Please allow me to explain some facts about the different types of sand. As a contractor and someone who has worked in a concrete plant you better know what type of snd you need for the job you are doing. With that said lets began. Sand is either dug up in a quarry or dredged from a pond, lake or a sand quarry that they hit a spring in and filled with water. All commercial sand is washed so it can be graded for size and type. You have to go out and dig up your own if you want to get unwashed sand ( which is not recommended for landscaping ) to be used as fill sand or what we call sandbox sand. First thing to fall out of the washer is mason sand. Next is concrete sand followed by fill sand which contains some clay. Next is gravel base and is made-up of lots of clay and small gravel.This is what you typically find on ball diamonds and clay tennis courts or as a base for a gravel driveway or path through your garden. It can be packed down so hard you would think it was concrete with a colored dye in it untill it rains. Dogs, cats, kids and husbands get in quite a bit of trouble when it rains because of this stuff. Next is pea gravel. This can be used to cover the gravel base or partly fill holes like lateral lines where you need good drainage or placed under downspouts to keep the water from making a canyon of you lawn and it gives it a decorative look. Just remember to use something to keep the gravel in place or your mower becomes a machine gun when you mow around It. A lot of people use it in flower beds and around the base of trees too for decorative look. Rock gardens look neat and pea gravel mixed with river rock works well for this. Next comes river rock. Used as I just mentioned in place of the pea gravel ecept not on lateral lines or sewer pipes or any other underground lines and pipes. Although it does work well for drip irrigation or soaker hose. Then the last is river stone. Good for decorative landscaping and filling in wash outs or anywhere you need the water not to erode the ground beneath them.

If you live where the summer heat has broken, you can seed any time. The best ways to prevent crabgrass are to 1. Never seed grass in the spring. If you have to seed grass in the spring, then expect to have crabgrass for one season only. 2. Come springtime, never treat your lawn like you were seeding it. This means leave your grass as long as you can stand it and only water once a week. Crabgrass seed needs daily watering to sprout; so does grass seed. Crabgrass seedling needs sunlight to grow once the seed sprouts; so do grass seedlings. If you plant grass in the fall, the crabgrass, being an annual, will not sprout. Planting grass in the fall gives it six months to mature the roots so your grass can survive the heat next summer. If you have tall grass, reasonably dense from lots of seed in the fall, then you should not have any problems with crabgrass next year. Just don't start daily watering next spring. Of course you have to deal with rain as it comes.

Scott..Thank you for that in depth explanation and even illistrations....That means a lot to quite a few folks here and it takes a great willing heart to want to help... So thank you and have we lost it???Our summer heat that is? What a joke, right? Although it's been absolutely comfortable, it is still a bit early for fall... Really John???? I was wondering if anyone else here ends up having to pluck weeds out of their pots too..I sure have..What a horrible year for weeds even on my window sills!. I had no idea this would be such a great discussion....

I guess I got it wrong when I ate salt and vinegar chips tonight.