Bon, I know that you cannot just take down the welding tarp after he put it up to shade the plants, but I do hope it is far enough away from the plants that there is good air flow or the tarp will trap hot air between the tarp and the ground and the seedlings will roast. The reason we speak often of shade cloth is because it is precisely woven to allow in specific percentages of light. Plants cannot grow well if they are too shaded. So, with the tarp, I hope it isn't keeping them too shaded. In the absence of shade cloth, something more sheer like sheer curtain panels or even bedsheets would allow partial light filtration which is what you want....just something to file away for future reference. My strongest shade cloth is 50% so the plants still get half the light, and the one I normally use in the garden is 40%. Clay gets a bad rap because of its propensity to compact and pack down and restrict root growth, as well as its tendency to bake hard as concrete and to hold water like mad after heavy rainfall. However, it is very, very fertile. All you have to do to make it better is to mix in compost and other organic matter to break it up so it doesn't compact so much. If all you ever add to it is chopped/shredded autumn leaves (I cut mine up by running the lawnmower over them) or grass clippings, it will show amazing improvement from one year to the next. When we were looking for land to buy, I was adamant that I wanted clay and not sand. Sandy loam wouldn't have been bad, but there isn't much of that in our county...the soil tends to be either sugar sand or clay. It is a whole lot easier to improve clay than sand because clay is already so fertile--all you really have to work on is its friability and texture. With sand, nutrients are low so you have to add a lot more to it to improve it. Rain? What is that? Larry, That's great news about not finding nematodes. Seems like you may have taken care of that problem. Dawn

Hi Azmom, ".... in all reality and historical observation, there is ZERO ultimate risk at "doing nothing." So the situation we are in does not count as a risk? ... *PLEASE* read what is actually written... not just what you are imagining. I didn't say the current situation isn't risky or painful... but rather that "doing nothing" does not INCREASE the risks at hand IN THE END (which is what "ultimately" means.) In contrast, blind stabs in the dark DO increase risks, significantly. "Doing something" merely for the purpose of "doing ANYthing" is bad medicine. I thought one of the causes of the mess we are facing is exactly the lacking of governmental economic intervention, such as proper regulations, supervisions and oversights. Only if you refuse to look below the surface symptoms to see the actual causes. Virtually *ALL* of the "free market problems" occured because government had ELIMINATED certain natural risks from the markets, and all players in the markets recognized that and loaded up the skew. You can't fix a cause with more cause. It is obvious lots of people have been putting in tremendous effort trying to find the solution. May be not from you, but surely they have earned respect from me and many others. Efforts get very little respect... results get respect. I surely feel so far we have been getting his compensationÂs worth from the new president. A) FIRST OFF, I'm not at all unhappy with Barack Obama, and I suspect he'll do well if he can get beyond the idjets surrounding him. B) "His compensation's worth" (that made me chuckle... the most UNDER-compensated pressure-cooker position on the planet, if we only count the dollars directly paid. ;~) When a person is gravely ill, we would not suggest doing nothing and letting the illness run through the course. You're clearly not familiar with the facts of life, and the facts of medicine. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY... you're not using our language appropriately. "Gravely ill" implies that death is imminent. Our economy will naturally right itself from its cycles... if we let it alone, we are not going to disappear from the planet. Then why with current sickening economy, we resist of doing something? Because "doing something" (if the WRONG something, when unknown) will make the patient WORSE. The primary health care commitment is "ABOVE ALL ELSE, DO NO HARM!!!" If you do not have a job, no savings, no access to credit and medical insurance, but with a family to raise and a home to keep, would you still suggest the best way is doing nothing? As an INDIVIDUAL, no. As the GOVERNMENT, "it depends" (on what we actually know and understand.) It is not arguable that the most recent year's worth of intervention (and that lays 90% of the blame on the previous monkeys) has been a complete waste of everyone's time, effort and our dearly needed tax money. Think we'll learn how to leave the scab...

Here is ear full.... I found a new still in box double burner electric Hotplate. It sure came in handy while I was apt hunting and living in a motel while I was in community college. There has been dozens of other things over the years that I have found. One time a crushed watch with real jewels ( like rubies, pearls and opal's ) and a few diamonds that I sold for $50...I think back now and realized I was cheated as the jewels and diamonds were worth much more but I guess I needed the money. Found a $20 in grocery store, bought my daughter a school jacket with that money. Have found a ten here and a five there...on and on I could go. So many other things I have found that I could write a book. Bought a purse once and it had $9 inside...the purse was a buck. A dollar pair of pants that I found a ten inside the pocket. Bought a real leather coat at a thrift for .25 and found a whole pocket of change. Have dug up gold rings with my metal detector, watches that worked and other types of jewelry. Found $36 wad of bills on floor of Walmart isle, ( no name ) turned it in to the manager with my ph #, someone called claiming it and I gave directions to her to come to the house and pick it up....no thank you after I handed the money to her. Found a Disney trinket with a name, called and the father came to the house and said his daughter had lost it and he was nice, no reward though. When Sams Club first opened I found a pkg of two in a cart on the very far end of the parking lot, there wasn't anyone around so I didn't feel guilty. Another time at Sams I found two huge rolls of A. foil, again no one around . I found two full bags of groceries at a Winn Dixie shopping center on the other coast of Florida, t but I took it inside the manager took my name and said if no one claimed them within a couple of days it was mine. I remember there was a beef roast, chicken and canned stuff. so it was a lot of groceries I found. He called me to come pick it up. I think God had a big hand in that as He knew I was poor and hungry during a difficult period in my life. Found two twenty dollar bills but it was 2 separate times, wind blown money on ground outside. Ten dollar bill in my drawer where I keep underware only..nothing with pockets in that drawer. Odd. Not very many losses except one I will never forget, someone stole quite a sum of money out of my purse while I was in Beauty College.

Hello, I'm the client in the picture above... John went MIA on me so I'm handling on my own. It's unfortunate because he was great. In the end I went with Duradeck Tiledeck as the primary water proofing membrane. I'll set the Ditra Drain on the tiledeck and then set the tile. I considered eliminating the Ditra Drain from the build up and depending on a good setting materials (Granirapid or alike). In the end I opted for the Ditra Drain. In theory it does all the wonderful things that Schluder claims (uncouling, vapour balancing, drainage for water) but in the end what sold me was I likened it to rain screen on a building envelope. I've never believed that water would travel through thinset any reasonable distance which everyone seems to tell me is the case. It's just going to sit there and saturate if exposed to continuous moisture, and at some point hopefully evaporate. With the delta drain there is the opportunity for evaporation from under the tile as well, which in my mind is a big benefit. With a good tile install, sealed grout, and well maintained I'm not expecting much water to come rolling out on the front side of the deck through the Ditra Drain. I'm thinking it can't hurt to ensure the drain mat is able to breath from both the front and back edges and not just plug up the back edge with thinset. I will say that there appears to not be one person I spoken to, nor read online that has a consistent install method. It appears this is not a common installation. I'm approaching with extreme caution. I've already learned a few lessons that I hoped to not. My first installer use a thinset mix that was too dry and the ditra drain was not properly secured. Out it's going to come out, thinset smooth and take two 1/4" higher.