first off congratulations on joining the world of composting, there are a lot of products on the market touting that they will inoculate your compost or accelerate your compost or what ever. Please keep in mind that these are all marketing strategies to put your money in their pockets. if you have any general questions please feel free to ask, someone will be more than willing to give advice or point you in the relative right direction. That being said, you can do a search on composting on these forums, such as "compost wacko", "leaf thief" etc. there are also many links embedded in this thread that will provide a plethora of information such as how to ammend soils, what to do if your piles are not heating up or whats the quickest way to get your compost heated up in a jiffy!! and a word of encouragement from me, is that in a few weeks when the weather warms up that is usually when compost piles start to really churn!! happy composting and welcome to the forums.

Thanks for chiming in! Sherry, I did a search on the forum and saw your post about your Francesca being zapped..glad it's recovering. I'll be planting mine where it will be shielded from the afternoon sun. As for Pharisaer, it's a gamble. I almost got Soleil d'Or until I found out it was a blackspot disaster. I spray, so we'll see what happens...being an alternate, I might not even get it. They'll be coming the last week of April. The snow and ice wasn't too bad..it takes the first "event" of the season to get everybody back into Winter driving mode. Janelle, I would love to visit the cemetery sometime. I like them, even better with roses. Judith, that's good to hear about Royal Sunset :) You feel like it about how I feel about my Abe Darbys. I love Royal's colors. The form and color remind me of some of the tender climbing teas and noisettes that wouldn't do well here. Regardless, it sounds it'll be a winner. Thanks, and love to hear more! Eric

I have zero help on what to plant but you need to finish getting rid of the Bermuda Grass first. Its an ugly process. Weeds that grow from seeds are way down the priority list compared to the problem below the surface. Don't disturb the soil because you don't want to break off the Bermuda Grass and leave pieces that are very deep and will not come back for many months. You need to water deeply and wait for the Bermuda to come back up. You can gently pull on them and see if they are shallow. Don't break them off. Mostly that is a waste of time. Hit the new growths with Round Up. Repeat until there aren't any new growths of Bermuda Grass. You will probably need to repeat this 4-5 times so you are looking at a 3 month process. If you try to do this in a month you will have lots of remaining Bermuda that will sprout. You will need to be vigilant and Round Up every new growth. If you have established plants at that time, the best way is to dab Round Up Concentrate directly on the sprout. The plants system will circulate it through the plant. An alternative process on such a small area is to completly sift the top 8" of dirt to remove all the Bermuda Grass rhizomes. I understand that the best way to do this on the other side is to mow the Bermuda short and then use lots of Round Up on it. That gets down into the rhizomes and then very little will come back. I'm not a huge fan of Round Up, or any chemicals for that matter, but this is an ideal use of Round Up. Edited to add: I forgot to mention that the rhizomes from the remaining side can spread under the walkway and recontaminate your hard work. This post was edited by GregBradley on Sat, Apr 19, 14 at 13:05

Wow! Those are great looking recipes, but I'm more of a purist. We like Ina Garten's basic margarita recipe: Ingredients 1 lime, halved Kosher salt 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (5 limes) 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon) 1 cup Triple Sec 3 cups ice 1 cup white tequila Directions If you like margaritas served in a glass with salt, rub the outside rims of six glasses with a cut lime and dip each glass lightly into a plate of kosher salt. Combine the lime juice, lemon juice, Triple Sec, and ice in a blender and puree until completely blended. Add the tequila and puree for 2 seconds more. Serve over ice. If you prefer frozen margaritas, halve each of the ingredients, double the ice, and blend in two batches. Serve with a cut lime. Or, a quicker recipe from a friend who calls it 1-2-3 Margarita 1 part Rose's lime juice 2 parts triple sec 3 parts tequila Shake together and serve over ice in a salt-rimmed glass. Make sure you are home or have a Designated Driver if you make either of these. They are POTENT! Here is a link that might be useful: Ina Garten margarita