Here is my advice and what I would do in your case. I always start my new bed preparations the Fall prior to the Spring I want to plant. First, get rid of the grass in whatever way you find best and easiest. For me, I simply rented a sod cutter from the home improvement center and it really did the trick, taking off the sod layer only and leaving the good soil beneath very quickly and neatly. The sod cutter is very easy to use and does a very neat job of it with nice crisp lines/borders. The next and probably the most vital step of the whole process is next, and is really a no-brainer in my book. After the sod removal and before any supplementing/amending of the soil in the bed, get it tested by your local Agricultural Extension Agency. That way you know what needs doing for sure to make your beds rose friendly. This is especially important when it comes to your Ph #'s of your garden soil. Be sure your sample is taken from several different spots in the bed and is about 6" down in the soil. If your Ph is bad, no amount of amending will do it any good if the soil is chemically unavailable to your roses because of a bad Ph. rating. If you make sure to tell the agency your target crop are roses, most will even tell you what kind and how much of whatever amendment is needed to make your soil perfect. First get your Ph corrected with whatever the agency tells you that is needed. I am lucky in that my soil Ph is almost perfect naturally so I don't have to do much there except to add just a little sulphur, but you do whatever they suggest to you. Then, I bought the cheapes amendments possible at Lowe's and till them in to the bed several different installments, watering deeply between each tilling to encourage the amendments to "sweeten" the bed. In the last couple of tillings I always work in a good amount of peat moss and a good quality garden soil and again till it several times to really spread it deeply and evenly, finishing off with another good soaking. Now just leave the new bed alone and let it sit through the winter until very late in the Winter season to mellow/sweeten out. Now,just prior to Spring in late winter I take another couple of soil samples to the Agricultural Extension Agency. This way you catch any slight changes especially to your Ph level before you start your planting. Make any necessary adjustments to the Ph if needed. I just cannot stress how important the correct Ph is to grow your roses. You can go to a lot of trouble and spend a lot of money and time spinning your wheels if the Ph is not right. I know this sounds like a lot of trouble, but doing this simple stuff is very important and will pay you so much in return you will find that it was well worth the effort you put in and will save you lots of aggravation not to mention time and money later on. You will get much better roses and be much happier with what you get from them when they grow vogorous bushes with tons of beautiful flowers, supposing you plant the new bushes/bareroots correctly, but that is another posting, LOL..... John

Addie, I can understand your feeling overwhelmed, it is never easy to transform a yard into what you wish it to be. Couple that with the fact that you are just starting the gardening process and lack even much of the basic knowledge and you have a recipe for frustration. I strongly suggest you work on small areas one at a time and get your feet wet. The resources suggested in previous posts are all terrific, but it will be you who has to go out and work the soil, condition it, plant, weed, water, fertilize and manage it. As garden areas become established and require less care you can work on another area. If you try and do everything at once you have a lot of work and time to expend ahead of you. The vegetable garden area you mentioned sounds quite large. I have a 24'x24' veggie garden area that I am 'shrinking' to allow for a sandbox and ornamental flowers because I am finding that I simply don't need that much to grow the things my family of 4 eats. Next year it will be 16'x24' and that allows me enough to eat all the fresh produce I want and preserve enough to last until next season. My advice is only grow what you *know* you like to eat and leave just a small section for experimental plants that you aren't sure you will want much of. To condition an area for planting mow down any existing vegetation and leave it rot in place. This makes compost which is the single best thing for any soil type. Once this is done you can roto till or use the lasagna method to 'take back' small plots for planting as you are able to. I strongly suggest you use from now until spring to learn as much as you can, get some books, talk to the extension agents (although I find they often know nothing so just get their published literature) and in the winter get a graph paper notebook and start sketching how you want things to look when finished. Then start one section at a time as energy and finances permit. I live on 1/4 acre (undeveloped when I got here), have been here for 4 years and *still* am adding areas and pots. I expect this will continue for another couple years at least. The moral is don't expect to do everything in one year. Take the time to learn, look at other people's properties that appeal to you and figure out each section at a time. Otherwise you will frustrate yourself and create something that is a maintenance nightmare and end up redoing it.

Chestnut Hill Farm sells a few avocados that can reportedly take as low as 15 degrees. IIRC, I've also heard of a few individual stories where avocado trees have survived between 10 and 14 degrees. A 'Fantastic' avocado, reportedly the most cold hardy avocado, apparently survived a few degrees below 10 degrees, for example. I have two cultivars myself, a 'Joey' and 'Pancho' that have just gone through their first winter, just covering them with a tarp when it got below about 32 degrees. The nursery I got these from told me to just cover the grafts in sand during cold spells, because the rootstocks aren't hardy. Some people permanently bury the grafts on avocados for areas that get below 25 degrees. . Regarding the long-term sustainability of a cold-hardy avocado, I would say that it's a gamble, but the numbers could be in your favor if you choose the cultivar wisely and baby it for the first few years. When there is one of those freezes that hits 10-13 degrees or less every 20-30 years or so, your tree (along with any other borderline subtropical plants) would potentially be wiped out. If it provides you with 15 or 20 years of good fruit, then you can say the investment paid off. If you buy one now and we get one of those bad winters this year or the next, not so much. Check out your temperatures over a period of years, usually reported from local airports.

Hi my user name is leslie_cunningham3 My real name is Leslie Cunningham I’m in 6b zone I am new to gardening in Kansas. We have REALLY SANDY SOIL. I had a garden growing up in Louisiana with my father. I was miltary wife and grew flowers only. When I moved to KS in early 90’s I have had gardens off and on but have always had purchase plants from stores. I had some success only when used chemicals and use potting soil. We have huge problems with insects and gophers. Last yr I lost over 3/4 of my garden to aphids squash bugs and gophers. Each yr I struggle with the decision to continue gardening. Which why Im super happy to have found this site. I did not see a seed exchange for KS on here nor have I found any local seed exchange. So this year I like to grow from seeds. I am looking for veggies herbs and flowers. Perennials and herlooms would be great as I would like to try organic gardening. I also like to learn how to gather my own seeds. I would like to send $ through PayPal I have edit my profile to include mgs from anyone. I have verified my email address and sent 2 emai to Val ( I forgot to include my mailing address in the 1st mgs)l. I have not listed veggies or seeds I have as I’m just starting out and I would like any kind of seeds available.