If in doubt, always use organic practices in veg. gardens. Commercials always make these combo products seem like the magic elixir. Scary.

If you want to poison the soil with a safe product, get some 20 Mule Team Borax laundry detergent and start shaking it out. Nothing will ever grow again. Plants need a little boron to exist but if you get just a little too much, BAM! It's all over. The tarp might work. Use the silvered ones as they block more of the light than any of the others. What I would do is cover it with deep mulch? Mulches do not completely prevent growth but they do make it very easy to pull weeds. The roots cannot get a good grip in the loose mulch. And the kids can play on top of the mulch. Our local playgrounds are covered in mulch.

Interesting thoughts -- we could all improve on paperwork storage in our homes. Two things I think I'm doing well that differ from the above mentioned Script, and someone else might find some ideas in my methods: Taxes. Yes, like Script, I am scrupulous about maintaining records for my taxes. About a dozen years ago I went to the office supply and bought two big boxes of BRIGHT GREEN folders (green like money). I labeled them Taxes 2000 ... Taxes 2001 ... Taxes 2002 ... Taxes 2003 ... and so on. Given my family's typical lifespan, I made enough green folders to take me to age 110 -- probably more than I'll need, but I'm ready! They're all stored in my file cabinet, taking up very little space. Now when I receive anything tax-related -- a charitable receipt, an end-of-the-year bank statement, whatever -- I have a place to file it. In April, I have a place to file a copy of my taxes, and I can go back and see previous tax years. For the rest of my life, this system is in place. Death folder. Ours is a notebook. Two identical notebooks, actually, since we have two children. Our girls are young adults now, but they've never dealt with an estate -- even if they don't open it 'til they're old, it'll be useful to them. It contains a lot of stuff: - A personal letter to the two of them - A list of our wishes about funeral and items we'd like donated to various family members or charities - A list of things they must do immediately; it starts with going to our house and taking possession of the dog, but it also includes small details like canceling our voting registration and destroying any medicines in the house. At every turn this list includes addresses and phone numbers, including the lawyer we suggest for probate, the funeral home our family's always used, and family members who should be contacted. - A copy our will; they know what's in it -- everything split between the two of them - A list of our financial assets -- bank accounts, investments, insurance, deeds/maps of real estate ... when our youngest became a legal adult, we made the two girls co-beneficiaries of every account; note that this was done before either was married, so our two kids -- not future son-in-laws -- will own these items. - A list of the bills we pay each month -- electricity, phone, even the guy who cuts our grass. - Official copies of our birth certificates, our marriage certificates, and the girls' birth certificates -- they might not be needed, but the girls won't have to scramble to find them - A flashdrive with all of the above in digital format plus photographs that might be useful in putting together the funeral Our rule: We keep two years of tax returns in the notebooks ... the reason being that someday an accountant will file our final estate tax return, and he or she will want our last two years of returns -- so every April we pull out the notebook, discard one old return and insert the newest ... so our rule is that every April we look over the notebook and update anything that's changed. For example, last year we changed bank accounts, and someday we hope to add items concerning grandchildren to the book. Our girls know that the notebooks are stored in the safe, and they know where the key to the safe is hidden, and they know it's labeled with a misleading name so that a thief wouldn't look at it twice. Last thought on this notebook: Though this project took us the better part of a year --- we kept remembering one more thing, one more thing that really should be included -- we didn't find it difficult emotionally. I suspect that if we were older and/or one of us were in poor health, it might've been different.

Do I research? Yes...and no. For example, I knew I wanted 30" double wall ovens. I knew I had an extremely tight budget and couldn't afford to spend more than 2K. I searched....but always sorted results by lowest to highest price. I read review after review BUT I also kept in mind that as long as I was buying standard size appliances, I could easily upgrade those in the future. I checked frequently for sales and discounts at Sears, Lowes, Home Depot and Best Buy. When I finally found one that was the right size for the right price I bought it immediately. If I ever finish my complete remodel, I feel almost hesitant to share it here since it is in the vein of the "normal, poor mans" remodel. But then I remember what brought me to this site to begin with. We have DIYed essentially everything and every time I had a question or doubt during our remodel I would start searching the internet and you know what? The top one or two results I got would invariably be from GW. It was THEN, six months into the process, that I finally decided to go straight to the horses mouth as it were and create an account. This site and its dedicated users truly are a treasure trove of information. My poor husband has become quite accustomed to me saying "well, so and so on GW" I also, in regards to research and choosing, have always kept my parents rule in mind. I can't count the number of times I heard my parents say (paraphrasing here), "compare every item; the cheapest is crap and poorly made, the most expensive and you are paying for the name and prestige." Thank God for THAT lesson; and thank God for the internet, where I don't have to rely on word of mouth from my next door neighbors. When I'm researching, I almost always throw out the most expensive immediately because I won't pay for a name or the prestige tyed to it. Then I look for reviews, NUMEROUS reviews. Product A may sound great and in my price range and it has great reviews....all 5 of them. Product B might be older and a little more (or less) expensive but it is 500+ reviews. Based on that info, I choose product B. It might not be the fanciest or most high tech but it does its job for the price I'm willing to pay and that makes it perfect for me.