Well if you do a little internet searching you will see that university turfgrass programs all say mulch mowing doesn't contribute to thatch. Just because you got thatch and you are mulch mowing isn't causal, it's correlative.(Thatch only occurs on well maintained turf by the way, so the act of you getting the lawn in shape probably contributed to higher thatch production) Certain grasses are thatch producers, KBG, and Fine Fescues are thatch producers, while tall fescue and perennial rye generally don't. If your soil has a high OM content, is balanced, and has good microbial activity, thatch shouldn't be much of a problem. Also I have read that spraying your lawn with molasses in a hose end sprayer can help reduce thatch, but I have no experience with it. Your watering plan for the boulevard strip is fine, but you want to shoot for one inch of water 1X per week, whatever time that works out to be. The three times a week for 20 minutes is not recommended. Deep and infrequent is the general rule of thumb. Of course some soils and climates dictate a different watering schedule. What is your soil like? Ever have soil tests?

Thank you all so much for your input! Sorry for the late response. I am glad to hear others wear masks, and I think I have just been in denial about needing one! I have a respirator like the one you provided a link to, toxcrusadr, and I agree that due to the looseness of some of the other masks, it is a good idea. It also cuts down on glasses fogging up, which is one of my frustrations. I think I will try it in the garden and see how I do. Strobiculate, are you asking about copper tolerance because supplementing with it may help with mold toxicity? I am all ears and am open minded with regard to supplements. My Lyme doctor uses both western and alternative approaches to mold and Lyme, so I can ask her about it as well. Kimmsr, that is very interesting about the size of the spores. I think my preference is to stick with organic mulch, so I just have to accept that I need to protect myself. It beats the idea of not gardening for sure! Gardengal, I also like the idea of compost. Thanks, again, for all of your thoughts. The saline spray is another great idea, so thanks, lazygardens.My doctor just started treating me with an anti-fungal nasal spray, so that will help, too. If nothing else, this discussion has changed my attitude about wearing a mask. My ordeal has changed my life in so many ways, and sometimes I just get mad that I am continually having to adapt when I feel I have already done so much of that!

Last year, I installed a butterfly garden and received a lovely birdbath from my son to put into it. I thought a nice layer of colorful scallop shells would be a great idea for the bottom of this birdbath to give the butterflies a nice place to perch to get water. Didn't last long. They started turning green and black with mold, even though I refreshed the water every day, and my puppy also discovered that it was great fun to grab a mouthful and run all over the yard, dropping them everywhere and trying her best to crunch them up and swallow them. But it looked pretty for about a month. A very small theme garden would be very pretty if they were used as mulch, though. Since we bring back sacks full of them from Sanibel whenever we go there, at least they are free.

