I use all of the grass clippings, leaves, etc. that I can get my hands on. I've been known to steal the neighbors' bagged grass clippings out from under the nose of the lawn waste pickup truck driver more than once, believe me. There are few "disadvantages" to doing this, but a couple of things to think about: 1) if the lawn was freshly treated with herbicides, don't use these on herbaceous plants -- there could be some residual contamination. Allow a couple of weeks after a lawn treatment for this to diminish. When I treat my lawn, I use the first few cuttings to mulch around large trees or paths, places where I know this won't be a problem. 2) Athough they're pretty high in nitrogen, like any organic matter, the microbes in there can temporarily suck nitrogen and some other nutrients from the soil during the decomposition process. So, be sure to add a little extra fertilizer to the garden to compensate for this. 3) As they decompose, grass clippings can develop mold which can be a problem for people with mold allergies. So, if this is you, be sure to wear a face mask (the cheap paper disposable type) if you must dig through or disrupt the mulch after its down. 4) IF the lawn is full of weeds, uncomposted clippings may contain weed seeds. You'll have to judge that one for yourself -- if you lawn was white with dandelion seed heads when you mowed, you might want to compost this batch of clippings before using. Green clippings or dried, doesn't really matter a whole lot, either way is fine. Don't let the factors above scare you away from using a fine, free source of mulch and compost, just be aware of them.

Vinyl pergolas Pros: Virtually maintenance free Durable Rarely crack or split Don't need to be painted Don't sink or warp Easily cleaned Looks new for years Moving a vinyl pergola is not hard Vinyl is immune to bugs Cons: They Are Cookie-Cutter Expensive Finding Replacement Parts Can be Difficult Light weight - must be securely anchored Vines don't stick to vinyl as they will to wood Wood Pergolas Pros: Wood gazebos look classy and traditional TheyâÂÂre typically gorgeous You can easily alter the colors with oil-based stain. More style options with wood Wood is more durable Wood blends better with the landscape Cons: Wood requires a fair amount of maintenance Wood needs to be cleaned, stained, and treated to keep them in good condition Chemicals in treated wood can poison and kill some plants Wood can warp, split and splinter over time Wood welcomes termites and other kinds of critters Depending on size, once secured in place, they are too heavy to relocate

The greenspeed can minimize the need for the auxiliary heat in situations where a normal heatpump can't keep up by itself. So being the greenspeed is more expensive, it is really only helpful in an all electric situation where you can get some significant extreme cold weather where you would be normally be running alot of auxiliary electric to supplement a regular heatpump. If it rarely gets below 30 degrees I think the greenspeed is overkill. Greenspeed is probably overkill if if rarely gets below 20 degrees. If you have all electric and your in Minnesota or Canada then the Greenspeed is for you. If you have gas, you should use it. I personally like dual fuel setups because you have more options to heat with. That means a gas furnace coupled with a heatpump. If gas were to get expensive some day you could heat with the heatpump. Even with cheap gas the new efficient heatpumps of today are pretty competitive to gas in mild cold weather (above 35 or so). Ofcourse this depends on how expensive your electricity is. If you go with dual-fuel I would recommend the highest-efficiency single stage unit. These offer a pretty good bang-for-your-buck.If your in michigan I wouldn't get an 80% furnace. I would get 95% efficiency. Other reason I like heatpumps is because they shouldn't cost alot more over the regular A/C unit. Basically a heatpump is an A/C unit with some extra parts. Some dealers like to charge a big upgrade cost for this. Others charge only the extra cost of the upgraded unit.

I have and I also asked them to give me a break on their commission because they were going to collect at both ends of the deal. They have agreed to do this.