Does the type of tree or leaves matter for mulching? I have some various huge shrubs and a tree that all drop smaller leaves (some needle like) that are quite dense. Living in So Cal they tend to dry out but not exactly break down. I was planning on doing lava rock in the border of my yard, but since reading this post I'm thinking that that is not such a bright idea. My issue is my long-haired cat will find whatever area of the yard is the most dirty/dusty and cover himself with all kinds of earth and burrs, and then immediately after he asks to come in the house. Half the time my kids just let him in, and then the floors inside becomes filthy and my carpet gets pokey things embedded. I've been worried that if I did anything like bark chips, then my fur buddy is going to bring into the house slivers -the kind that are so tiny you can't get with tweezers. (I tried playing barefoot in the stuff as a kid, and you'd think it would only of taken the first time to figure out that's not something to do again...) Anyhow, with my own kids running barefoot all the time and the cat living like royalty, I worry about using old wood chips or mulch. Anyone have advice?

Depends how you disperse your rain water after it is in the barrels, but if dipping buckets or watering cans into them, it is preferred to have one 55 gallon drum full rather than 3 of them one third full. There is the matter of getting the water OUT. It isn't just leaning over the side (and 55 gallons are tall) but lifting the water gets harder the further down you have to dip. We have 5 rain water plastic storage containers. All but one is a 55 gallon drum, we got them all free. One is under a downspout. It has a faucet and hose at the bottom. When it seems like it will rain or is raining heavily, we will run the water through the hose to another 55 gallon barrel. Those are both completely open on the top. Two others are backup storage. Water is run via hose from the first into those when the secondary one is full. They only have a small opening, so the water in them has to be siphoned back into their more open neighbor to use it. The fifth is a large sturdy wheeled garbage container, maybe 70 gallon size. Hubby carries water in 5 gallon buckets out to this container which is by my vegetable gardens. I dip into there to water plants. Slow but except for the faucet we attached to the bottom of the barrel under the downspout, it was all free. So this is our part to save the planet and not waste water, as we don't actually pay for our water supply per se. On the plus side, you get more exercise and you never worry that you have left the hose running. :-) Marcia

I've learned that I have to water differently during an extreme drought period. My soil originally started out as glacier slurry in a mini watershed. The soil consists of dense small rocks or stones with clay and silt between them. Since the soil has not received the deep watering during the winter months, it is dryer down at the deeper levels and seems to suck any water applied to the surface staight down to the lower levels asap. Mulching on top does not impact this natural dynamic. It does helps reduce evaporation, but does not help that natural pull of water to the lower levels. Since my soil is between the crevices of lots of rocks, once it has dried out, the water has a path to move to the lower levels. I found this summer that it helps if I use the sprinkler to water the top levels of the soil the night before I do my deep watering, which does moisten and swell the soil particles around the root masses of the roses and within the crevices between all of the rocks. This keeps the water I apply for deep watering around the root mass long enough for the roses to slurp of the water they need. Otherwise, it's like pouring water down an open drain. It's not a perfect solution, but it has reduced water stress quite a bit during a period of 3 1/2 months of triple digits. It's starting to cool off and the days are shorter, so I think I can skip this step for my fall watering. I still rely on deep watering as the best way to water my roses. I just had to find a way for the water to stay put long enough to be available to the rose. My method was dictated by my soil and climate. Smiles, Lyn

Keeping carpet clean is tough. I have found guests subtly protest against taking their shoes off.. New guests or clients are happy to take their shoes off (I'm a photographer so clients come to my home for meetings) but friends can be rude 'oh what? are you serious? you want my shoes off?' that annoys me I have 2 cats. Ugh! Pet stains = Ugh! I am a germofobe.. Well I'll kiss my kitties.. otherwise if I was THAT much a germafobe I wouldn't have cats.. but one of them has a thyroid disorder and sometimes the poor little guy vomits. My mistake has been spending a lot of money testing different carpet cleaning products, and a lot of the time sponging the carpet clean with such products would create a bigger mess or spread the stain! Ikea sell $15 metre square colorful rugs. I bought 6.. black, red, pink, yellow, green, blue when they are laid next to eachother it looks like one big rug, and this has helped a lot. Its so easy to wash one rug when a cat pukes, than it is to wash the actual carpet I have discovered that Vinegar is a bit of a miracle washer! If I clean the cat vomit with vinegar I get better results than ANY product from the shelves. I recently didn't realise that a lemon fell from my shopping bag behind a polyester ikea crate full of clothes, and the lemon had developed that dusty black mould and the mould dropped to the carpet It vaccumed up easily but I washed that part of the carpet by hand with cloudy ammonia. I read online that ammonia kills germs like mould. I seem to have made a big water stain though which I'm annoyed about I paid a local carpet cleaner guy $100 which was a bargain for a 2 room clean of a 1 bedroom apartment. The people I hired last year charged me $140 as they wanted extra money to come up one flight of stairs. This man was lovely. Even though I vac twice a week and mop almost daily, his industrial machine got up 2 large handfuls of cat hair!!! He said the minute I told him I had pets over the phone, he brought his special equipment. Unfortunately I messed up the carpet where I used the cloudy ammonia. There's just some darker markings like water staining, so I'm trying the watered down laundry soap routine this time