I'm not sure that the fertilizer was the primary cause of the grass greening up again. I've noticed my grass go dormant in the late summer, and now it's growing really well due to the cooler weather and the rain we've been having. Other can chime in here on whether KBG and/or PR are more susceptible to going dormant than, say Tall Fescue. For next year, consider getting a soil test done now, so you'll know what the lawn is lacking. And it helps to add compost to the yard, because it supplies organics to the soil allowing all the beneficial bugs to do their thing and naturally loosen up the soil. This might allow the grass roots to extend farther down and help sustain them through the hot summer months.

What kind of mint is common mint? I did not see that in the nursery, I will go look for that. I already composted the spearmint. I love seeing the photos of your garden. It's very well developed.

P-pal - I didn't really notice a fragrance. But I must have a not-so-sensitive nose because I don't detect scent on a lot of the small ones. Although I must say that my australis ssp. tenuipes is blooming up a storm right now and I smell that one from three rooms away!! Mike, I think you're right. Because this is one I've had a lot of trouble with, I put it in a spot where I don't look at it often and thus it doesn't get watered quite as frequently as others. So I think it does prefer to dry out. That's what it takes, sometimes, with those types for me. Frustration turns into ignoring, which works for the ones that prefer to be dry... Denise in Omaha

Thanks! Good words of advice. halfdecaf - I love that you repeat your vows on your anniversary. That sounds like a very worthwhile tradition and one I might copy for us. I know the "good cop/bad cop" role is pretty tricky. It's not really how we intended it, but it's how I feel usually. My BF's own father abandoned the family when BF was at a very young age and his mother essentially detached from the family as a result of her husband leaving. As such, BF had no healthy parenting images to look up to so he leans toward parenting out of guilt or giving in too much to his own son. I come from a fairly strict, but caring, family so I've tried to share my own parenting examples with them. The result is that BF's son now has a normal bedtime (when we met he would let his son stay up until midnight! And he was 5!), he cleans up his own plate after dinner, he's not allowed to throw things or act physically in anger, he's not allowed to hit his dad or be disrespectful to us without consequences, etc. So I feel like the "bad cop" because I implement/encourage a lot of the discipline and a lot of the rules about what's acceptable and what's not. The only reason it's working is b/c BF currently backs me up on the decisions and is actually a little grateful that I know a little more than he does about general parenting, while he knows more than I do about his son's specific needs. So I think we make a good team. Of course, if either one of us ever stops supporting the other, I can see how that might cause some mutiny... We are also considering premarital couseling. One of my biggest challenges is learning to bite my tongue and not constantly tell him what to do. I was single for too long and have lots of rules in my own head about the way things "should" be done. On the flip side, he was single too long with a young son - essentially living the bachelor life with a kid tagging along (have you seen the Adam Sandler movie, Big Daddy - something along those lines, but not as extreme). So figuring out when my comments cross over into "nagging" seems to be a fine line. I never want to be the "nagging" wife.