We have a garlic farm in piedmont area of NC and plant shallots in the fall. They start growing in the winter and ours are up now. Last year I found a few shallots we had not fall planted and planted them in spring they never did well but with the drought not much did. Our summers come quick and hot and don't give garlic & shallots much chance to develop before the heat tells them they are finished so they do better being fall planted so they can grow some in the winter. Right now my shallots are 1-3" tall and some of our garlic is 8-12" tall. March is the month where the garlic can grow a foot quickly because the garlic has well established roots from our warm fall and winter temps. Hope your shallots do well and this fall try fall planting The garliclady

The finish is undergoing a chemical reaction called hydration. It will bleed off excess no soluble calcium. This is the dust. Turn off the skimmer while brushing and for a 1/2 hour after. You don't want the excess calcium to harden on the finish or you will see splotches. The vacuum could potentially suck the plaster from the gunite. The plaster isn't strong enough to withstand the force. The finish is still soft and the wheels can leave impressions in the finish. The same is true for pool sweeps. Brushing will also help prevent stains from anything that falls in the pool. The fresh finish is at it's most susceptible. Don't miss spots repeatedly. Don't miss days. You spent how much? Yes, there should be weirs in the skimmer mouth. Your pool is an artificial life form. Consider it a newborn and treat it accordingly. Feed it correctly. Test it regularly. Scott

Our pool was pebbletec'd yesterday and the guys just showed up to do the acid wash. I've got 3 hoses all layed out, ready to start the fill. I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. My wife had to stop me from jumping in the empty pool on several occasions. Our PB told us we could start swimming as soon as the water reached the tile, even before the official start up of the equipment and chemicals, though we should expect the water to be quite cold. I'm in SoCal and we've had temperatures reaching triple digits, so "quite cold" sounds pretty good.

Step 1: Get a good test kit. This really is so important. Strips are notoriously inaccurate and pool store personnel are not always careful or using the equipment properly which leads to Garbage In - Garbage Out results. I use the TF-100 from www.tftestkits.net which comes with a DPD-FAS for testing free and combined chlorine levels, Alk, pH, Calcium Hardness, and CYA levels. Put simply, while seemingly a bit pricey up front, you will KNOW where your levels are of these important factors. Step 2: Get the pump on a timer. Step 3: Test the fill water. Today. Take it to a pool store for testing. If they use 6 way strips for tests, find a different store. Step 4: Plug the numbers into www.poolcalculator.com, a great tool! It will tell you what to add. Alk is always 1st. Use baking soda. Wal-Mart 12 lb bag $7 pH Either Muriatic Acid or Bi-Sulfate to lower or Borax, Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda aka Dense Ash/pH Increaser Clorox Bleach for the initial. 5 gals of 10/12% liquid chlorine is way more than you will need unless the water is untreated and has known clarity issues. The pool calculator will tell you how much to get to a shocking level. Shock is a process, not a product. Scott