Many "landscapers" and some "horticulturists" will come in and plunk down a thin layer of soemthing they call "topsoil" and plant and then for the next several years you try, diligently, to keep the plants from dying spending a lot of money on fertilizers and sprays to keep insect pests and plant diseases from consuming those plants. Better is to take the time now to make the soil you have into a good, healthy soil that will grow strong and healthy plants that can better resist insect pests and plant diseases. Your soil should be well endowed with organic matter so it is evenly moist but well drained. While animal manure can add nutrients it does need more vegetative waste to help hold those nutrients in the root zone and provide a home to the Soil Food Web that will be feeding those plants. If your soil is sand the organic matter will fill in the very large pore spaces between the sand particles which will help hold both nutrients and moisture in the soil. If you have clay soil that same organic matter will open up spaces between the soil particles so your plants roots can move around and find both the nutrients and moisture that are now more readily available. Perhaps these simple soil tests might be of some help. 1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. A good, reliable soil test, maybe from your state universities Cooperative Extension Service would also be a good idea.

I was surfing through them today and noticed one member name that came up 3 different times...all spelled the exact same way. I think part of the problem might be with the 2 different search boxes. If one is told to do a search in the box found at the bottom of the page, they will get all posts for that member on ALL forums. Now as most of us veterans know, if one does a search in the search box found just below the list of 'threads' then the search can be narrowed to just searching the Rate and Review Forum. Possibly we should start a Suggestion (and crusade) to have to search box put up at the top of the page and it be just specifically for search results on the Review Forum. There is a search box at the top at the Pond Forum that will yield only the results for that forum. There is also one at the very bottom of the page which will yield posts for the whole site...very confusing. There was a suggestion about this b4 the Suggestion Box was emptied at the old Suggestion and 'comment' Forum. I agree...it is gonna be a real mess in time. Maybe it would help if when any of us see a second thread started for the same member, we post a link to the second one of them and maybe request that future posts be made to the thread that was started first....or you know what I mean...don't ya? I hesitate to do anything myself, as I don't want to appear as any more of a busy body than I already have...lol Sue Here is a link that might be useful: Ponds and Aquatic Plants Forum

I'll stick with the scientists on this one. Good for you, as virtually every major scientific organization on the planet has stated that man-made climate change is likely real, and here now. And the non-scientific denialist organizations admit it too (albeit the report was buried), as I said above, & they insisted that the denialists "theories Âdo not offer convincing arguments against the conventional model of greenhouse gas emission-induced climate change". Plus, the 400/650...then 602 "scientists" quote was indeed from press releases that announced reports authored by the Swift Boat creator (a report written by a PR guy, not a scientist). The excerpt from the WashTimes was a cut-paste from a press release announcing a book (written by a PR guy for CFACT, not a scientist). Both of these statements are mendacious distortions of reality, well-documented and long-ago refuted. Fortunately, decision-makers and their staffs are not duped by press releases and most are fully versed in the scientific evidence (which is why we have maps depicting USDA Zone changes). Dan

You have no idea how close I came in my previous post to asking if there was a heat mat underneath. I advise you to talk to your installer before he does the repair and ask what happens if the heat matt is destroyed during the repair. Making repairs over a heat mat makes things considerably more delicate. It depends on the type of mat and where/how it was installed, and how the installer intends to make the repair. I have a squawk box that I made from parts at Radio Shack. It's essentially a continuity tester. I clip it to the leads of the heat mat when I'm working. If at any time one of the wires is broken, the continuity of the circuit is interrupted and a buzzer sounds. He definitely needs something like that, and it needs to be used during the repair. Mongo