kimmsr-- I just used regular white vinegar, the kind in the gallon jugs at the grocery store. I think the whole vinegar thing is both good and bad-- we hear all the miracle properties of organic apple cider vinegar (like the Bragg's)-- I've added it into some "get well" tea for a cold (yuk, I couldn't handle it but a friend recommended it very highly so I gave it a try), and I've heard of people taking a shot a day like Mackel does, and my husband even once burned a weird skin tag/wart thing off his nose with it by putting a tiny piece of cotton ball dipped in the stuff over the skin-thing every day for like a week or two and it went away. Completely. Crazy thing too bc it was kind big, this skin-thing... like a 1/4" in diameter and depth. He looked so cute in his recliner every night with a bandaid holding it on, dead serious. But I also used it all last year (just the cheap gallon stuff, not the Bragg's) to kill the weeds in my pavers in the backyard and I was very happy with it for that. I've also used it to clean the floors in the kitchen and bathroom for many years, diluted w water in a spray bottle. I know some people think that's gross, not clean enough or whatever, but it's more than fine by me. I'd be scared to use the 20% stuff for anything though... molex-- right?? He used a shovel, some sort of cheap saw thing he bought at Harbor Freight bc it was expendable and he figured he'd jack it up fast (which he did), and one of those huge pry bar things. Took him several days worth of work over a few weeks at several hours apiece and he's really a big guy, strong-wise. We were nervous to do the truck thing bc this house has septic and we aren't 100% sure where the drain field is so didn't want to chance riding something so big and heavy over them. toxcrusadr-- thanks, hubbie got the grass out today. I don't compost yet but plan to look more into that when I have some extra time. I'm interested in those worm bins, sounds fun. But today I'm not even sure what "browns" are. The couple hours I have been on here almost daily are already keeping me up way late so I haven't had a chance to get into the composting forums just yet. In due time though : ) Tomorrow's my big day, hopefully between 3 Mother's Day visits I will have time to get crackin'.

What you need to know is what is your soils pH and the nutrient blance and the best way to find that out is to contact you local office of the Cornell USDA Cooperative Extension Service about having a good, reliable soil test done. Then dig in with these simple soil tests, 1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer you soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. to see what more your soil needs to get to that good, healhty condition that will grow strong and healthy plants. Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell CES

Pricing produce is a complicated equation, and often labor costs are the most important variable. The salad mix that you see in clear clamshell boxes at the grocery store is $8 - $14 a pound, and a pound is a lot of baby lettuce leaves - but it was likely mechanically harvested, cleaned, and blended, from a large farm or group of farms using low-cost migrant labor. To a consumer, your prices may seem high, but if you're the one doing the labor, you know you're barely beating minimum wage. I bought the salad spinner because, despite the high initial cost, the time savings, and the increased quality of the product, paid for the capital outlay after only a few growth cycles. The same is true of mechanical seeders, automated packaging systems, and greenhouses - the initial cash outlay may be difficult to justify, but the increase in production will repay the investment within two years. The six-row seeder from Johnny's is almost $600, but with it, I can plant a row 30" wide and 100' long in just over a half hour, walking upright, and precisely spaced. It would take me most of a day to do that by hand, and I'd likely have a hard time working the next day from the strain... I'm 53. That's 18,000 lettuce plants - what's that worth? An unheated mobile greenhouse 30' x 100' is going to cost about $8,000. Growing tomatoes in summer, salad greens in early winter, and raspberries in February and March, that well-managed house will generate $20,000 (or more) every year for 20 years (or more). Even given a year or two to refine the operation and develop markets, that's a reasonable return on the investment. The challenge is, especially for those just starting out, to raise the necessary capital for that kind of investment. The pricing, efficiency, and technology won't get you anywhere without the proper market. One of the most difficult hurdles for new growers is figuring out how to sell what they grow at a reasonable return, and that means, typically, having a product that justifies a higher price than what the customer can find at the local supermarket buying commercial produce. It doesn't make sense to try to sell $3/lb green beans if the possibility exists to sell $8/lb yellow haricot verts, which take the same cultural effort, perhaps 5% higher seed cost, and only a little more labor to pick them small, but by the same token it doesn't make sense to grow them if the market - or the economy - doesn't have a demand for baby beans. Many growers base their operations where land is affordable, but if that means the market is 50 miles away, the costs of transportation and time to get to that market make deep inroads in the profitability of the enterprise. The upshot of all this is that speed is only one part of a complicated calculation. If the market rewards the quality of your work with a fair price, then you can justify the extra care that is permitted by being less speedy. A part of the marketing process is being able to justify the price you charge with an explanation of this fact, but nothing will get a customer to spend $5 if all they have in their pocket is $3.

