Hi, Years ago, I built at 37' x 25' x [0.0 to 5'] garden pond using 45mil epdm liner. I only recently saw a catalogue of excellent bentonite clay-built ponds and now regret having used liner - or so I think, pending responses on this forum. The down-sides to using synthetic liner (vs clay): *Difficulty of repair should a tear occur - including from tree branches falling in. *A terminal life-span; may not last a full life-time, in case that matters to you *There is a potential that moles/voles and other ground-rodents may bore into the liner. Underlay - such as carpeting, I suppose, would have to be adequate. Tree roots may also piece the liner; not sure if this is also so of clay-based ponds. *You cannot plant things like cattail (Typha spp.), or other plant species which would puncture the liner; I'm not sure if this is still the case when it comes to clay-built ponds, however. *Any exposed area will reveal rubber, instead of a natural looking substrate: clay; you'll need more stone coverage to conceal the entire surface of the rubber - which may be an issue for those not wanting stone in their pond, due to maintenance issues. You'll also need the stone to conceal all of the unnatural creases. *For complicated designed, you will need to purchase far more liner then necessary. *For very large liners, there is difficulty in installation - I'd rather deal with the clay-pond challenges. So, I'm thinking of dumping my pond, cutting away all of the liner (leaving the bottom drain in place), and removing all of the underlay (carpet) and going with sodium bentonite. These are my concerns: 1. Will tree and shrub roots (particularly wetland species - i.e. willow, blackgum, and birch, etc.) penetrate the bentonite, being in search of water? There's no way I'm doing away with the awesome wetland plants I planted in my mesic soil around my pond - natives: sweetbay magnolia; paper birch; blackgum; common button bush; various shrub dogwood spp.; coastal sweet-pepper bush; silky willow; highbush blueberries; American black elderberry; and thicket-serviceberry. If so, I'd rather stick with liner. 2. After rain-storms, my water-table rises. For instance, if you dug a 5' deep pit in the yard during a dry month, there is no water; after it rains, there is water to the top. Excavating the pond confirmed this. Wouldn't the groundwater pressure (which would cause the rubber liner to lift if I were to drain the pond lower than half-way, as it is) cause the clay-seal to rupture? 3. I actually have a yellowish clay once you dig about 2' down. It is not impenetrable, but I guess it would be a little bit of extra protection, beyond the standard depth of applied bentonite clay. Do I have the proper conditions enabling me to build a clay pond? 4. Can I plant emergent aquatics with deep, penetrating roots in a clay pond? Plants like: cattail and common buttonbush? Thank you, Steve

I like Johnny's Seed - Seed Starting Calculator. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/e-PDGSeedStart.aspx??source=HomeSeedCalc0111. I will probably use this calculator this year to determine the planting dates and use Martha Stewart's Seed Starting Worksheet - www.marthastewart.com/seed-worksheet - to keep tract of what I do. I agree with you - I have got to keep better records of what/when I plant and when/what to fertilize. I finally organized an excel worksheet for ordering our vegetable seeds - I think I have that documented for easy seed ordering decisions. Here are a couple of photos of our soil sifter (we have rocky soil in places) - we built it to fit our wheel barrow so it does not move once I place it on the wheel barrow. It works pretty good for sifting soil in a small area. I go down the garden row and throw in surface rocks then dump the rocks in my 4-wheel trailer and dump the wheel barrow of dirt back in the garden. Thought it might also come in handy for sifting soil for the Soil block mixture. FYI RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: karin_mt 4 (My Page) on Thu, Dec 30, 10 at 12:21 I like both of those web resources for seed starting. The Johnny's one is particularly cool. I found that the hardest thing was forecasting the frost-free date inside my greenhouse so I could predict when to start plants that are destined to stay inside. And yes, a customized Excel sheet is a great way to go! I have an Excel database that starts from the very beginning of our gardens, so I have a pretty good history of what I've planted each year, where it's from and how it did. There are a few gaps though, notably which type of raspberry variety is where. I also have a little bar graph that I use to track the planting dates, exciting weather events, bloom periods and key harvests. Each year I print out the template, then fill in the bars by hand over the relevant dates. This gives a very interesting comparison of your growing climate from year to year. Maybe someday these will be key pieces of climate data? The note-taking is also helpful for reflection - it helps you firm up your thoughts. Now, your soil screener looks like a very nice tool. I like that it fits firmly on the wheel barrow. What do you do with all the rocky stuff that is left over? Maybe you'll have enough for a stone border? Do you have alkaline soil too? Do you find that your soil gets clumpy, even when it's nice soil? That's something I've noticed lately. Even though the soil is beautifully textured (not clay), it forms hard clumps. I am wondering if this is from alkalinity and the particles being inclined to stick together. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: 7000feet 3 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 31, 10 at 10:40 Your method for keeping notes is helpful! The Salt River runs through our property (a mild to raging stream depending on the runoff and irrigation needs - so I return the rocks to their rightful owner - the river. We have great soil because we are on an ancient river bed but the bad part is the top soil varies from 0-36" depending on the swells. We tried to locate our garden on deep top soil but still had to haul off large rocks in the beginning and now sift the soil as we plant and haul off the small rocks. I haven't tested our PH but is alkaline soil like yours. It does get clumpy but try to keep it moist during germination and use a lot of mulch to keep the walk areas dry/walkable. We add manure every fall before plowing the garden. We purchased sifted top soil for the GH and added a lot of vermiculite, peat moss & compost - not problems with GH soil. Here is a photo of what works well for us to remove rocks from our garden. I purchased this wonderful dumping trailer that hooks on my 4-wheeler. I rake the rocks in a row and use a manure fork to throw them in the trailer - then dump the rocks on the river bed with their cousins. