The house is that easy for termites to eat? (it was built in 74.) Yes, termites can devour a house fairly quickly. You should have a yearly termite inspection and treatment if necessary. Prevention treatments are common, and necessary in some places. Hard to be more specific without knowing where you are. I wonder what would happen if I got a shovel and started removing that safety turf? You would be doing yourself and your bushes a favor. You would also make it possible to add new plants to that area if you would like to. Suppose I replaced it with some topsoil and real mulch? Yes!!! Should i leave the gray weed sheets? Absolutely not. I spose I could leave a little of the safety turf around the trunks of the bushes where I can't reach, and maybe close to the house. You should be able to get to those spots with a rake to get all of the rubber stuff. Just to stop those termites, y'know. I think this mis-info happened through this thought process... Termites eat wood houses. Mulch is wood. Mulch shouldn't be placed up against a house. Termites don't eat rubber. Therefore, rubber mulch stops termites. This is all good but it's that last leap that's wrong. If termites want to eat your house, they'll happily crawl across the rubber mulch to get there, whistling a hungry tune as they go... Does anyone have experience removing this stuff? Rubber mulch, no. Weed fabric and plastic, yes. Ugh. Nasty job removing it but it's the only way to reclaim your space. Even the most ordinary of shrubs needs moisture and organic material. This plastic and rubber stuff is not offering anything beneficial for your planting bed, and is blocking at least some of the water. Real mulch decomposes over time, replenishing nutrients in the soil, and should be renewed on top (not replaced) occasionally. As far as disposal... I need a parking space at the front of the lawn, I'll use it for that. Without knowing where you are, what your soil is like, it's hard to comment specifically on this. What I can imagine, though, is putting this stuff down, and then grass starts growing up in it. Then you want to mow over it, and either the rubber is too high, and/or you end up sending chunks of it flying all over the place. If your soil is mostly clay, parking on it without a thick layer of rocks probably won't work, long-term. If your soil is mostly sand, you should be able to just start parking where you want and the grass will die in the 2 tire tracks, and sand will rise to the top so it's not muddy. An added surface is not necessary.

Your grapes will be fine. It's normal to remove 80-90% of a grape plant. From now on, prune in the spring, just as the buds break on the very ends of the branches. In the meantime, take an hour or so and study up on how to prune grapes for fruit bearing. I'd probably put in some posts and some strong wire trellis to support some of the weight of the plant and to keep at least a portion of the weight off the deck. By the end of next summer, that plant will be enormous... even bigger than this year. And next year, you will wait and prune it the next spring.

Dollar Tree has clusters of grapes for $1. They may have the vines in the stores also. Don't know. You may be looking for something more upscale. Here is a link that might be useful: Grape Clusters

Thanks all for the compliments. This was one of the cheapest wreaths I've ever made!! Of course the vines are free, lol. As for the florals >> last year, I bought a Fall Floral Spray on clearance, for $2.99 it was originally $14.99 ! So, even though I used some of the florals from that spray, I've got left overs do do another one.. Not bad..