I would suggest getting a mow lawn. Did you look at all the pictures for the no-mow lawn? The only reason they call it that is because it happens to flop over and becomes unmowable when it is too tall. Furthermore, I would suggest getting a mix of Kentucky bluegrass (for full sun) and fescue (for shady areas). Of if you don't really have shady areas, then just go with KBG. KBG has the advantage of never needing to be reseeded (like fescue does), but it comes with the disadvantage of turning brown in the winter. Having said that, Marathon III is a very compact (dwarf) variety of fescue. That might work for you. Never till to prepare for a lawn. There, I saved you a couple hundred. If you want to soften your soil, try spraying it with shampoo. First test the hardness using a screwdriver. From what you say it won't even penetrate 1/8 inch. You'll need a hose end sprayer (Ortho red and yellow model is about $10). For 13,000 square feet you'll need about 40 ounces of shampoo. The hose end sprayer holds 32 ounces, so fill it up, take the screen off the end of the down tube, and start spraying. The setting doesn't really matter. You will need to spray as evenly as you can until you have used 40 (or more) ounces of shampoo. I suggest generic baby shampoo from Walmart. It has to be clear like baby shampoo. Spray that and then come back and apply a full inch of water with your sprinkler. Measure 1 inch using small cat food or tuna cans. Time how long it takes to fill the cans so you'll remember. Then wait a week to water again. Water again the following week. The second week after, repeat the shampoo and water. That should do it. If you get runoff before you can apply a full inch of water, then stop watering for 15 to 30 minutes and resume after the water has soaked in. If you get runoff again, stop and wait again. Repeat until you get a full inch into the soil. Since your soil is acting like clay (there are may reasons why a soil might act like clay), it might take more than 2 applications of shampoo to soften it and get it to accept moisture. A week after the second application of shampoo, water an inch again and test the penetration with a screwdriver. What the shampoo does is allow the water to penetrate much deeper into the soil. When that happens the beneficial microbes in the soil will come back and soften the soil for you. You can help them along by adding organic fertilizer periodically. My favorite is alfalfa pellets. At a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet you would need 6 bags of rabbit chow type alfalfa pellets. That size will go through a broadcast type fertilizer spreader. Then stop using whatever other fertilizers you were using because that's all you'll need. I use alfalfa on the federal holiday schedule. They are easy to remember and I am home those days. More specifically, for you in KY, first app would be on Memorial Day, then 4th of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. Living in the south I also apply on Washington's Birthday. You were correct in saying why your soil is "compacted", but you were incorrect about it being compacted. It is simply hard for the reason you said. Compacted soil requires mechanical means such as cattle plunging through soggy soil near the edge of a pond or playing football on saturated soil. The soil has to be saturated first or you cannot compact it. Oh and do all this seeding in early September when the summer heat is beginning to back off.

Hi Lis! I can't help with suggestions of where to go since I'm a west coaster. But I can completely and wholeheartedly agree with Laura and Gin. Take lots of xanax, valium or something similar. If you don't want to take it, slip it into the kids' juice. And start planning a quiet, private, child-free trip NOW for you and Carlos for after your family vacation. Trust me, you will need one. I'm speaking from experience here..................... We took a 14 year old and two 19 year olds to Maui last year. They weren't nearly as annoying as younger kids and I still ran out of xanax before the trip was over. Luckily for me, a lady that worked at one of the galleries I visited several times while we were there felt my pain. She very kindly dipped into her personal valium stash (she needed them to deal with all those pesky tourists) and shared with me. She was my personal savior from that point on. I personally believe that vacations with children aren't vacations at all. They are some sort of cosmic penance for past transgressions.

Thanks everyone for the compliments. My Office has become the "dumping grounds" for plumerias which have become too big for my backyard. I root pruned some this year but none at the office as they were transplanted 2years ago into those 25 gallon pots and got a good pruning then. I figure I have two more years before they need a refresh. I goofed on the Rainbow but it seems to be fixing itself. I did remove a couple of tips further up which were shriveling up and the new growth from the leaf nodes has actually progressed further than the tips I left alone (food for thought). Maybe I'll get a couple of inflos from it this year. If not then next year will be a great year for it. I hope that cutting roots for you. Its a great specimen. Here is a picture of it from last year: Those 5 Celadines and Pinks on the roof are up there from March until December going on three years. They have to be watered 3-4 times per week during the summer but have never had any sun related problems. by May or June they have huge full leaves and inflos all over. So I think the leaves do a very good job of keeping things cool and since they are more mature they have thicker bark (my assumption but makes sense to me). I have 4 more Pinks and Celadines and one huge Jeannie Moragne on a lower balcony which faces south east so they get sun from about 8am until 1pm. The Jeannie has maybe 10 forming inflos on it and about as many leaves. The pinks and celadines are my recommendation for anyone wanting to a simple but still very attractive plumeria which will bloom (given the recommended conditions) almost without fail after the second year of rooting.

I see similar leaves every year and do not know what causes them. My plants seem to get affected after a sharp drop in temperature after some very hot days. They always continue to grow and produce. The weird leaves may only last for 1 or 2 branches then return to normal. As the deformed leaves grow in size they often get more and more normal looking. Acid rain? Air polution? Herbicide drift? I don't know but I think you will still get tomatoes, at least I did for the last 3 years with plants that developed leaves like the ones you posted.