I am in the middle stages of completely renovating my 1/4 acre (~5000 sf. of lawn). We just bought the place 8 months ago and the previous owners were terrible people who didn't care for the lawn at all. (sort of a joke) Here is what I have done and will be doing: 1. Round up everything (did this about four weeks ago). Let the whole lawn die. It did. Turned brown and crispy after about two weeks. 2. Mow it to the lowest possible setting and get rid of all of the dead weeds.(no need for me to save them, but you can if you want) 3. Rent an 8 hp rear-tine tiller. The soil was so compacted that it took 3 passes over the entire 5000 sf area to till it down to a depth of 4-6". I could have gone over it again, but I ran out of time. (if you rent on a Friday, you get it all weekend and only pay for one day). 4. Threw away about 10 old sprinkler heads and many feet of old hose that I didn't know was in my yard before I started tilling. Apparently, someone at some time in my home's life actually liked the yard and cared for it. Oh well. The system was very old and the control box and valves had long been removed after the interior was completely remolded. I'll have a new system installed next year when I have more time to run that project. 5. Dug three 16" trenches to bury my downspouts. This involved about 100' of trenching with a shovel. Tip: If you are going to do this, rent a trenching machine!!! Buried the pipe and dug small dry-wells for the emitters. Daylight the one pipe next to the driveway. The following tasks will be completed over this weekend and the next: 6. Having 25 cubic yards of 50/50 topsoil/compost delivered on Friday. 7. Rented a t-70 bobcat to move and spread the new topsoil around my yard to a depth of ~2". 8. Roll the new topsoil and make sure everything is graded properly and is flat. Not changing the grade (drainage is fine), just applying a uniform new layer of topsoil on top of the already tilled topsoil and rolling. 9. Spread about 100 lbs of Rebel tttf over the rolled soil. Rake the whole mess lightly to ensure good seed/soil contact. Roll (with empty roller) to ensure even BETTER seed/soil contact. Spread Lesco starter fert over the seed/soil Light application of straw (never hay) to retain moisture. Just applying enough so I can still see dirt through the straw. Setup the two Claber 8410 Aquadue Duplo Dual Hose Water Timers at the front and back hose bibs. Set them to water each of the four zones three times per day for 15 minutes. These will be putting water through one and three Gilmore Pattern Master sprinklers. Drink a six pack of Miller Lite and pray pray pray.

happycthulhu, I gotta tell you that you are pumping too much power through your water. Too much force destroys the fungi. The fungi body is much bigger and longer than bacteria. Bacteria are way way way smaller than fungi. If you push too much force through the water you break up (kill) the fungi. Fungi just cannot take the force. So while it might seem like a good idea to really get the water rolling hard this is not, I repeat NOT a good thing. Most of us who make aerated tea want fungi as well as bacteria. Also, becuse fungi are so much larger do not use pantyhose as a holder of the compost. The openings are just too small for the funji to pass well into the water. The same holds true for pillow cases. The thread count is so tight that only bacteria can go through. If you combine the extremely small holes of some materials along with even a moderate amount of sediment inside the poors of the bag and you might not even get bacteria passing through to the water. This is why a paint filter is such a good idea. The openings are plenty big while still holding the compost inside. I have found the paint filters from Doit Center are better than the ones from OSH. I have so much less sediment in my bucket when I use the bags from Doit Center. Remember, people like Deuley have taken the time to actually look at the level of microbial life in their tea's and have provided us with some very solid data. I gotta believe that when they say not to do something, then don't do it. Not only am I not smarter than some of these people but they have the equipment to actually test their product and determine the method that provides the best result for such a little cost. My setup cost around $30. Only time will tell if aerated tea will be helpful to my garden, but somehow it seems to me that this is a pretty good idea. Even leeche (I don't know if I am spelling that one right) is a good idea. That has been used by farmers for thousands of years. I gotta believe if people had the ability to make aerated compost tea back then they would have been doing it too. When Deuley says he gets better results using pond water, then it is better to use pond water. I just don't have access to pond water. When Deuley says to beware of chlorine or Chloramine, you better beware of them. You can aerate chlorine out of the water but not chloramine. Chloramine can only be taken out of the water by special drops you can buy at pet stores. You should call your local water district to make sure which kind of chemical they use to treat your water. People like Deuley have provided us with some very good information free of charge. There is no way I could ever come up with such a simple, and low cost way, of making this stuff - let alone thinking of it in the first place. Let's be wise and follow what they say. happycthulhu, you gotta put a restrictor of some kind on the air you are pushing through the water. You are literally pulverizing the fungi. At least it looks like it to me from the pic. A video would give us a better idea of just how hard the water is moving in your tub. The microbes need oxygen for sure but it appears to me that you have gone to the extreme and are doing more damage than good. In this situation you have gone way past "if a little is good then more is better" and gone to the other extreme, to the point of too much is not good. If people us a pump sprayer to put their tea on the plants, be sure to use the opening that gives you the largest water dropletts. This s important for two reasons: Creating larger water dropplets means that the tea is not evaporating as fast. This means that the plant has a chance to absorbe more of the tea. And this is one of the reasons why I make tea in the first place (along with the pest control properties). Second, because fungi are so big if you use an opening that is too small you will break them up into little pieces by using an opening that creates too fine a mist. You want the tea on the plant as long as possible, which means big dropletts. Pump sprayers are a good idea because they let you get both the top of the leaves and under the leaves. I just use the drench method using a watering can because it is easier for me. The idea is to "steep" your tea, not create an avalance of air. Just because they are small does not mean they are indestructible. Tom

I usually use a store bought seed starting mix, but this year I decided to try a homemade mix for seed starting. We used some well-aged homemade compost. It was finely sifted and placed in a covered container in September. We then mixed 4 parts of this screened and sifted compost with 2 parts peat moss, 1 part perlite, and 1 part vermiculite. So far our plants look really healthy. Cabbage, basil, sage, and dill are all doing fine in this mix. No signs of mold, rot, damping off, or bugs yet. I guess this is the year for experimenting, because I have also purchased one of those fancy seed starter kits from Gurney's. It was a total impulse buy. I have started some more cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, and spinach in that. I sowed these seeds 2 days ago and several have already sprouted. Germination seems like it will not be a problem with this kit. I am more worried about the roots and how well they will grow in the provided "grow plugs". Also, because the styrofoam tray that the plugs sit in is constantly floating on water, it seems like the plants might not like being constantly saturated as they are growing. I am going to keep an eye on them and if I see any signs that they are not doing well, I will take them out of this tray and put them in their own pots. So far though everything is looking good. I will keep you updated on the progress of my little friends!

Something you might consider there - Not all of your seeds are going to germinate at the same time (I'm still waiting on clematis seeds sown last year) so you will have some plants requiring different amount of care and circulation/ventilation than others. I wonder if lifting them to transplant wouldn't create more transplant shock than moving them from containers with restricted root space...or did you plan to grow them on in that space? Since you are adding a container mix on top your compost, unless you are planning on that being a raised bed from which you don't plan to move seedlings - had you thought about filling containers, sowing seeds, and placing the prepared containers in/on that bed until they've germinated in Spring? I can tip the contents out of a germinated seed pot and transplant seedling with a whole lot less stress on young plants than lifting a seedling out of the ground and moving it.