Kitty, Thank you for asking. As I had posted previously, I was able to work with the powers that be and move most of the easement work off my garden beds. However, this whole situation had spawned a true discussion between my DH and I. He had suggested selling our current urban .25 acres to get something bigger when all of this was happening and even though this crisis was averted, we talked it over and decided we were still going to sell the house and look for more acreage. I was coming close to not having enough garden space and this place would need major changes to make it what we wanted. We both travel for work and thus have hotel rooms paid for us year round. So we are selling this house and then looking to buy some land and build, living in hotels in the mean time. Thus unfortunately I had to cancel/postpone my huge spring orders and have to move a large portion of my garden to my mother-in-laws for the time being while we prepare to sell. I am confident however that it means that I will have much more land to garden within the next year. Keep your fingers crossed for me and once again, thank you for everyones advice and support. You all are the absolute best and I could not describe the happiness this forum brings me. Thank you.

hi, not sure if this helps but my soil is also clay based and my peonies do fine add some organic compost to thin out the clay/dirt ratiodo not add sand as that will make a concrete type mixture, water maybe once a week depending on your weather (i think peonies are similar to iris's in that they don't like to be planted very tightly or deeply)also if you moved plants then it might take a year to get really solid blooms. not to sure if it applies to peonies but(1st yr it sleeps, 2nd year it creeps, and 3rd year it leaps, by year 4 if no progress trash heap!)

The cuts are nice and straight ... he used some sort of track/stop to run the saw along. We did have him sand yesterday (with the thought that if that doesn't work, anything else we'd do would be more drastic and the sanding wouldn't matter). It was pouring when we got home so I have to go outside now and see how much it helped. That actually isn't anchorseal, it's all splinters and chew marks ... it looks darker because those are the boards he put down last fall, so they have faded, and the chew stuff exposed the new wood. The screws are a little shiny, but they are countersunk a bit, so as long as you're not looking straight down on them (like I am here), it's really not too obvious ... plus I thought they'd go better when the deck is gray (and if I stain the stain will fill the little sink holes and obscure them a bit). Anyway, I'll post an update tonight with some new pictures ... I know he did go get "another" new blade (with 60 teeth) after we yelled at him, so perhaps the few remaining boards to be cut will be better. Do circular saw blades really run "backwards"? That's what he said ... Thanks for all the support guys! It probably wasn't as bad as I made it out to be but I was REALLY upset when I first saw it (after all, all the other cuts he made on the deck were perfectly smooth). Thanks again, Birgit

If he, is a license contractor, I, would leave him a message saying that you, expect him to come back and have your granite repaired that his men did damage to. Or you will be force to contact a lawyer, the broad of contractors, or BBB, to get your granite fixed. Do not let him get away with it. You paid him to do work in your home not wreck it.