal make a nice combination in there as well. The list of shade plants you'll want in the garden is almost endless :-) Shade gardening is very rewarding - lots of beautiful plants and interesting combinations. Work out at least a rough idea of what you want to do and then get started. Mowing those weeds so you have a better feel for the space and conditions is a good thing to do while you're in the early stages of thinking about it as a garden rather than a weedy wasteland! Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: shade garden

Melonpocky, Not dumb--just thinking! And we all had to learn (and are still learning) about gardening. Welcome to a great pastime/hobby/obsession. Rootbound refers to a plant that has outgrown its pot. The pot's contents are mainly roots and little soil. The roots tend to go around in circles, or form a mass at the bottom of the pot. The cure is to gently pry the roots apart and spread them when the plant is put in the ground, or if that is impossible (in a REALLY root-bound plant)make an X-cut in the roots from the bottom about 1/3 of the depth of the pot. Being rootbound will eventually kill a potted plant, and if planted in a rootbound state, the plant will not thrive as it should, and could die. As to "bury up to the leaves"--when planting tomatoes, it is best to get all the stem up to the first leaves (the little ones that first appear and are usually smooth-edged, not notched like secondary, true leaves)into the ground. I make a trench and put the tomato plant in the 3" to 4" inch deep trench, then put a cardboard collar around the plant, making sure it doesn't interfere with the buried stem. That takes care of cutworms. Earwigs? I have no idea. When you put your plants in the ground, try to do it on a cloudy day (yeah, in Texas!) or late in the afternoon so they will have as little direct sunlight to contend with right away. Water in well (not overhead, but at ground level) and don't worry if they look a little limp for a day or two. Keep an eye on them, and if we have high winds, you can protect them with bottomless pots (cut the bottom out of a 1 gallon pot or the top and bottom out of a plastic juice container and put one over each plant. My neighbor's garden looks like a Sunny Delight plot! Next year, try watering your seedlings from the bottom only. They learn to put down roots, and absorb only what they need. It is also easier for you to tell if you are overwatering because they will be sitting in water instead of drawing it up. Now I've told you more than you wanted to know--I just want wish you luck with your garden, enjoy the fruits of your labors, and keep trying if it doesn't work out perfectly the first time.

cellulose disintergrating? never heard of that one. with air & moisture tight to exterior and air tight to interior walls, you can use any insulation and get spec'd performance. as the building industry seems to be able to make walls farily tight, type of insulation usually isn't an issue. while foam sprayed walls aren't worth the price..in hot humid climates with ducts & equipment in attics, spray foaming the roofline to keep attic semi conditioned is a good investment. don't know if you are going stick build or concrete block (as per your other post) but I'd chose stick build over block. put foam sheathing to exterior of wall over solid sheeting for hurricane strengty tape seams seal holes in foam prior to cladding. conventional insulation in walls and air tight drywall to interior. the problem with walls drying to the inside in our climate is oversizing of hvac systems that don't allow a/c to run long enough. short cycling of a/c doesn't allow proper dehumidification. with concrete block..foam sheathing to exterior and frame walls with conventional insulation & drywall to interior. lot of extra cost imo. the few concrete block houses I've seen here in La. have condensation on the inside of the exterior walls. concrete block has little insulation value & transfers heat/cold well. check out buildingscience.com's builders guide to hot humid climates. best of luck.

Kathe - what you say is true. I asked my guy to do two coats of semi-gloss and the final 3rd coat in satin. He did this is the back half of the house..didn't think I would have to remind him of the pattern for the front half. His third and final coat yesterday was semi-gloss, not satin. So now half of my main floor has a satin finish and the other half has a semi-gloss. This in and of itself is not a huge huge problem - it just speaks to his ineptitude. He put down our new hardwood on top of thinset concrete that holds the infloor heating pads. He didn't check the mositure of the concrete(actually admitted he doesn't have a reader after the fact) and now all the new floors are cupped. It was clear they were cupped, you could see it from across the room but he said nothing. I didn't know what a cupped floor was,I just knew I didn't like the new floors. It took me a few days of asking friends and investigating online to find out why the floors looked the way they did. He also gouged seveal areas pretty bad with the sander - again, said nothing and continued on. It wasn't until we pointed these issues out to him that he agreed there was a problem and would fix them. When he came over with his newly purchased moisture reader he read the surface of the sealed floors and proclaimed the boards were dry. I pointed out to him that a cupped floor is wet on the bottom and drier on the top. He then said he could pull out a board that will be under the island ....dude, that wood sits on dry plywood and not thinset!! You don't want to know what I was thinking inside my head at this point! There are areas where the polyurethane is thicker and slightly pooled - it shows up more shiny. There are areas where I can see long strands of hair in the sealer. Our (white)front steps are peeling and easily tracked into the house. There are small white paint flecks sealed in the floor by the front door. We pointed this out to him after the first coat but he didn't sand them out and fix them - put 2 more coats on top of them so those babies are good and protected!! They wore their outside shoes in the house while applying the polyurethane. He put green painters tape along my white baseboards presumably to protect them then proceeded to slop the dark floor stain up and over all the tape onto the baseboards which now all need to be primed and repainted. When he resanded some of the floors he did not put up any plastic draping to protect our furniture that was exposed in one room..it took me forever to wipe everything down and get the dust off it. I have now picked up our hidden contractor house key. I don't want him back in the house right now until I figure out my next step. He has been paid 50% of the job- thank goodness no more. At this point I just don't feel great having him come back to fix the problems even though he is prepared to do so. I expect a professional meticulous job - I don't think he has a meticulous bone in his body. I plan on getting a second opinion on what the job needs to get it to the level I want. If the quote falls within the range of what we still owe do you think I should just tell the first guy to take a walk? I've never fired anyone like this before but my willingness to work with his sloppiness has run out. In this picture you can easily see the transition from the old floors to the new cupped floors. Love my makeshift kitchen?? It's way better than having it in the laundry room the past 5 months! We ( my husband, not the flooring guy )have started to rip out the cupped floors..