I am in southwest part of Austin. Very little topsoil over limestone. Best time to topdress is when the bermuda is actively growing. What shape is it in now since we have had little rain and in to upper 90s lately? The reason I ask is you dont want to topdress if the lawn is struggling or in drought dormancy

I know about improvement but was in no shape to mix all that stuff in myself. Was lucky to get someone to rototill it for me. We ground up all the grass and everything, the grass was healthy. Then it took several months to settle down to level as it was mounded for months (and bare). I have all that stuff you mentioned, but it is too late to do the whole works. My idea of gardening is dig, chop it up as fine as possible, plant, then use Miracle Gro (not on my new roses). I just had 12 roses planted spaced out there, the horticultural student who did that for me thought the soil was ok and drained well. Thanks for the advice, will read the link tomorrow. I'll worry about the other seeds later, but you did give me an idea. Baby's breath grows in a huge mound if you are lucky, don't need a whole row of the stuff, so I can scoop the soil out a few places and replace with potting soil. BB you cover 1/8 inch which is a little better than surface sow. My peat I found gets crusty when dry even mixed with the potting soil, probably mixed in too much the last batch. Maybe if I throw in some more pearlite that will help. The potting soil holds moisture better than anything yet I've worked with, and then I can mist like you said, although if it heats up again, it will be like four times a day and not every other day because the surrounding dry soil will grab the water before I put the hose away so I'll water that, too. Thanks a lot for the help. Maybe I can get it a little better, not sure how now, don't have a composter but can dress it with something at some point. Just can't work it in, it will have to leach down and let the plants do the work, maybe throw leaves on there in the fall, plenty of those. I wish I could do everything exactly the right way, but I have to do most of it by myself and do well to get anything done. I think I'm having more rototilling done, and this time I'll throw that stuff on there during the process and let it get worked in that way. I didn't know any better before. Sorry I'm so long-winded.

"I had a Jave Red weigela layer on it's own after a branch got partialy covered with soil. I had another type of shrub that died so I replaced it with the layered one. The new shrub is growing well but the leaves are green and do not have the red shading of the parent plant. I was quite surprised that this would happen." I've read (here actually) that the color of the leaves is primarily dependent on how much sun it gets. More sun gives you darker red leaves. Not sure where you have yours planted. :-/ Thanks you guys for answering! I'm going to get started on layering it as soon as the flowers drop. :-)

Here's a tip... When rooting a cutting, always be sure to plant it at least 3" deep into the potting mix and add a layer of pea gravel (small rocks) on top to hold cutting in place (roots are tender and can break easily if cutting moves). I planted my first cuttings this way (and have used this method since), they all rooted within a month and had new branch starts- indoors (during February) with no extra lighting!... I used a 50/50 mix of Perlite and peat/potting soil, watered deeply at planting time and let them dry out for a month before rewatering. *Never plant a 'fresh' cutting, always allow at least a week or so for the cut to heal/dry. Hope this helps.