Hello, this is the DH to help explain the situation. Because the property slopes down from the front, the rear yard doesn't drain, plus we get run-off from adjoining yards and half the gutter downspouts drain in the backyard. In the past during bad rain storms, the entire backyard floods to within a couple inches of water entering the house (the door sills are low as we have a slab foundation, not a raised wood foundation). To cure the problem, in 1988, I put in a french drain line with three collection catch basins in the rear yard and a exit catch basin at the sidewalk. This 4" line slowly filled with silt after a few years from soil in the run-off, not from soil invading the pipe perforations. The frnch drain worked so poorly that I had to dig a ditch through the dirt sideyard to help drain the backyard during storms as the french drain wasn't adequate. It is hard to use my small sideyard to put the waste containers and other things when there is a dirt ditch in it. Then I installed a sump pump to augment the french drain and it helped significantly to remove rain runoff. With the re-landscaping we are doing now, I added a second sump pump to pick up water at the lowest spot in the yard. The back yard needed major revamping as we added a pergola, a location for a fountain, etc. so I had a chance to dig up the french drain. It was at least 80% clogged. Clearing it with a garden hose was hopeless so I just dug it up and threw it away. The 210' my wife referred to is the side lot fence line. The section I plan to change from dirt to hardscape is 55' long by 7' wide. I have installed a water line for two hose bibbs in this area, plus new electrical for outlets, both sump lines run through this section and I am added new surface drain catch basins with 3" diameter drain pipe running to the sidewalk. Also buried very deep is the natural gas line to the swimming pool heater. I'm not very worried about there being a problem with all the utilities that will be buried under the new hardscape, but we have had problems such as the original french drain clogging and needing replacement. Installing concrete in this sideyard of 55' by 7' will give me a dry, mud-free area for 3 large waste containers (garbage, recycle, and green waste). The sideyard is 11' wide overall, but the existing concrete walk isn't adequate especially where it jogs around the air conditioning compressor. I plan to use my Weber gas BBQ on the new hardscape, that's why I added water and electrical. This walk way is how people enter our rear yard without going through the house. So the trade-off of installed concrete, which is about $1200, or putting in pavers and 2x or 3x the cost depending on the price of the paver bricks. If there is a problem with the buried utilities, or I want to add something else underground, removing pavers is DIY. But removing and fixing concrete is Not DIY at my age and condition. I like the idea of pavers also because they are more attractive to me than concrete, even with an exposed aggregate finish. The chance that I would have to ever get back underground is very remote, but in the 25 years we have owned this house, we have had to dig through this area four times (pool utilities, french drain, and twice for sump lines). This is the fifth time we are digging up this area to install drains and such mentioned above. For those of you who wonder what I will do if it is a bad rain storm and the power goes out, rendering my two sump pumps useless, I have the sump pumps on the same GFI breaker and I could add a cut-over switch and small generator to address this possibility. So my DW thought we should ask on the forum for advice on concrete vs. pavers, in case we have overlooked any factors to make a decision. Knowing cost is a factor always, just let me know what you think as if concrete and pavers cost the SAME. Hope this lengthy explanation helps. Thanks.

Thanks for all the replies. I am learning something new every day. For example, the day I wrote this, I changed the nutrients to EC 2.5 and all of the roots today are completely brown. What you see hanging from the basket up in the picture are completely gone. So here is what I gather from all of you. I'll lower the EC, probably start at 1.8 going down. From what I read and my recent experience, I'll try to figure out a way to start easy on the nutrients, e.g. when I flush a tank I can go half strength or less and keep going day by day until I reach my setpoint. Hopefully that won't stress the roots. Regarding aereation, I'll leave it as it is. I also thought that an ebb and flow gets air when drained. I just need to watch the temp of the reservoir. Not much I can do on this one, but might explain nutrient deficiencies if I ever get one. Rosemary going to the ground. I might create another setup running on a separate pump and run it a bit dry. In the meantime, I'll get this little guy to the soil. It'll do better. Regarding the algae question, I don't know as they don't have time to grow. The reservoir gets cleaned every two weeks, sprayed with bleach and flushed. The containers (clear Sterilite type) are painted black and also bleached once a month. After some experimentation, I found this to be the best setup I could come up with. All the hoses allow me a quick disconnect and a partial shutdown for cleaning and sterilizing. I can grow by adding more containers and pumps easily. The only thing I am working right now is a controller for the setup. I currently have a programmable timer, but trying to build a smart controller that will have a light sensor, a temperature sensor and, maybe, a humidity sensor. This way I can adjust the watering for different containers using the same reservoir. Thanks all for the feedback! I'll post some pictures of the progress in a few weeks... when I get the germination process right (this is even worse for me). Thanks, Mariano

Whether Genetically Engineered Organisms adversely affect us or our environment is unknown since there has been no research to find that out except "you have been exposed to them for 40 years now and no one has grown strange appendages, yet". We do not know what these things will do, although some research has indicted they are not good for us or our planet. One of the reasons why the European Union has severely restricted their use. Activated Compost tea, ACT, does not feed plants, although it does supply the bacteria and fungi that will convert organic matter in the soil into nutrients that plants can use, if there is adequate amounts of OM in the soil. Spraying ACT onto soils lacking adequate levels of OM will do nothing to fix that problem.

Actually, I have thought about moving sink to garage as it is a utility sink. The Mudd room would be for multiple bags due to all the activities my daughter has. It would be a place to store shoes and jackets with a bench to put shoes on. After talking to a friend today I am thinking about leaving pantry as is and the place where the sink and drop zone is putting storage there for extra kitchen appliances.