If it is repelling water, soapy water can work wonders. Just mix a little soap into a bucket of water and pour over the area. I've bought shredded wood much that repelled water like that and one dump of soapy water cured the problem. I have to say that the lasagna beds that I have made hold moisture better than any other areas of my yard, for years. Then I replenish with compost and organic mulches.I "lasagna-ed" two new tomato beds that we bulit last year. They are mulched with leaves and holding water extremely well. Another suggestion because you said you are new to gardening. Since you live in a hot climate, consider growing plants that are drought tolerant if you're growing flowers. I get frustrated as hell with plants that are water hogs. My established hydrangeas wimp out and wilt every afternoon when the sun hits them around 3. They're just hot, not dry. I kind of wilt then, too. They just have to suck it up and tolerate it. When temps start to drop in the evening they perk right up. I suggest that you get a moisture meter as suggested above. They cost about $5 or $6 at Home Depot. Your plants might be wilting just because they're hot. Or they can wilt and turn yellow from too much water, too. It's easier to kill a plant by over watering than to kill it with too little. Karen

If you haven't washed it yet sprinkle talcum powder on it and let it sit for a couple of hours. The talcum powder absorbs the grease and when you brush it off the stain is gone. This always works on fresh grease stains, I don't know about old ones. Something to file away for future if not now. If it has been washed I second sweetbean. Lestoil is a great cleaner. but you might try anything that has a degreaser in it. Just test on an inconspicuious place to see if it removes the color too.

Thanks for continued tips on this topic. I seem to have come up with an acceptable routine for the TL and the washing results are better. I do use hot water for towels and sheets (the washer doesn't have ATC so I am able to get 120F wash temp with the water heater set to 140F). I still miss the Sanitary cycle in my former washer, but I can live with the results from the TL. I am much better now at selecting the right water level for the size of the load and I figured out that I can actually add more water after the agitation starts if it looks like the water level is too low. My loads tend to be on the small side since it's only me, so I don't have any risk of overloading the washer. I also run an extra rinse on most cycles (permanent press seems to have 2 deep rinses programmed in so I don't need to run an extra rinse, all I do is run a spin cycle at a higher rpm because otherwise everything comes out too wet for my liking). I have also started soaking or prewashing some items like sweaty gym clothes and that helps too. So I think I will stick with this washer for now. The only complaint I have is increased pilling - my front loader was super gentle on clothes and the TL is definitely not. BTW, I really like the gas dryer that comes with it - it's quick but it does not overdry items.

Gorgeous kitten!! Congratulations on the new family member! Nothing quite as nice as this. :) For our cat I am using Ecover Zero liquid due to no fragrance, more natural ingredients (I hope) and lastly, because of no optical brighteners. Cats groom themselves and while I don't know if OBs are harmful, I'd like to remove that chemical from my cat's 'diet'. They ingest whatever is on their fur when they groom and my cat loves her blankies. Spends lots of time on them grooming herself. We used to use Nellie's ages ago, and it did a good job on cat blankets, so you could use that since it's in the house. No Ob's in Nellies.