Congratulations on improving a patch of soil. It may be the most important work a human can do. It IS work and takes effort and patience. I started a veggie garden about 3 years ago in some of the sorriest thick heavy clay, but with vermicomposting and heavy mulching, it is coming right along and turning into fertile loam. Bought my worms (sold as red wigglers) from the local bait store and they have done a great job and thriving in this soil. Also have noticed big night crawler earthworms have moved into the garden. They burrow much deeper and aerate the soil even better. If you avoid chemicals, you will get beneficial insects to prey on the pests. Compost, Compost, Compost- if you can find a source (your local diner?) for coffee grounds and egg shells, get them to save that stuff for you. If you have the time and energy, pulverize the egg shells down to a fine powder, so the earthworms can digest that good stuff. Another good thing you can do for your soil is to grow nitrogen-fixing legumes- beans and peas. Get a few soybean seeds and grow your own edamame! Try clover or alfalfa as a cover crop in Winter- I've heard hairy vetch is good as well.

Karyn I hope it grows big & strong too! lol! I'll try to remember that - water from the bottom! Thanks! Theresa 'Monster Mikey' lol! No way! I think if I ever had to name one - it would be called 'Special Friends' Don't ask me why - long story! And yes - a few cousins would be nice. Are you having any luck with yours yet? Karen Thanks! Yes - cute! :) But will it live?? That's my big question to myself! I don't want to end up being a bad brug daddy! lol! Let me know how your little ones are doing? Mike

Nancy, It took me till the 2nd time ordering from a different LA seller to get swirling waters. I have only had bad luck with one seller on LA and it was she sent me something else besides swirling water and I emailed her and she was supposed to send a replacement but never did. But I guess I am 1 of those customers you will only hear from twice then I just dont order from them anymore. It did not bloom till the following year so I could not email her about it till a year later. It took forever to get my order from her, had to have Mike handle the seller and she sent my order then one was wrong and there was no way for me to know till it bloomed. Jill

ali, what about putting an arbor in and growing a honeysuckle up it? From the edge and in from the driveway to the tree, I'd edge out the grass from that area and curve slightly to the end of the concrete pad in front of your home, the patio area. All the way to the end. Let's give you some curb appeal ;) Put the middle of the arbor in front of the edge of the concrete pad where the car is sitting, about 3 feet in. From the middle of the arbor to the drive and then going up your house, you could create a path that would curve over to the sidewalk and to the front door. For right now, using newspapers and a 5 gallon bucket filled with water, cover up all grass with layers of newspapers you've plunged into the water. Lay them down, overlapping as you go. I typically use about 10 layers of paper. The more, the better. If you can create your path first, either using stepping stones or gravel, lay down something like visqueen and lay the stepping stones or the gravel over to create the path. Remove the grass where the path will be so that nobody trips over stepping stones or gravel. Take out a V shape where you're going into the lawn from driveway to tree and up and over to the end of your home. Remove the dirt and the grass from the V, so that you've got a drop off of sorts and lay your wet newspaper to curve down into the area where the dirt is. Cover the area up with mulch or mushroom compost if you can get your hands on some, except for the path area. By next year, the newspaper will start to decompose and the grass will be dead, but it adds to the organic matter of newspaper and the dead grass. Worm heaven. From now and thru winter, study up on various perennials and possibly a few shrubs that produce berries for our other feathered friends. Next year, push back the mulch or mushroom compost and dig holes to plant. There should be enough room to the right of the path up to your front door, to add in a shrub. Then the other shrubs could go in front of the poles, under planted and going out to the edge with perennials. I prefer natives. They're adapted to our weather, our soil, they make up our ecosystem. Find a list of native plants for your area, and research those plants as to what hummingbirds like and also which ones make seed that other birds will like to eat on. The native plants won't require dead heading, don't need pruned or cut back so they look better....I just prefer them over all. Now an iris in there isn't going to hurt anything ;)...or a peony....both left by the previous owner that I decided to leave and a friend of mine from TN also gave me a beautiful iris that is sentimental to me. But again, those 2 are easy plants. Hummingbirds will love to sit and rest a spell on shrubs you provide and give you a closer look at their beauty. Too much?? Where do you live? Zone 5, but where? lovefornature, you're doing a wonderful job! It's people like you who join GW that make it an enjoyable site to visit. If you like butterflies and are interested in attracting some of them to come to your yard, you could plant a Aristolochia tomentosa or Aristolochia durior. Another plant I love that I don't know draws anything in, but blooms in late summer, is Clematis virginiana. Another neat native clematis is Clematis glaucophylla. I also answered the e-mail you sent, I hope you got it.