Nate, it sounds like the following is too late, since your work has already begun, but for what it's worth: We had 4 new roofs (entire house) and everything that that entailed (remove old roofs, put on new + gutters & downspouts) and new stucco siding on one side of the house's addition (hence, remove all old stucco, too). Contractor also created a new profile for the eave over that side of the house; also made and installed a copper overhang for the window on that side. Not all of this was done at the same time; still, a lot of construction materials and debris. Used the same contractor and his small crew for everything. The crew was able to do the roofing job by accessing all the roofs from the patio; the main issue was roof debris that ended up on the ground. They were exceedingly careful and neat but even now, I do find the occasional nail and bits of roofing material. For the stucco work, however, they needed to erect and safely access scaffolding. I asked the contractor to try to protect a daylily bed directly under the side of the house needing that work. For various reasons, I couldn't dig up the plants in it, even though it contained some daylilies I value a lot (eg LAST SNOWFLAKE, NEON FLAMINGO, COWBOY SCARF, MABOU, Jack Carpenter patterns, and more), so he set up the scaffolding on a large piece of plywood that was placed on cinder blocks on either end of the bed (and with two blocks supporting the mid part of the wood). The crew had to access the scaffolding of course, so one end of the bed got badly trampled & the soil very compacted. Even so, given what had to be done to the house, and the time they spent doing it, the daylilies sailed through everything in near perfect condition. There was a lot of bent and torn foliage, but it was late autumn anyway so that didn't matter. Plus, it was the crowns I'd been concerned about. We plan to use the same guys to paint the house's exterior next spring. Since I don't know exactly which month that will be, I expect to have to dig up the entire bed. Even so, I'll ask the contractor to once again place scaffolding on plywood on cinder blocks. The idea will be to protect the soil from compaction so that I can use that bed again as soon as the work is done.

All my emitters are 1-10 gph DIG products. Presently, I'm doing thirty minutes every other day 'cause we haven't had any rain and I have sandy soil. I turn the emitter down so it makes a little stream, as opposed to wide open where it puts out eight streams in a 2' radius. Never buy emitters you can't open up and clean. These you can screw the top off and blow out. Home Depot carries them. I use Orbit drip timers too. Beats the hell out of that Melnor crap...

"Even though it has it's benefits like less weeds, and holding in moisture, if I had my choice, and didn't "need" to use mulch, I wouldn't use any mulch at all. It gives slugs a great place to hide during the day." Organic mulches add a lot more benefit than just the blocking weeds and retaining moisture, it provides a habitat for beneficial insects, protects beneficial fungi and microorganisms from the harsh sun and elements, and it feeds your soil as it breaks down. While you may see some slugs in your hay mulch, it's generally only because they are eating the old rotten hay - which is their preference as they mature. Young slugs may climb up the plants a little in moist conditions (probably at night) and eat some of the new growth, but generally if you can keep your plants off of the ground (via staking, caging, or Florida-weave, etc.) the damage they do will be minimal to barely noticeable. Some sources on the web actually include slugs as beneficial insects since they aid in the decomposition of organic matter; As long as their populations are in check, they're just another part of new soil creation. "I like it when the sun shines right on the soil." While in some cases uncovered dirt can look nice to us, it's generally not the best for the soil. Un-mulched soil is subject to more erosion and compaction from rain having direct access to the soil. Also, since, without mulch, the moisture levels can fluctuate rapidly; Which drastically reduces the activity of soil life in the top few inches of your soil, which would naturally be the most productive portion. I didn't use mulch for the first few years of gardening because everything I had ever seen showed gardens with exposed soil for easier weeding, etc. For the past few years I've been using organic mulches and my plants have been that much better for it. For me, it's lower maintenance than paper mulch, and black plastic since I've always had issues in the past with tearing, either due to critters, wind, or clumsiness in the garden; And I prefer it to exposed soil for the many reasons I've listed above and the fact that exposed soil generally means a fairly weed-filled garden by mid-July. Landscape fabric worked OK the few years I did it, but it's a pain to put down and rip back up. If I see a weed pop up through the 4 inches of mulched hay I use (which is rare), I have two choices: 1.) I can pull the weed out with practically no effort since the weeds that do sprout are barely touching the soil (if they are in the soil at all and not just in the mulch). 2.) I can bend the weed over with my foot and throw another chunk of hay on it. It depends on my mood that day, hehe.

Luvs, Thanks for your comments. I just had to throw this together in case I was to busy next week. I stiil have so much to add if I have time. Jeanne, First of all, I think it's great that you are related to Billy The Kid. So do you have some pics you will bring our to show us or was this just in your sleep? I wanted to use spurs so funny you said that. Thanks for your comments. PM, this table came together long after dinner last evening and I'm just getting home tonight. We had homemade soup tonight.LOL I'm the blond, DD is the brunette and then DGD. You should use your picture on your table. We own two cell phone and sattelite busninesses so we would just be opening more. Wanda, I've seen the placemats your talking about. Thanks for your comment and I will be looking forward to seeing your place mats. Karen, thank you so much and I could use 48 hrs every day to stay on top of it all. I did this for you sweethearts here that help keep me sane. Glad you liked my table. Jane, thanks for all your comments. Wish I would of had the right blue bandana but DH was sleeping so I used one I had in the craft room. DH is up before 5 so I try to not wake him after he goes to bed. I could go get one now but I'm tired this evening. LG, thanks so much for all your wonderful comments. I'm not sure opening more businesses is the smartest thing to do but we need to try. We had 3 before and would of had more but we couldn't find an employee who understood responsibility. It was 150 miles away and that's too far with the weather we have here. After a year and a half we just closed that one. We have some great employees now so we want to try again. If I find time to redo my table I will repost. I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone's Levi table. We have friends with twin sons who are Levi and Wrangler. Isn't that just to cute? Punk