Aerating with a golf course putting green aerator with aeration tines set on 2 inch centers works great for seed bed preparation. We like using turf tractors (w high flotation turf tires) and rear mounted 3 pt hitch cam driven aerifiers for at least two complete passes over the same areas. The first pass is set at 3" to 6 inch depth for root penetration, and a 2nd pass set at 1/2" to at most 1 inch tine depth. The wider the tine the better (7/8" wide are great!) These create protected seed pockets with GREAT TILTH, and hold moisture. These professional aerators roll and smooth simultaneously JUST BEFORE before this final tilth and subsequent seeding takes place. One major benefit to this system is that the ground remains firm enough to still move over it. It's as if the un-aerified soil between aeration holes acts as a soil "grid", further protecting the "seed pockets" between them. This in essence prevents the plugged seed pockets from being compacted or disturbed. This system can work for all new plantings, and when overseeding existing turf. It does an amazing job where existing turf is stripped off with a sod cutter, and then this system is applied. We've done it on projects ranging from entire golf courses, to sport fields, and small residential sites. This can also be combined with running sub-soiling "Mole Ploughs", and vertical lineal aerators like Graden and Turf Mach units. The P.G.A. and U.S.G.A. have researched it thoroughly on putting greens, and published an article entitled, "Core Aeration by the Numbers", (pdf via Michigan State University, Chris Hartwiger and Patrick O'Brien) Scott Buley, High Tech Turf & Trees

Cecelia - We need to hook up! : ) Have you tried to find any other John Cook roses? Of his 24 or so roses it seems like Radiance and her sports and Enchantress(e) at ARE are the only ones not "extinct". I made DH drive while I peered in yards and weeds where John Cook lived and where he supposedly landscaped the yards of some of the big, old homes in Baltimore hoping to discover some of his roses, but all I got was depressed. : ) Linked below is a bit of info about a garden planted with John Cook's roses in 1941 which was later moved to Druid Hill, Balt. in 1989. There are gardens planted by the zoo in Druid Hill but the woman I spoke with said all the Cook roses died and they just have a few OGR's there now. Sad. Regarding fragrance... Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, Mrs. Wakefield Christie-Miller and Betty Uprichard all are supposedly fragrant. I smelled my rose the other day and there is a fragrance, but it is light and perhaps a bit sweet, but most often it smells of black pepper. My nose is used to smelling roses known for their fragrance so perhaps I'm expecting too much. Good luck getting cuttings from the old rose, I'd love to see some pics of it. Here is a link that might be useful: John Cook info

WE did cut the house off, but the pipes did not drain Or so it appears. Maybe there were low spots or something, or we turned the water off late. Usually we just drip our pipes. Our plumbing is complicated because we are not on city water but on a rain water cistern. I think we had several compounded happenings. We were dripping the faucets but noticed loosing pressure and I mentioned a faucet that would not turn all the way off. My husband decided that the leaking garden valve had to be fixed immediately as it was really freezing, and the water filters had to be changed because of the low pressure, and cut off the water and made the system still. But we thought it was drained. . We did the repairs and charged the system and then the pressure started loosing and then the water stopped. He cut the water again and let the waTER DRAIN, AGAIN, BUT IT DID NOT ALL COME OUT. I DON'T THINK ANY OF IT CAME OUT. My DH is the original gadget Man and often he will go at things at the wrong time . We now have a new air hose at the port of entry and we can blow air (it is not far from a 5 HP air compressor) through the system to push the water out of the system. We also have triple the amount of insulation but the faucets are still exposed. Our building does not have any skirt . It is a modern architecturally designed structure and my husband likes that raise floating look. So do I. I have been pushing to make a room under the building around most of the centralized plumbing area under the bathroom and kitchen sink. Maybe he will begin to see the sense in this. He won't see it from outside but maybe it will hold the warmth of the ground and building for longer. My winter garden is in raised beds in the ground. I got it through last year with minimal death, but not this year.

As per my May 14 post: For the last couple of months, I've been adding two teaspoons of citric acid to the main compartment along with my detergent. Every load. The dishes have never looked better, even more so than when using Lemi Shine as directed... The main ingredient in Lemi Shine is "fruit acids" a/k/a citric acid. You're also getting some fragrances and fillers. I've cut out the middle-man and now just buy straight citric acid -- C.A. is about a tenth of the cost of Lemi Shine, works better because of it's "pure potency", yada yada... Here is a link that might be useful: Just one seller of Citric Acid...