I've been ignoring all of you for several weeks because I'm not going to be growing any more and I'm still in the decluttering/beginning packing process here. But one day this week I got four or five seed or plant or garden decoration catalogs, then the next day some more, and I'm getting wistful!.... So I dropped by and now I'm seeing flower cart pics on the other thread, and seed ordering thoughts on this and other threads, and again, I'm wistful! I NEED to be outside ALL the time now because I'm trying to dig up & repot my irises and at least some of my daffodils. And a good bunch of the iris have been transplanted. WE don't have ANY rain, we've been in a drought for 6 or more months, it's the driest year for nearly all of Texas in decades, lakes are WAY low, and temps are in the 60's and 70's, some days even the low 80's! But, when I'm outside, I think of the packing/decluttering/ that needs to be done, and when I'm inside, I'm thinking of all the garden stuff that needs to be done, and I'm in a dither! I've ignored my field for a few weeks, too, except to occassionally dig up iris or daffs. This week I glanced at some rows and saw lily bulbs trying to emerge. Now I'm going to have to water them because their tips are already turning brown! Dang! If I'm far behind on the irises and daffs, then I don't have any more time to be digging up the lilies and aliums I'd hoped to get to. Got a mailer from a fabulous retail nursery near Tyler, south of me, yesterday, and they were promoting "pre-order your larkspur and poppy plants now, for March delivery", and I went "ooohhh, maybe I should sow some larkspur just in case......". Well, I swatted my hand at that thought. If we ever get any rain, I'll have tons of self sowed ones coming up, and that'll have to do. I'm HOPING we can at least be listed by Mid- Feb, to early March, and gone some ? time after that, but Murphy's Law being what it is, I'm sure we'll be here for a while! ..... So, maybe I'll have some daffs, iris, lilies and larkspur to sell to my florist after all! And random 2nd or 3rd year tulips. The weathermen are saying we MIGHT have a SLIM chance of SOME rain late Sunday night into Monday morning, but until that happens, could you rain soaked people put on the fans and blow it down here? LOL! Many parts of the state have had BIG grass fires in recent weeks. We even had a small one just in front of my neighbor's house this week. Fortunately, the county or state is doing road work on the access road right in front of us, so one of the guys w/ a bulldozer put it out w/ his machine. We live in an oak forrest here and everything is DRY!!!!!. My neighbor keeps his yard clear of leaves, but he sitll has trees, and my yard & forrest area are COVERED in fall leaves. Could've been dicey if the road crew wasn't here. I did call 911, but I guess the FD checked w/ the road crew, cause I never saw a FD truck. Well, that's all the (way too much!) news in the "way southern" part of "Lake Woebegone"! SusiQ Re the drought: last night the Dallas TV had a report warning homeowners NOT to be watering their yards/fields, because since the lakes are already very low, watering now could put us in a water rationing mode in the winter, as oppposed to occassional rationing times in the summer. They said water use is already 40% above normal right now! And also, that it might take YEARS to refil the lakes to a good level! Wow! That's NOT good!

Well, Louisianagal, you've inspired me. I've decided I'm not going to till, and I made a spectacle of myself at WalMart last night, pointing to "one of that" and "two of those, please, thanks" to the poor scrawny garden center greeter who had to carry six 40 lb. bags-o-stuff to my car. I wish there had been room in the car to carry him home to help me get them out. Anyway, I have 2 bags topsoil, 2 bags organic humus, one bag organic compost, 2 bales of 2 cubit ft. sphagnum peat moss, almost 3 bags of MiracleGro garden soil (bought when I thought I would till), more than half a bale-o-straw, lotsa newspapers and am going out now for more straw and cardboard. Whew! Worked up a sweat just TYPING it. Now another question (yes, really). My tomato seedlings are just at 6" and under, and I have 23 of them (Burpee heirloom rainbow variety pack, 6 different kinds, all indeterminate, I think). It'll be quite a while yet before I need to transplant, so if I start layering NOW, will my garden be ready to recieve the plants in 2 or 3 weeks? Will 12" of layers be enough, considering that, at transplanting time, it will have gone down? My thinking is that after 2 weeks or so, the bottom layer (cardboard and/or newspaper) should be sufficiently broken down enough to allow me to 1) dig past it into the native lawn, dump a trowel full of humus or compost, drop peat pot, then re-cover with my layers and mulch (I bought a little bulb planter tool this week for that very reason); or 2) if the layers are deep enough to NOT need to dig through the cardboard, the growing roots will break through the cardboard and thrive in the soil underneath. As I stated before, I have LOADS of earthworms, so I imagine they'd do ok, and my sweet corn seedlings(which I started inside in peat pots) were set directly into holes I had dug into my sod, with only a bit of mushroom compost in the hole and covered with wet newspaper and straw, and they're doing great...I haven't even top dressed them since I put them in about 3 weeks ago. I'm having to deal with the surrounding grass poking up around the hole, as I did not smother heavily enough, I'm correcting that now. In the same plot, several holes-in-the-ground to the north, bush beans, same story...looking good, but I'm trying to clear and smother. Dang me and my rambling. Sorry. Oh, and one other thing (yeah, I do that, I know). I just read on another site (or this one) someone's comment about the bottom layer of a lasagna garden...poster said that cardboard breaks down better than newspaper, "according to those who lasagna garden". Has anyone heard that? I haven't. TWO other things (I lied). When my layering's done, I plan to cover with black plastic (the kind found in the paint supplies department, not breathable), as I heard that it will "bake the lasagna", so to speak, to speed up breakdown. Any thoughts, anyone? I'll remove the plastic before planting. If air supression is deemed a problem, I can run my garden weasle over it for holes. I'd appreciate any and all opinions. Louisianagal, if you're reading this, I would like to hear of the arbor your hubby made for you. Thanks for letting me run on (and on, and on...) Joyce P.S. .... (just kidding...)

Tile may well be the best-suited floor covering for such an area. Use thinset mortar to install the tile and it will hold up under most conditions. A few soakings shouldn't hurt it at all.:)

Kathy, Pick Jetty up and hug and kiss him. You need that kind of unconditional love that he gives. Like you, I recently lost my Mom, and it hurts like heck. I don't want to die, but it sure isn't the same, not having mom to talk to. The smallest things can set me off. I sorted a few things of hers....I kept some purses, and some of her socks. It seems weird keeping socks, but her clothes are all like new, but they don't fit me. She wore these little white ankle socks, and this morning I was putting some away in my drawer and I started to cry, remembering her in the livingroom chair, wearing these little socks.