I'm not sure exactly what you are implying in your reference to ethanol free fuel and spark knock. Whether the fuel is formulated with ethanol or not, it is the octane rating of the fuel that one needs to be cautious of (regarding the need to control spark knock) if you have a choice of buying ethanol laced fuels, or ethanol free. I have doubts about a 1980s engine having a compression ratio high enough to require use of anything above 87 octane rating. The real concerns of ethanol blended fuels is that some rubber parts of the fuel system components might not fare very well in the presence of ethanol, plus the fact that ethanol blended fuels DO tend to collect more water vapor from the atmosphere (through tank vent respiration) and precipitate that out later on. Your vintage of engine might in fact benefit from keeping ethanol away from its rubber fuel system parts as ethanol blended fuels were well below the OEM radar back them days. Most of the issues due to ethanol attacking certain rubber parts has been addressed by OEMs improving ethanol resistance in the latest rubber compounds they use for making their parts. As to the extra water..........about the only way to guard against that becoming a problem is to not store large amounts of fuel for extended periods of time. One way to keep from having extra fuel on hand for the OPE fleet is top off the fuel tank as far as it can be filled at the time of dead-lining the machine for the off season. A completely full tank respires less volume of atmosphere when ambient temperatures fluctuate. After doing that, any fuel you have left over should be poured into your car or truck fuel tank for daily driving.

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

I just had time to check out your "Inferno Strip Garden," and I think you're going to like what you get! I absolutely LOVE Artemisia versicolor 'Seafoam'--it's the only Artemisia I grow right now. I've never seen mine bloom since I keep pinching it to keep it round and bushy, but Artemisia flowers are usually pretty ugly, so you may want to cut it back when it starts to bloom. And I'm absolutely certain you'll love the Callirhoe. Give it as much room as you can. It dies back to the center of the plant over winter, but it will spread out 3 or 4 feet in every direction over the growing season. It's great next to a wall or anywhere you may have for it to drape down over---or just spread out on the ground if not. I'd add some Russian sage (Perovskia) to the area--P. 'Longin' is the most upright one, and my favorite. It would go well with the others and blooms pretty long in mid-late summer. Also, to add a couple bright spots of yellow, consider some Achillea 'Moonshine' (bright yellow), or A. 'Anthea' (soft yellow). They, too, bloom for quite a while and you can leave the flowers dry on the plants for winter interest for as long as they look good. I checked out G. saundersii too, and it looks great. They're kind of pricey, but I just might have to try one! If Alcea rosea 'Nigra' is the hollyhock you're looking at, I'd be glad to send you some seed for a SASE. They're a beautiful dark, dark, dark red, and they're real pretty up close, but since they're so-o-o dark, they really don't show up much from a distance. Last fall I planted some other mixed colors near them for more of a display from the distance. They're getting close to blooming and I am anxiously waiting to see what colors they'll be. (The black ones are blooming already!) Still, in my opinion, they are not especially xeric---certainly not as much as perovskia, agastache, some of the penstemons, and artemisia. I could also send some Aquilegia chrysantha seed (a Colorado native). It's a VERY fragrant yellow columbine that comes true from seed. It will reseed easily in the garden and if you have room to let a large patch grow it will actually scent the whole area. Again, it's not considered especially xeric, but once it's well established I don't think it would need a lot of water. I don't think you'd be happy at all with creeping phlox planted in the cracks in your walk, and I think it would be far more difficult to try to grow in such a situation. If you decide to try some, I recommend putting it out in one of the main garden areas. Also, while it doesn't like to stay wet all the time, I've never know it to be considered xeric. If you do decide to grow some, I recommend you look for Phlox douglasii rather than the more standard P. subulata. It's a much more compact growing plant that requires less care. If you do get P. s., to stay looking good over the years it will need to be cut back severely--1/2 or more--after it blooms each year. Otherwise the individual stems can get long and really ratty looking after a couple years. If you let it grow without cutting it back until it gets ratty, it's very hard to cut it back far enough to get it looking good again without killing it. Salvia 'May Night' ('Mainacht') is a really good choice and I bet you'd love it. If you cut it back promptly when the first flowers start looking "tired," it will easily bloom a second time, and, depending on the summer, might bloom a third time if cut back promptly after the second bloom. Don't worry too much about what's going to look good with what when you're planning your garden! Remember that perennials bloom at different times, so they won't all be blooming at the same time. That's one of the wonderful things about a perennial garden---it's constantly changing. Pick whatever you like best. If you decide you don't like it next to something, you can always move it. That's also part of perennial gardening! Tulips and daffodils (and crocus, hyacinths and any of the other spring blooming bulbs) will be blooming when your perennials are just starting to come up. Also check out the ornamental grasses. They're wonderful for adding movement to the garden and the foliage and seedheads are usually left on all winter for winter interest. One of my favorites is Panicum 'Heavy Metal' (switch grass). It has steel blue foliage with delicate, airy seed heads. I also love the miscanthuses (sp???) (maiden grass) which come in heights from 3' to 6' or more and have beautiful arching foliage with tassel-like seedheads that look Egyptian to me! Just one more thing for you to consider! Happy gardening, Skybird P.S. If you'd like the seed, email me privately via GW and I'll send you my address.

Hmmmm (rubbing hands together). Now, that's a bit of a challenge. Not much space, not much light, not much money, and not a lot of gardening experience -- and it will be winter for at least part of the time. I love it! I can imagine that being a nice little place to sit in the evening, a cool breeze but with a lot of privacy. This isn't actually below ground level, is it? I'd definitely get rid of the AstroTurf. That stuff only works in a dry, sunny area outdoors, and it doesn't look like this space is either. Does the ground drain away thru the fence at the back of the picture? Hope so, 'cuz I know it rains a lot in the spring in that part of Michigan. I assume it's soil underneath, but probably not very good soil for growing. You could lay down several bags of mulch -- pine back is pretty cheap and it's less prone to funky-looking molds than the hardwood. Look for stuff that comes in fairly small pieces, not the nuggets. Lay down some concrete 24" x 24" pavers, maybe 4-6, in the foreground, against the building on the left, and put out a little bistro table with 2 chairs. You can buy sets pretty cheap, or you can put together something from thrift store finds. A can or two of spray paint and -- voila! -- you have a set. You don't want to mess around with planting stuff in the ground -- focus on containers. For cheap, big planters, you can't beat big plastic totes from the Big Box stores. (I'm talking about the 35-50 gallon Rubbermaid jobies that are 3-4' long and about 2 1/2' tall. Around here, those go for a little over $20.) You can raise them up on some cinderblocks if you like, and you can dress them up with a wood surround made form old pallets. I'd put two of them along the wall on the right, facing into the apartment, and another perpendicular to the wall on the left, marking the end of the space. Keep an eye out for smaller containers you can group around the base of the tubs. And keep your mind open -- do a search on creative planter ideas nd you'll be amazed what you can plant in! Don't forget the walls! You can place lattice panels behind the tubs, to encourage vines. A can of spray paint in a bright color makes them a focal point even in the winter. An outdoor mirror (plastic, not glass) would also add some life and movement. For plants -- think shady, understory things. Varigated leaves, rather than bright flowers. Coleus, hosta's, ferns. Shady groundcovers like ajuga or creeping jenny spread fast and look nice as a background for other plants. It's a daunting space, but I think it's great your brother is thinking about spreading out and taking advantage of it. I'm sure you'll make it great!