Start with a soil treatment that will soften your soil and allow water to penetrate much better. Your soil is not compacted - it is hard. Those are different. The treatment is to spray any clear, generic shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces (or more) per 1,000 square feet followed up by 1 inch of irrigation. Watch carefully for runoff. Stop watering immediately if you see it flowing off. The soap is supposed to stop that. If you apply the soap, water, and it still runs off, water more slowly. You still need to get an inch on but move the sprinklers and let the water that's there soak deep into the soil before watering there again. Repeat this every other week until you are happy. The expected result will be that the soil becomes very soft to walk on when it is moist. When it dries out between watering, it should become hard again. That is normal. Once you do this, you'll be helping your neighbors soften their soil. This is 100% better than any aeration. It works immediately while aeration works marginally well under the best of circumstances. Earthworms is more of a euphemism for organic matter in the soil. Worms are nice but overrated. What you really need is the beneficial fungi that earth worms feed on. Get going on that with organic fertilizers like alfalfa pellets, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, or as a last resort, corn meal. In the summer heat mow at one notch above the bottom on a rotary mower. When it starts to cool off again, then drop it all the way down. If you really want it barefoot friendly, look for a reel type mower and drop it to 1/2 inch. Contractor grade bermuda is possibly the best turf available, bar none. Why? Because it is so easy for the sod farms to grow that the price has come way down. It is much easier/faster/better for a contractor to put Tif 419 sod down than it is to seed and deal with those issues. There are sports grades of turf around which might be better than Tif 419 but you don't want those. It is never too late to apply organic fertilizer. You can use it any day of the year, rain, snow, or shine. Well, maybe not snow. You cannot over apply, as David_tx said. There is a guy on another forum who applied 50 pound per 1,000 square feet every week of the season with no ill effects. Google "Bermuda Bible" and memorize it. It was written for the chemical minded homeowner. The author comes to the regular lawn forum occasionally and is occupied on other lawn forums. He was a bermuda sod farmer for years and retired last year. At the job he was all chemicals. At home he was mostly organic. After growing bermuda both ways, the bible was written to bring the most success to the most people. David_tx has found a way to grow bermuda organically. Listen to him. Before DNA testing, compost was the only organic material anyone used. It was expensive and quite often led to huge problems in lawns. That was in the days when Rodale had control of the organic gardening movement. Since the late 1990s, the use of grain meals has taken over with spectacular results and huge cost reductions. All the issues with compost are gone. Compost has uses, but fertilizing lawns is not one of them. In fact I dare say that the only reason there is an organic lawn care forum anywhere is due to the discovery that compost was a problem and ground grains was the solution. Generally all insects prefer the more natural use of grains rather than chemicals on the soil. In a 'normal,' healthy lawn, the beneficial insects will predominate. Why? Because 'healthy' is the definition of normal. When you have the bad bugs then something is out of balance. Something is not normal. Usually applying food of some sort will straighten things out. Sometimes grains are not the fastest answer. Sometimes molasses (a food) is a faster answer. If your ants are fire ants or another type of ant that is doing damage, the fastest solution is to give them a disease (organic!). The disease is called spinosa which causes all the insect's muscles to contract resulting in paralysis until death. The product is called spinosad or Conserve (trade name). There is a bait called Green Light Fire Ant Control with Conserve. Find a trail of fire ants and drop no more than a 3-finger pinch along the trail. I use a 2-finger pinch and have some left over. Fire ants will jump on it and start carrying it to the nest. The entire nest will collapse and die within 24 hours from just a few grains of the bait. Be careful how you use it, because it is very effective on many beneficial insects (bees and wasps come to mind). Try to target your pests. There is a similar product by Fertiloam, but I can't remember the name. Look for spinosad or Conserve. What organic matter? The organic matter that matters is the beneficial fungi in the soil. The population of fungi in soil far outweighs (literally) the population of all other microbes combined. Others are bacteria, protozoa, and micro arthropods (mini insects). You can have good fungi by watering regularly, the soap stuff from above, and feeding organic fertilizer. The occasional use of chemical fertilizer will not benefit your soil but may boost plant growth for a short time. The repeated and sustained use of nothing but chemicals WILL deplete the beneficial microbes in the soil and that can be a problem.