Hi emagin, I havent seen so much activity around here on one day for a long time! I think the reason is what you said, rain all along the front range! And youÂre getting dumped on too, SteveÂI didnÂt know there was weather up that way so I checked NOAA, and there sure enough is! The last couple days IÂve been checking in to read quickly, but IÂve been holding off responding, because, since we were supposed to be getting rain, I wanted to be out making hay while the sun was shining! Now IÂm delighted to be sitting inside and watching the rain! ItÂs been intermittent and gentle. IÂve gotten about a half an inch so far, and radar shows more coming. I think my grass may have grown a foot overnight! Seriously itÂs not that tall, but it has TOTALLY greened up overnight, and I DO think I may need to cut it by the end of this week! March is TOO early to be cutting grass!!! Yikes! Now IÂm WET! I saw a couple VERY hungry looking house finches out on my feeders and realized I forgot to fill them yesterdayÂwhen I was making hay! So I went out to fill them. It wasnÂt raining much at allÂbut I decided to quickly fill my BIG bucket with potting soil while I was out there so it could warm up in the house before using it, and while I was doing that, the rain picked up! So now IÂm sitting in front of my quartz heaterÂsteaming! IÂm all humidÂlike Illinois! AnywayÂshe said thru the mistÂhave you ever considered turning most of your yard into "garden," emagin, or is it too big? A LONG time ago, when I was still married, we had friends in Park Hill who had done that with the back yard, and it was wonderful! It was a pretty small yard, and except for a small patch of KBG in the middle where you could sit if you wanted to, it was all WIDE, WIDE, curved beds all the way around, with some trees and bushes, and then all filled in with mostly perennialsÂand some vines on trellisesÂand some of everything! It was like being at a botanical garden in summer. My house finches are back filling up their tummies with safflower and sunflower! It was worth getting wet! If you decide to go with Achillea, you might want to consider interplanting it with woolly thyme to fill in all the little spaces between the yarrow. I think the two would compete pretty well. If youÂre willing to water thoroughly once every week or two, a combination of all the different creeping thymes could be REAL pretty. ThereÂs mother-of-thyme, T. praecox (pink); red mother-of-thyme (deep rose), T.p. ÂCoccineusÂ; white creeping, T.p. ÂAlbiflorusÂ; pink creeping, T.p. ÂPink ChintzÂ; lemon, T.p. ÂCreeping Lemon (thereÂs an upright lemon too), and more. The leaf colors can vary somewhat between the different varieties, and for the ones that bloom together, the different colored flowers would be pretty. ThereÂs also a miniature, T.p. ÂMinusÂ, with VERY tiny leaves and pink flowers, but that one spreads very slowly. Woolly is the most tolerant of foot traffic, and the most xeric, and has gray-green fuzzy leaves with lavender-pink flowers. ItÂs tought stuff once it gets going, and might even stand up on the dog path, but I donÂt know how youÂd ever be able to get it going very well with them on the path. And if you redirected them, by the time it got going, theyÂd be used to the Ânew" path and probably wouldnÂt want to use the old one anymore. LOL English daisies wouldnÂt tolerate foot traffic at all, though you could use them around the edgesÂbut they also tend to be pretty shortlived. I just got a packet of them this spring that IÂm going to stick in somewhere. I donÂt have any other suggestions for the dog path. The yarrow would probably hold up to the wear and tear tooÂif you could get it well established first (lease out your dogs for a year???) If you decide to go with a rock-type thing, theyÂd probably be willing to walk on pea gravelÂbut that stuff goes all over! My neighbors have it in their kidÂs play area, and it comes thru and under our (privacy) fence and gets all in my flower beds. I was just out there this week caulking theÂnot very bigÂcracks between the boards with clear silicone caulk. Did that last year and it works pretty well, but some of the cracks have gotten bigger, and some of it came looseÂand I didnÂt get all the cracks. I think I got it pretty good this year. So if you put a path of pea gravel, IÂd expect it to be spreading all over along the edges of the pathÂespecially when theyÂre running. On the yarrow invasiveness issue, at my last house it was growing in several places (in the grass) in my front yard, even though I didnÂt have any growing anywhere on my property, and, to the best of my knowledge, neither did any of my neighbors. Apparently birds and/or the wind carries the seed, and once itÂs started, it just keeps going, and going, and going.............. On the positive side, if you decide to go that way, this was in an area of mostly shade, and, while I donÂt think they would have ever bloomed, the foliage looked just fine. This was common yarrow, Achillea millefolium, which I assume is the one you all are talking about. I like the stuff a lot, but just donÂt want to get it started in my yard. I tried to get rid of it at the other house, and, even in the shade, was never able too. If youÂre looking for seed, IÂd check out WalMart and places like that. If they have what I want, I buy seed there. WalgreenÂs and Ace tooÂwith the 10 for a dollar coupon! You never know what youÂll find, but IÂve seen common yarrow seed at places like thatÂand you donÂt really care what color they are anyway. WM had a bunch of different seeds for 30 cents a pack, and even some for 10 cents. There arenÂt that many seed in a pack, but at 30 cents, if you buy 3 packs for a dollar, itÂs still cheaper than a $3 pack at a "fancy" store! You also might want to consider buying one or two 1-gallon plants this spring and growing your own seed this summer. Then youÂd have a constant supply of seed each year if you needed of fill in any areas later. (YouÂre not talking about acres, are you?) IÂm guessing that Achillea doesnÂt come true from seed, so the flowers from any of your seedlings would probably be pretty bland! If you decide to use any of the thymes, I recommend getting a couple small plants of whichever ones you want as soon as you can and stick them in somewhere in an area with improved soil and water them fairly often, and, before long, youÂll be growing your own supply. As soon as the edges start to root, dig out some "plugs" and put them in another place, and by the time youÂve done that a couple times, youÂll have all you could ever possibly need. ItÂs like a pyramid scheme! You could plant them somewhere in the area you plan to eventually do, but the more you improve the soil for the "parent" plants, and keep them watered, the faster theyÂll take off. ItÂs been a while since I started this! Did you go to the nursery? Glad for the rain, Skybird