I have to wonder if the previous owners of the house, when they were preparing it for sale, decided to make the lawn look better by applying some chemical treatments to kill weeds and green up the grass. These chemicals can kill trees, especially conifers. --Spruce

I went through this same mix-up last winter. By doing lots of research, I realized that Dimorphotheca seems to have flowers in the yellow range only, is annual, and has flat,papery, pale seeds. It seems that Osteospermum has shades in white/blue/purple shades, is perennial, has little brown triangular ridged seeds, and the seeds are quite expensive when compared to Dimorphotheca. For this reason, I am trying my best to stick to the Latin names if I have them, as my friend who owns a seed company has been trying to impress upon me for years! The Dimorphotheca seeds I got in a trade this year have germinated and are doing well. A gardening neighbour had promised to split some of her Osteospermums this spring and share them with me but unfortunately, she passed away suddenly of a stroke on Dec. 26. I will miss her so much this year. Her house has been sold and I hope the new owners don't destroy her garden. She was 3 years into a 5 year project to create a meadow garden and it was coming along so nicely. I'll buy seeds and plant them in her memory. Northerner.

I have a 48" CC and my large oven is the same as the 36". While I also roast veggies all the time, I've never had three sheets full. But if I were in your situation, I would put all three trays into the oven at the same time. I just wouldn't put them side-by-side. What I would most likely do is use the top three racks and put one tray on each rack. But I wouldn't center the trays. I'd offset them. On the top rack, I'd put the tray on the right side about an inch from the wall. On the second rack I'd put a tray on the left side, again about an inch from the wall. On the third rack, I'd put the tray on the right side, again about an inch or so from the wall. With the convection on, there should be plenty of circulation to enable the veggies to brown. If the top rack position is too tight because your pan has high sides, then I'd use the middle three rack positions with the same staggered tray layout.

I believe that is one of bic9's golf greens. That is nice!! Modern organic fertilizers have no salt. Bic9 may be under the influence of the old style (Rodale school) of fertilizers made from composted cattle dung or even uncomposted cattle dung. That's not the case anymore, except for the Rodalians still clinging to compost. Modern bagged commercial organic fertilizer is practically salt free. If you buy raw ground grains at the feed store, those might have salt added to make it palatable to livestock, but not enough to make a difference. A few years ago morpheuspa tried to overdose his lawn with organic fertilizer by applying, if I'm not mistaken, 50 pounds per 1,000 square feet every week for the entire growing season. He has not mentioned any salt build up during that time, but it would be an interesting question to ask him. Definitely time to mow the tall bermuda. You'll scalp it at first, but that's okay. Take it down gradually, one notch lower every 3-4 days until you're at the bottom notch. Then raise it up one notch. Shampoo is used to soften hard soil. Core aeration is also used to soften hard soil. The difference is that core aeration seldom works, but shampoo seems to work every time. It works by breaking the surface tension of the water allowing it to soak in deeper and faster into the soil. The deeper moisture extends the time for evaporation which keeps the soil a little cooler over a longer time. That cooler and moister soil is the perfect environment for the beneficial fungi which do the work of softening your soil. It takes them a few weeks to repopulate the soil, but when they do, they redevelop your soil structure opening up bazillions of microscopic pores for air and water to penetrate. They swell when moist to push the soil particles apart. They shrink when dry to allow air and water in more easily. You asked, so sorry for the biology discussion. Shampoo is not a trick. Surfactants have been used for generations only on sports fields, because the only surfactants thought to work were very expensive. Well, when you boil it all down, shampoo is a surfactant almost identical to the expensive ones. Shampoo only costs you a few cents to try it. The rate is 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Use any shampoo you can see through. Apply the shampoo and follow up with 1/2 to 1 inch of water. If it is not soft the next time it rains or you water deeply, apply it again. I applied to my lawn twice in 2011 and it still gets almost too soft to walk on after it rains. If you want to check how hard or soft your soil is, try sticking a screwdriver into it now, before you spray, and a couple weeks after you spray. If you do that before and after core aeration you'll find no difference, but with shampoo you'll definitely see a difference.