Hello fellow buckeye! Here in Columbus, I am going to try sowing bottle brush buckeyes again this year. Last year I made the silly mistake of drying my seeds. Once the pods crack, those buckeyes are ready to go. Here's the problem for me, I have tried to grow Ohio Buckeye trees in the past and those darn squirrels dig them up and eat them every time. I have about a dozen of so volunteers in the yard every year from my neighbor's Ohio Buckeye, but that doesn't seem to satisfy them. This year I am growing in those black pots and putting a 2 liter bottle cut in half over the top. I hope that will hold them.

I can assume that the organic fertilizers (CGM etc) are not harmful in any way to dogs?? Has anyone had experience with dogs in their yard while the fertilizer is on?? They seem fine. I have three Bichon Frise all in the nine to fourteen pound range (Nikki, the little girl, is 9 lbs, the other two are larger bruisers). They have no attraction to soybean meal or Milorganite. I wouldn't allow them to eat rotting organics, however. One side effect is they seem to eat more grass and get sick from it a lot less often. Your breed may differ, of course, or your individual dogs may have specific issues. That seems unlikely, however. Best way to kill grass in a small area? I'm trying to save my pregnant self the extra work of actually digging out the grass. Congratulations! I can understand not wishing to dig with a separate burden to carry. You can use Round Up. Then, once the rainproof time is past (usually an hour, some are two), rinse it off thoroughly with the hose and *try* to keep the dogs out until it dries. Fortunately, Round Up has very low toxicity. You could smother it with a thick coat of soil, or kill it with a covering of plastic (tacked down) as well. Give it a week or three during summer and a good plastic cover will fry it out. If the lilac is really big and shadowing that too much it won't work well or quickly, though. I am attributing this to the wrong amount of watering, but perhaps I needed to apply the fertilizer better or something? It could be either, or too low a level of fertilization. Grass wants to be well-fed in May, August, September, and October, a pound to a pound and a half of actual nitrogen per thousand square feet at a time. Now that I've given the rule, I can tell you that I break it and apply a pound to 1.5 lbs a month, every month during the growing season from April through November. My soil is poor, so if yours is as well you'll probably want to increase that. Like you noted, water 1" at a time as rarely as possible. Can I hope reasonably that with the aerating alone that will encourage good microbes?? Unless your soil was drowned or severely poisoned (doubtful), they were there before the aeration. It will help the thatch decay by injecting microbes and soil right into the thatch layer. Organic feeding also helps, and seems to decrease the amount of thatch produced. You can consider compost, but given your current condition I wouldn't recommend it. It's rather back-breaking to get it down at 1/4" or so across the whole lawn. Unless the soil has been heavily poisoned or under water for a good clip, it's probably unnecessary anyway. It's available from your local garden shop, and big-box stores carry it bagged (I wouldn't dream of trusting that stuff, though, as who knows how long it's been there?) A lot of landscaping companies will deliver it (at a price), and perhaps some would even spread it (at a much greater price). have previously used Pro-Rich fertilizer by Richlawn. Is this concidered a chemical base?? Or an organic one? Define organic. :-) I'd definitely call this an organic fertilizer, given the poultry manure base, even though the poultry may not have had a purely organic diet (they almost certainly didn't, actually). Purists would say that the poultry need to be certified. I don't agree and happily use genetically modified soybean on my lawn. A protein is a protein, and any non-organic components diluted and decayed during composting to the point that I doubt there's any reason to worry. Particularly not if you eat chicken on a regular basis, or items containing GM soybean. Which I do. but maybe I should be sticking to something else that would be better for the lawn? If it's working for you, that's great. Name brands tend to be more expensive than the basic stuff, but are easier to find. Soybean meal, alfalfa meal, cracked corn, cottonseed meal, etc. all make excellent organic fertilizers. Finding them can be a nightmare depending on where you live--I have to drive nearly an hour to get mine, so I load myself down and only go twice a year. I'm presuming you're using the 10-5-5 plus iron lawn food. Using that, you should be applying about 10 pounds of lawn food per thousand square feet to get 1 pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet. You're also getting 0.5 lbs of phosphorous (kind of high) and 0.5 lbs of potassium (just about right) per application. Er, kind of high doesn't mean killing your lawn or anything, just that it's more than you need, really. If you have a 5,000 square foot lawn or so (I'm guessing as I didn't see any sizes above), that would mean using 50 lbs per feeding, four times a year (or more), for a total of 200 lbs. You'd actually need more soybean meal (the one that tends to be the best, overall, in my opinion) as it's 7-1-2. That requires 14 pounds per thousand square feet, times 4 apps per year, times 5,000 square feet, equals 280 lbs. The price runs around $13 for 50 lbs or so.

I don't see why you need more primer over pre-primed MDF. Most likely 1 coat of BM Aura Satin will be fine. If not, you can always put on another coat of paint. THe purpose of primer is for better bonding and stain coverage. You will be fine. I agree with above that "white" is very stark and cold. I like "Timid White" which is very clean and nearly white. A tad offwhite, but still clean and white appearing is "Sparkling Wine". I'm also not sure why you would mix semi and satin in the same room? I have Aura Satin throughout my kitchen (cabinets and trims) and it is very tough and washable. I also have a hallway with beadboard and trim and used Satin on both. I also have a chair rail in the dining room with picture molding on the bottom. It is all in white (sparkling wine actually) satin, including the drywall. I prefer eggshell finish on drywall for a little more washability over matte. I think the TSP substitutes probably don't work as well as real TSP, but better for the environment. Admittedly, that opinion is probably biased. It is hard to avoid 2 coats on ceiling. I think it depends on how long it has been and the color difference. Ceilings seem to absorb a ton of paint. I don't know the names you mentioned, but the best ceiling paint is thickest... less splattering better coverage. I also don't like pure white on a ceiling. I have used BM Linen White Flat on my last ceiling.

You will need quite a bit of CFM if you go with one of the high BTU ranges you listed. That necessitates a larger duct size, larger capture area, and larger fan than you would need for a "regular" plain jane range. Just the actual internal parts and pieces of your hood and vent will be in the $1000- $2000 range, and that's without any labor to create a custom surround. I'd expect the labor to create something custom from either wood or stucco to run from $800-$3000. A wood pre designed hood from a cabinet company (minus the already mentioned internals) will run you $1500-$4000. A stainless chimney hood will run you $2K plus in the CFM range that you will need, while an under cabinet hood will be $1000+. All will depend on which range you purchase because that will determine the amount of CFM and the size of the ducting that you will need. Your ventilation needs will also most likely require makeup air, which can also get to be in the 3-8K range depending on your location and whether or not you will need a Heat Recovery System engineered into the makeup air. You should check with your local building inspectors as to the exact requirements for this as it's location specific. However, if your municipality hasn't yet gotten on board with makeup air, it's still not something you should skip if you have other gas fired appliances like a water heater or furnace. Using a high CFM fan without a source of makeup air can cause those combustion sources to backdraft and fill your home with their exhaust. Prosumer ranges require prosumer exhaust systems, which are a lot more expensive than most people budget for. If the minimum 5K for all of that is too much for your budget, you could always go with a "regular" 4 burner 30" range and a "regular" 400 CFM plain under cabinet hood that could use your existing 6" vent. You'd be talking maybe $600 for your venting needs then, not to mention the savings on the range as well.