OK, now the rest of it. >>They really hide all the blemishes, even the big obvious ones where the trees were removed. Shh. That happens in every lawn photo. :-) >>-The 32 lbs of Mag-I-Cal is the total amount I put over the whole lawn. I know it's much stronger than standard calcitic lime. I think (hope) I did my calculations correctly. Good. I once accidentally overapplied 12 pounds per thousand to the gardens and watched the plants turn yellow. Calcitic shouldn't be applied at more than 9 pounds per thousand square feet at a time, with a minimum of 3 months between applications--and repeat only if pH is extraordinarily low. -I'll revise my Milorganite schedule to cut out the June and July feedings. I'm not sure about feed stores nearby, I'll have You certainly can if you wish, or not if you wish. While I tend to recommend against summer applications on healthy lawns, it's not exactly going to be a problem. Quite the opposite, and if you notice color fading badly in the summer sun, feed it. It might need the free iron. >>application. So basically for the same price I'd get more bang for my buck out of the soybean meal? I know dchall That does depend. The bag rate for Milorganite is 14.4 pounds per thousand. I generally recommend 20 to target 1 pound of available nitrogen per application (organic N does take a while to work in, so far less than that is initially available). For soybean meal, 1 pound of N per K is 15 pounds of soybean per thousand. So you're using three quarters the amount to do the same feeding job. If raising OM is your goal, neither soy nor Milorganite is technically your best choice. Cracked corn requires 60 pounds per thousand to supply the same 1 pound of N per K. Which means it's less likely to smell terrible at very high levels of application (decay scent is nitrogen compounds--less nitrogen, less smell, as a general rule and all else being equal). >>uses Alfalfa pellets, is there a reason you prefer soybean meal over alfalfa? Is Alfalfa more expensive in our region? For me, it's pricey. To get that 1 pound of N equivalent, alfalfa needs to go down at 50 pounds per thousand, more than three times the rate of soybean meal. Since it's about the same price, the nitrogen is three times as expensive. Northern lawns don't benefit--and actually can suffer delays--from too much alfalfa put down at once. 20 pounds per thousand per month is the maximum rate the guru I learned from recommended. >>-I definitely understand what you're saying about just spot spraying weeds. Seeing the amount of crabgrass that is popping up this year, though, By all means area spray if the problem is widespread in the area. Spot spraying is great, but sometimes clearing the deck initially is required. >>I think I still want to use a preemergent in the spring. I've spent several hours the past couple weeks pulling crabgrass and it's continuing to pop up faster than I can pull it. Pre-emergents are wonderful. I spray Prodiamine once a year for a 9 month shield. It's not perfect, but I'm also not complaining about 90% effective. I haven't pulled a weed from the stone patio in years. I don't have to. >>I expect improvement as my yard thickens, but one of my neighbors yard is 100% weeds, so I may always have a bit of a battle on my hands. You've seen my lawn? The lawns to the southwest, south, east, northeast, and north are weed pits. No worries, your lawn can outcompete any weed. With the possible exception of some of the Poa genus. >>-I've considered edging my driveway with some landscaping, but like the idea of the grass going right up to the edge of it, mainly to keep the mowing as simple as possible as ridiculous as that is. No problem! We all have our aesthetic preferences. >>Like dchall said I'll stick some tuna cans there the next time I water and see what's happening. I'll give it one more season and if I can't keep control of it maybe I'll throw in some landscaping. At the very least maybe an 8" border of light colored pavers will be enough of a buffer. Good plan. Keep in mind that areas bordering pavement may require watering more often. When I designed my irrigation system, I did it so that the south face of the driveway was zoned with other things that need more. Now if I'd remembered to do that on the north side...but no matter. I'll eventually turn that into another 20 square feet of garden attached to the gardens on either side of it. >>-I'll have to sneak out and chop off some of that pine tree. If the branches are over onto your property you have every legal right to cut them off at the property line. It might be impolitic to do so, however, so I fully support your decision to wear black and do this at 2 AM. Storm damage sometimes comes up so suddenly and takes off just a few branches, huh. >>The grass isn't totally barren, it looks fine from a distance, so I'm not at the point of giving up and mulching it yet. Also try feeding and watering it a bit more than the other areas of the lawn. Sometimes hard-pressed grass just needs a hand up. -I was afraid of that answer about the chipmunks. I do enjoy seeing them out there but they need to leave my plants alone! I'll try the Tabasco sauce, maybe line the base of the plants with chicken wire, stick a hose down their holes and the spread the cat litter. If they still persist, I think I may resort to the rat zapper. Looking it up, at least one site states that there are no repellents registered for chipmunks. However, it also says that any squirrel repellent will work on them. Sonic repellent device(s) might be another idea. -When I said "possibly with a slit seeder" that was my weak way of asking if that's a recommended method. I've never used one and I'm a little worried it's going to do some damage. Will I see much better results with that vs just using a broadcast spreader after aerating? You'll get great results with a slit seeder. I got great results broadcast spreading seed on the soil (no aeration, no raking, no preparation at all). Assuming this is in blank areas, topdressing with 1/8" of peat moss to hold some moisture might be a good idea. For general lawn transmission, that's unnecessary, expensive, and time consuming.