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: soonergrandmom Z6 Grove (My Page) on Sat, Jan 1, 11 at 16:26 I have used the mini-block maker for years. I use either Jiffy Mix or ProMix with it. With ProMix you may have to throw out a small stick or two, but it holds together fine. I didn't know about the attachment for the medium block maker that makes the hole for the little one to fit into until several years after I bought mine, and I never remember to order it. So I don't use the two blocks together. Some things grow so rapidly that they need to be started in the medium size, but I start all tomato and pepper seeds in the tiny block and pot up to small containers when they get their first real leaves or when they appear to be a good strong seedling. Some things I don't need to plant 20 of, so I write the name on a popsicle stick, lay the popsicle stick between the row of blocks and slide the blocks over in groups of five to a small piece of foil. I crimp the foil up a little to hold the stick so I don't lose the name. I don't make real plant markers until I am sure I have good transplants. I make the permanent marker at the time I put them in their first small container. I am much more likely to plant 5 seeds of 4 varieties of tomato than I am to plant 20 of the same kind, so it works well for me. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: ngrrsn 7 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 11, 12 at 1:33 Would like to know more about the tunnel construction; why the wire mesh instead of pvc or waterline pipe? What is the mesh sizing? Is this welded wire? What size is the wire (#10,12,14)? How easy is it to form the wire? Is it fairly strong, or does it bend easy? Why the gaps between sections of wire? How is the wire secured to the ground? What is the height of the tunnel at the center line? I am very interested in this. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: Hudson...WY 3 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 9:09 The mesh is 47" 12 1/2 gauge Field Fence available at most farm supply stores - a full roll is 330' but most stores have smaller rolls as well. I cut the fence in 6' lengths with small bolt cutter or wire cutter and cut the vertical wire such that there is 6" of wire on both sides of the hopes to push into the ground to anchor the fence. The center height is approx. 24". I plant in wide rows of 30". The mesh size is 6" squares (for easy reach-in, weeding etc.) although the bottom couple of rows are a bit smaller. I gap the fence in the rows approx. 18" to reduce the cost and because the row cover does not sag with the gap. I like the fence because it will last many years and I live in a climate where we have had snow every month of the year and periods of hail or strong wind. The fence does an excellent job holding up the weight of the snow and withstanding the wind/hail etc. It pulls out easy at season end and stores by stacking one inside the other. I have never tried PVC pipe so I am not in a position to compare. I am sure this fence method is more expensive but I like the way it performs. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: Hudson...WY none3 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 10:44 This Years Broccoli using the tunnel method - keeps out the insects too. I usually plant veggies in the garden with the row cover the 1st week of may or earlier if I can work the soil. Without the row cover, there is a threat of frost until the middle of June and after the end of August. Well worth the effort! RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: ngrrsn 7 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 17:18 Thanks! That helped a lot! I Appreciate the follow up. 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Everyone just laugh along with us. It's free & soooo good for you. I'm glad Shirley found a good use for the upcycled binder piece from a zippered binder from my son. It had frayed beyond repair again and was previous repaired by my daughter with duct tape, so two kids used it hauling a lot of places. Now it's a hanger for Shirley's things by her computer. Great idea by the way because there are lots of thin binders that get beat up here, too, but the rings weren't large enough for the garden tools like this one was. I didn't take any pics of what I made to send. Shirley, do you know how to upload pics to GWeb for Heidi to see? Description of how I made the book cover: I folded a brown paper sack to slide the ends of the front & back covers. I used hot glue to seal the sack to itself, but not to the book. I laid 2 scraps of upholstery samples side by side to cover the front. They already have pinked edges & I only cleaned up the side that was attached in the sample book. I placed another smaller piece overlapping both of the 1st pieces for the pocket or pouch gluing it in place on the sides & bottom. Next to it I attached another smaller rectangle for the pen & pencil. It's a bit tight, so hope it loosens up, but at least you won't lose the pen or pencil out of it. The denim blue & white color scheme looked nice on the brown paper, so that's how I picked them. I also selected one of the Sunset books that is the same size as the Ortho garden books, so if you have another thin volume you're using to carry around with you for reading in the garden or while waiting at dr's office you can slip that book inside the cover instead. Hope that helps, Corrine

Update: The event was yesterday and it was a wonderful success! It was sunny and 90 degrees but we were only outside for a brief time - maybe 10 minutes. I fully intended to wear the white suit that smh found but I had a wardrobe malfunction at the last minute. The belt broke! I had already ordered the navy blue dress and would have returned it but the return shipping to the UK was high so I ended up keeping it. I wore that dress and it was really flattering and quite nice. I wore simple gold ball earrings and a gold chain link bracelet and it was professional and comfortable. BTW, I was very impressed with the quality of the Winser London dress - if you find something you like and there is a free shipping promotion, I highly recommend. Thank you to everyone who helped with ideas and suggestions. I still love the white suit but need to figure out how to fix the belt :(. I can also say that the Oribe hairspray was fabulous! Thanks mimi! Simple Dress