If you are experienced at container growing, why not do it one more summer, on top of a new 'lasagna' garden? Smother and cover with all the organic matter you can find this summer, with potted plants sitting on top. Next spring - voila! Lovely garden is ready, no hard labor necessary (except to find, spread OM.) The only tools I know for such chores are tillers, shovels, maybe a maddock if you can't do anything with a shovel. Sand + clay = concrete, no doubt it's hard to dig in! Organic matter added to the soil will make it darker, softer, more moderate to both high and low moisture levels. Mulch, leaves, lawn trimmings (as long as you've mowed before grass made seeds,) small clippings from other plants, compost, pine needles, anything you have available should help. The more diverse selection of materials you use, the more help it will be to the soil/plants. As they decompose, the microbes and other organisms in the soil will move the bits of material to the proper levels to be used by the plants.

These posts are older and by now the original person who started this thread most likely has completed the job. Hopefully this will help anyone else who comes across this thread. I would have to say everything has a trade off when it comes to paint and painting. I refinish kitchen cabinets for a living and have changed my system through trial and error. There is no question that the best looking results will come from a professional who has the correct expensive spray equipment. If you want a factory looking finish, your cabinets will have to be sprayed. However, if you are looking for an antique look where you like to see brush strokes through glazing then you will have to do it by hand. Anyone can work and paint with FPE but your potential mistakes may cost more. FPE or Fine Paints of Europe are very nice paints and I use them often on jobs. They do have a high quality product in a different class than what you find here in the states and until you use FPE you just will not understand. I primarily use all water based products to refinish kitchen cabinets. The products now days have come a long way and the differences between oil based and water based paints are narrowing quickly. Strong VOCs in a home are no laughing matter. These products will also off gas for quite some time. I find that dust is usually not that big of an issue unless you are working with high gloss paints and kitchens are rarely if ever high gloss. *The kitchen should be sealed off with cheap thin plastic to keep dust both in and out. *During my prepping, I always have a box fan blowing out of a nearby window. This will help suck dust out of your sealed off kitchen. The fan should be sealed on all sides so air movement is only flowing out of your kitchen. It will also help to suck any VOCs out while you are painting and to speed up drying time. *I find that after my initial prepping of degreasing and sanding that vacuuming the entire kitchen with a vacuum that has a high end filter is a good start. I then sponge mop the floors and mop right over the rosin paper. *At this point I usually will not start painting until the next day and will mop again once the dust has settled. *Using a $10 lint free zip-up suit also helps while painting. For any questions, feel free to email me. I am Chris with Specialty Cabinet Finishes and my email is SpecialtyCabinetFinishes@gmail.com My Strongest Recommendation: Kitchens can be done by a home owner but the final results really come down to how handy you are, painting experience, and following the proper steps throughout the process. If you are going to hire out the work, find a professional who purely or primarily does Kitchen cabinets, islands, and bathroom vanities. These are not the easiest items to paint. You are dealing with a lot more surface area than you think as well as corners and edges. Most painters out there don't 'do' kitchen cabinets. They paint walls and trim in high volume and that is nowhere near the same as a kitchen. Different products need to be used and in a different manner. If you do the work your self or hire out the refinishing of your kitchen cabinets, here is what should be taking place: 1.) Degreasing of all doors, drawers, and cabinet bodies. You can use a strong concentration of TSP or even Acetone which is a very strong degreaser. I would stay away from the acetone because of the fumes and fire danger. 2.) Sanding of all surfaces that will be painted. You want to sand after you degrease as to not work the oils on the surface back into the wood with the sandpaper. Each job is different but I would sand with a 150-180 grit sand paper. Sometimes 220 is needed. You do not need to sand down to bare wood, however you need to sand everything to get rid of any 'shine' to the old finish. Basically you are creating a surface to 'satisfy the suction' of the paint. 3.) Prime. You should always prime unless you are re-staining your cabinets. Most paints do not have the 'sticking potential' that a primer has. I primarily use water based primer but will use a shellac based primer such as Zinsser BIN for certain kitchens. A shellac based primer is needed for some older oak cabinets where tannins and oils leach out of the deep but tiny pin sized pores. You will not be able to sand this out or degrease. Stix by Insl-x is a good product, and surprisingly Zinsser 123 primer is very good once it has had time to cure. Your best bet is to always read the label and shop for a high quality product. There are too many to mention out there. You usually don't need to prime twice unless you have dark colors showing through. (As a note, you would want to use your swedish putty or grain filling putty before priming. It's a lot of work, messy, and usually not needed. I would try to apply several coats of primer before going that route. For small projects it's worth it but for a kitchen, it could turn into a nightmare project. Remember that you are dealing with a lot of surface area and ornamental relief. A wall is one thing, 25 doors and another 10 drawers is a whole other beast. 4.)Light sanding of the primer. Use 220 grit. Re-vacuum and mop afterwards. Wipe all surfaces down with a lightly damp lint free clothe. Don't use tack clothes which contain resins that will react to your water based paints in the next step. 5.) Base coat applied. This is your chosen paint color. You really need two coats here. Especially if the paint is being applied by a brush or roller. Ben Moore Satin impervo water based is a wonderful paint. Of course Fine Piants of Europe is incredibly nice as well. They are very helpful if you ever call them. 6.) Glaze- This does not need to be done and is purely used to change the aesthetics. If you are using a water based paint then a water based glaze is used. If you use a oil or alkyd paint then use an oil based glaze. Some of the new oil modified paints will require a oil based glaze. These paints are water clean up and you can dilute them with water but dry as an oil based paint. 7.) Clear Coat. I don't care what people may tell you or how many years experience they have, for kitchens all paint needs to be clear coated. Kitchens are not walls. You will have your hands on them multiple times everyday. You will bang pots against them and plates against them. They take a ton of abuse and then factor in the stovetop grease being splattered and water splashing. Again there are a ton of high quality clear coats out there and the water based clear coats have been improving every year to compete against the old oil based paints. For water based clear coats I would highly look at FPE, Target Coatings, and General Finishes clear coats. Call them for questions and advise to your specific kitchen. I hope this will help some of you. Again every painter will tell you something different. I just know what works for me and all I do is kitchen refinishing. If you have any questions feel free to email me. Chris at SpecialtyCabinetFinishes@gmail.com Here is a link that might be useful: Specialty Cabinet Finishes

Hey KimC! Yes...IDEALLY...do a thorough scuff-sand with 100-grit paper! It's the BEST way-period. Also YES...Latex primers are perfect over Oil paints (AFTER SANDING!). It's done all the time. You CAN use an Oil primer as well...AFTER SANDING! >>> Obviously, Latex topcoats are ideal over either type of primer. Sanding, in a sense, creates the "broom finish" that you need on sidewalks, so they're not slippery. Why don't you slip on broom-finish sidewalks?? Obviously it's because of the "surface-profile" that's created. SAME IDEA for scuff-sanding a smooth finish Oil (or ANY glossy) paint. You create a profiled surface that your new Latex primer can grip VERY well. In turn, your paint topcoats bond very well to the new primer. >>> Result?? * A paint/primer film that's bonded well, BOTH physically (from sanding), AND chemically (the paint-to-primer bond). * Thus, you have a paintjob that'll stand up to the hard-knocks of real life! * Make sure you're using at least a Satin-sheen paint! Faron

The new puppy chewed up the camera. Sounds like you did a nice job.