d d , you are making a number of ascertians that I think are making you do things that will not prove of benefit. First, you associate water as a saviour, something the grass needs and needs lots of. If a pint works well, then a quart will do better and a gallon will just be the cat's meow. That's wrong....very wrong. Grass is no more than a bunch of small plants that grow together and they need nourishment just like other plants....but when too much is too much.....it cant help. One inch per week is recognized as the total volume needed for a lawn to live successfully. Too much is as bad as too little; what happens is, the water doesn't stick around, the roots are deprived, they grow weak and short and the sun then has an easy time to bake the soil. Too little or too much...it works both ways. Your lawn cries out for aeration....from your pictures there does seem to be a lot of thatch....dead material between the blades. When thatch builds, it deprives the soil of necessary oxygen and water. Even tho you water it, and rains have been overflowing, unless the ground absorbs the moisture, it cant do any good. Without explaining what aeration is comprised of....do read articles on 'why a lawn should be aerated". There are many methods and tools employed to effect good aeration....so read about it. Your lawn needs something to make the soil want to take in moisture and retain it. You say your soil in your vicinity is mostly sand....and when you think about....how good does sand retain moisture. So you have to do something to make your soil want to take in moisture and keep it....yet allow good drainage. In that there is an easy and effective way to achieve this. Organic matter. Organic matter comes in many forms...and only by injecting something of this nature into the soil will it keep moisture. Peat moss, newspaper, hay, straw, compost, topsoil, triple mix, loam, and yes....sand. Grass clippings---you don't have any I knwo, but clippings have a lot of nitrogen from fertilizer given, that should not be wasted. But, clippings have a lot of things wrong with it...and should be given to a compost pile first. Sand used in gardens is not the beach kind...it is a coarser granular type...buy it at a quarry or soil dealer that specifies it is builder's sand. This giving of compost though can be a budget killer---it is not cheap. Compost is material that is allowed to break down by microbial action....and should not be used unless in a completed form. Since your lawn is in such bad shape, I suggest you think to do it over....rototil the ground and inject much organic material. Much of the material can be inexpensive...peat moss, newspapers, old hay, old straw (straw and hay are grown and therefore have seeds and unless its at least a year...two years better--it can drop seeds and result in giving you a barnyard) Put down at least 2"....but 6" is better of topsoil. Rototil it all in, rake level to ensure good drainage, then put down sod or seed. The organic material you add should be at least 20% of the volume mixed in. Do not, if it becomes available, add more than 20% compost to what is already there. More is too much. When you buy seed, buy the best type you can afford...it will pay dividends. Poor seed will not grow in the best of soil---but good seed will grow in the worst of soil. In your area of New Jersey a combo of 40% Kentucky Blue, 40% perennial ryegrass and 20% fescue makes a good tough grass for your area. Its summertime now....the heat of which is not conducive to making good lawn---the heat can kill the seed and what sprinkling you do will dry out quickly. So, keep what you have and shake your head, but think to do your lawn in the fall when cool temperatures return. Grass grows much better at that time because there's less competition from other plants. Sprinkling water over it will not be lost to evaporation and if you follow good principles of grass making, you should have a pretty good starting lawn sometimes this fall. Starting: Be sure to use a "starter" type fertilizer when you first lay your seed. It can help speed up and protect germination. Next spring, put down 2" of compost (or topsoil) over the area and let your grass grow up and through it. Repeat this every year, fall and spring, 2" layer over your lawn....at least for the next 4 - 5 - 6 years. Making this a regular routine can help your lawn stand up to adversity better.

Hope all the boys with their injuries are getting better. Yes they will always call and sometimes if the child acts funny they will really make your life miserable. You would think that boys never have accidents they way some of them can act. I was always at the school for some bruise or another with my two and they usually did it to each other, lol. They fought all the time and still don't get along. John says his oldest boy was always good. He said when they went to someones house they could have a box of toys right in front of them and they wouldn't move from where he told them to sit unless he told them it was ok even if the other person told them it was ok to play. I told him thats because he trains us all like the dogs, lol. He makes you want to mind him, lol. I often wonder if my boys would have been different if I had met him sooner. It has surely helped with my daughter. She acts very different around him than she does with her father and he will do anything in the world to please him. I thought he was going to faint when he heard her back talk her father on the phone once, lol. He just expects you to behave and thats it they do it, lol. Even my boys don't act up in front of him. His younger son got arrested once and sat in jail 3 days and wouldn't call and tell him until his brother found out and called us, lol. He would have stayed there forever rather than tell his father he got in trouble. He gets this look on his face and it makes you stand up straighter, lol.

thanks, more of what lights, & a little more on heat. I think I'm only looking at a few permanent plants. A dual tube regular 24" long 2 x 20W with reflector seems to get 70° to 80° for germination, and may do what: 1-3 of these plants? I'll be more specific and have questions: I think I would be the coolest guy on the block to say I have to grow my own peppers for my killer wing sauce preference. I have tried all kinds of commercially available sauces (a liter of Tabasco is to drink), and I need major heat not available anywhere but in the hottest of fresh peppers. So I have found where I can purchase a tray of fresh Scotch Bonnets (which are near the hottest of all; maybe half by average) and depending on the source, they vary from weak (useless) to hey, I need some ketchup here. Additives to the sauce may or may not be necc., and the taste may vary. I want to know the consistent heat too. So I have narrowed down, through research - incl. 'Hot Peppers' forum, the hottest on the planet, but their are factors, of course. They are Red Savina, Chocolate Hab, Devil'd Tongue, Caribbean Red, Red Fatali, in no order. I will mail order the seeds of these 5 peppers, which are not avail as plants here. Scotch Bonnet is available as a plant also here in Toronto. And I've got Scotch Bonnet seeds. I may also do small flower seeds, whatever, but that's another story - pansies... In order to get a taste of these 5 or 6 pepper varieties, I'll need to start more than one seed each, and probably start at more than one time. Say 6x2x2= 24 8oz. styrofoam coffee cups. The size of a case of beer. With the size of enclosure I was planning I will have some room for the pansies. eg 24" long. But in the long run, after I have tried them all, I will probably only want to keep tied to one or two plants in pots 365 days a year, as long as they last. If they die, I'll start again with seeds of the same type/source. I can always buy trays of fresh SBs. Hmm, I also may not know which ones I prefer to keep alive more than one year for some years. I understand some may grow 3 or even 4 feet, and last 3-6-10 years. I DON'T know. Never seen one. In regards to the box for germinating. In my head I have pictured (at this moment): A cardboard box, about the size of a 20" TV set, and maybe 15" high. Inverted to easyily lift off. Holes for spying, temp gauge, ventilation. On a board. All lined with tin-foil. The light suspended for adjustment. May cost....nothing. Any good? I am curious now about using the same fluorescent for heat also. I have recently seen a picture of an incandescent, in a similar box, with 25 cent garage sale type-fixtures. A 15 or 40W regular light bulb puts off a lot of heat as you can tell with your hand. I know you need the fluorescent when they poke through the ground, and to get them to the next outdoor growing season. Now what to do with those styrofoam cups for drainage and how to cover them before the seedlings poke through? And I'm really not clear on what it is to keep them alive or keep them fruiting to the next outdoor growing season.

Here in Florida my plants did the same thing when I started to harden them off. They did well in the shade but as soon as they hit the direct sun light a lot of leaves got a purplish orange tint to them. I don't know if a florescent light could do that, but that is what my plants looked like when they hit the direct sun. My plants were almost a foot tall when I started to harden them off, they are fine now. Sam