I also did these last night to show a lighter, oak colored floor. It's hard to change the wood color, so maybe these are a bit darker (and greener :) than yours. But maybe that would be an option. Maybe there are other things you like about the kitchen that would make it still work for you. Maybe a few warmer ceramic pieces around or a little more color on the chairs, as in maybe you like that punch of chartreuse on the kitchen flowers. Simple clean lines, texture, and use of color. As far as materials go, I see lots of smooth and sleek and shine -- lots of smooth reflective surfaces and glass (vs much of a mix of textures). Lots of hard edges and geometric shapes. The vintage feel of the cabinetry would be important, too, with hardware and furniture feet. Of course, white, white, white, bright white. Except for a very few punches of warm color (and softer lines), it's all very cool. Also, it actually looks like the paint color is only used in the adjoining area. The kitchen looks like white beadboard and small areas of white paint, aside from the ceiling. I tried some solid black rugs in there too, if you don't mind vacumming a few times a day -- although the dark floors would be the same. They show lots of crumbs and stuff even when much lighter than those. Oak floor: With a few other saturated, warm punches of color: With black rugs: Black rugs and a few other soft, warm punches of color:

Hello friends, I'm chiming in just now after a slight absence and cannot resist tossing in my two cents worth on this topic, as I've had quite a similar experience. Some time ago my mother-in-law gave herself a wonderful birthday present, in that she bought all new everything for the boudoir, down to and including new carpeting, and I said, "Way to go, Rosemary, you and Johnnie deserve this treat!" She had a couple of old sheets that she earmarked for the church's charity drive but I wheedled them away for use in my own bedroom. One set, which I believe was Wamsutta, was like the silky ones your mother-in-law has, and the they were designed by Yves St. Lawrence, in awesome pinks and purples. The colors nothwithstanding, those elderly, well-worn and washed, and much beloved sheets were pure perfection to my husband and me. The lovely smoothness of that old bedding transported us into the sleep of the angels. I promise, we NEVER noticed the pink and purple designs, and we slept on them for another 20 years until they could no longer manage to hold together in one piece. Oh! Holy cow, I just came out of my reverie and realized you had asked a question! Mea culpa! My bad! Here's my suggestion for silky sheets, or at least for as close we can come these days: Buy 100% Egyptian Cotton in a reasonably good thread count, like 300, 400, 500. I'm now a retired senior with rather thin, frail skin, which I feel warrants the smoothest, most silky bedding I can afford. And I buy my Egyptian cotton sheet sets from Penney's, when they go on sale twice a year. And they last forever, well, I'm still using them 8 years later! I have 3 sets and just rotate. Give them a whirl; they're quite reasonable on sale, and enjoy! Kaye

Owari is good, but if in a fringe area I would suggest considering Miho if you can find it. It is supposedly 2 or 3 degrees more cold tolerant than Owari, in my limited sampling I think it tastes as good or better than Owari (My Miho is going on its second year in ground so only 4 or 5 fruit this year, vs several hundred on my 20+ year old Owari), and most importantly for those in cooler climates, the fruit ripens a week or two ahead of Owari, which may make all the difference when it comes to the first fruit killing freeze of the year (near ripe Satsuma fruit will tolerate temperatures down to about 29F for brief periods). We had an early freeze here this year the first part of November getting briefly down to 27-28F, causing freeze damage to about 1/4 of my Satsuma crop.