Maybe related or can point you in the right direction. I recently visited an area resort on Cape Cod where a golf course was being renovated. On a tour of the facility I asked why there was so much sand being put down and where the loam or topsil was. They put down atleast 8" of a 80% sand and 20% seed mix...and no loam or soil! Pretty sure it was rolled out. They were planting bent grass (tee boxes, fairways, greens) and bluegrass on the first cut. True they have drainage and irrigation, but I was surprised they were using a mix with primarily sand.

Re: Bugs/"Circle of Death" My father-in-law has one of those old time Bernz-o-Matic propane bug foggers...you know: the kind you light with a match and it sends out a "James Bond" smoke screen of bug killer? MAN! is that thing fun to use!!! If you let it warm up REAL GOOD (HOT!) before you pull the spray trigger it will send out enough fog to make the house disappear from view from the street. On a calm night it's like something from a 1950's horror movie. GREAT toy!

For four years, I did a booth at several local farmer's markets. I got into it because I had so many plants left over from wintersowing after I gave and swapped alot away. The hard part is finding a farmer's market that doesn't already have a plant seller, or at least one that didn't sell what you have to offer. I stopped because 1) two other vendors in my main market started carrying the same plants in the same sizes I was selling and 2) the new markets were charging too much for a booth. If you can overcome 1 and 2, and you still like the idea of selling (and making money at it) you have to also check out the answers to 3) does your state or county requiure a liscence to sell plants (Maryland does not) 4) convincing the market that since you are not selling food and have no employees, you don't need an expensive insurance policy 5) figure out how you are going to package your plants to sell. I got 3, 4 and 6 inch pots for free from swaps and generous neighbors as a way to recycle the plants. 6) figure out how you are going to label your plants, keeping in mind the large number of novice gardeners you need to sell plants to. 7) figure out your costs and prices including soil, seeds and lebels (ink if you are printing them out on your computer) Finally remember that early in the summer, the produce growers usually sell flowers and vegetable starters and hanging baskets until they have produce to sell. I made good money and some new friends my first three years. The last year, I just broke even and decided that it wasn't a worthwhile investment of my time. But for a few years it was a nice second income. I know other s just do a plant "garage sale" which is easier if you can get the traffic.

Yes, it does trancegemini, hence the plus symbol with an exclamation mark in brackets. (!!!) I do think the average temp for summer would be low to mid thirties though. I reckon when jxa asked what we do for grass, he/she probably meant what do you have for a lawn, and the answer would probably not be very much at home on the Aussie plants forum as they are mostly non-natives. I can't think of a native grass that would suit the scenario described except Microleana, seed of which is hard enough to source for someone quite enthusiastic about natives, and its anyones guess as to whether it would survive the conditions described, likewise Diacondra (although the seed is more easily sourced). Popi, I see no problem with the request either, I merely expressed that it is unlikely that it will get a suitable answer. By all means, encourage an interest in native plants, but be judicious and honest about the information and species you suggest, given the extremes of the climate. Yeah there might be someone with a knowledge of natives that comes from a somewhat similar climate but in the several years that I have come to this forum, I have yet to see their contributions. (I struggle to think of any of the areas that would freeze here in winter, reaching those summer temps as well as having bucketloads of rain.) As someone who actually has attempted a native 'lawn', I speak with some experience when I say it is MUCH easier said than done, and given the context of the request, there are more suitable choices that may require less maintainance than an Australian native lawn. I really wish the answer was different but in my experience, with a mixture of dantonia, chloris, microleana and diacondra, that has been in the ground for several years, the result barely satisfies my aesthetics, and I am one of the more enthusiastic people you will meet when it comes to native grasses. I was asked to write an article about the use of Oz natives in lawns and declined because I thought encouraging people to grow a lawn that may eventually dissappoint them would do more harm than good to the promotion of native plants in a domestic context. The situation is that most of the native species that are low enough to suit a lawn scenario are winter active and actually require considerable water in summer to stay green, possibly more water than a summer active non-native like couch. I don't water mine, because it is a ludicrous waste of a scarce resource - hence the reason it looks awful in summer, it is however gorgeous in winter and nearly redeems itself at this time of year. But given that the ground is frozen in winter where jxa lives i presumme a winter active grass would be of little use. There is a low growing form of themeda, which is summer active, but as already mentioned I doubt it would suit the situation described, if it survived the winter. In my experience all of the species except diacondra and danthonia are relatively difficult to...