My daughter is in school over in Georgetown, so she's practically a neighbor. If you're on an unlimited well, then you can have awesome St Augustine. As long as you (1) give it a full inch of water once per week in the hottest heat of summer, (2) mulch mow every week or so at your mower's highest setting, and (3) fertilize it regularly, then St Augustine will choke out the bermuda and other grassy plants. If you want quick results I would suggest using alfalfa pellets (rabbit food) as your only fertilizer. The application rate is 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Put some down now and in 3 weeks your grass should be coming in just in time for the fertilizer to go to work. Organic fertilizers take a full 3 weeks to see results, but your grass has not started growing in yet for the spring, so timing would be perfect. For fastest results, repeat this monthly for the first few months. Then, if you want to and can afford to, continue monthly through the summer. Or you can skip summer and wait until Labor Day to hit it again. But if you use that for 3 months, the grass should become much more dense by June. Spreading will seem slow in the summer and then leap again in late September or early October. Deer resistant plants are only resistant until the deer get too hungry. Too many deer make them hungry. alternatives to grass on large acreage accent lighting in trees arbors (for vines) bamboo beds (perennials, annuals, bulbs, herbs, ferns, roses, hostas, container plants, rock, and fruits). bee keeping benches butterfly garden decks decorative gates (may be free standing) dog run or kennel edibles (veggies) fences (accent) fences (privacy) fountains fragrance garden gazebo greenhouse ground covers hedges herb garden hot tubs hummingbird garden Japanese garden jogging track moon garden (plants and lights for night time viewing) orchard ornamental grass garden other groundcovers out buildings (like sheds) outdoor theater overhead sunshades parcours (exercise stations) parking area party room (free standing for games, theater, pool table, etc.) patios picnic or barbecue area play yard for children ponds or garden pools pools potting bench or shed putting green rock garden rolling hills rose garden screened rooms (free standing) screens (foliage hedges or growing on a wire mesh) sitting or reading area sports courts statuary steps storage buildings sun room (free standing) swimming pools tool shed topiary trees (shade) trees (accent or decorative) tulip garden vining plant garden walkway (formal paved) walkway (informal path) walls (retaining) walls (accent or decorative) wildflowers Zen garden

- I'm not familiar with a 'gate valve'? a gate valve is a screw valve that raises or lowers a flat gate inside the valve against a seat,...... outside taps that you turn a wheel on top of the faucet are gate valves, they are cheaper than ball valves, less reliable, less durable, but cheaper. - By 'clean out fitting' do you just mean a simple fitting I can disconnect? A clean out fitting is a section of pipe, that joins two sections of pipe together, that has a threaded fitting in the side, usually at 90 degress to the fitting, with a curve. Under your sink for example, you have a trap, usually, at the bottom of the trap, there is a threaded cap that allows you to undo it and clean out hair clogs. That is a clean out fitting. Under the toilet, should be another, that allows you to open the fitting and run a snake through the pipe to clean out clogs. For an example, http://www.doityourself.com/icat/dwvflangcleanoutgard Wrapping the threaded plug of the clean out fitting with teflon tape makes it water tight with out having to torque the cap in place. In the fall, unscrewing this cap, and opening a drain at the bottom, ( cheapest is just another PVC or CPV clean out fitting) drains the system in the fall, allowing air in and allowing the water to fall out. White CPV is cheaper than black PVC, but more fragile, however, more UV resistant. Serious farmers invest in steel or aluminum pipe, but for us, CPV is fine, after all, we are not planning on running a tractor over it, or irrigating 160 acres every two days. - The manifold is interesting. I can see that really being handy at the garden end to connect different hoses to different rows. I would just use a 'T' type connection for setting that up, I assume? Yup, you would just use a T fitting, ( best is several T fittings daisy chained together) with an end cap adapter that allows the fitting of a three quarters of an inch threaded pipe. This lets you buy a cheap tap to allow you to connect to a half inch garden hose and screw it into the fitting with teflon tape wrapped on the threads. - Is an RV pump submersible or above ground? RV pumps are simple in line diaphram 12v pressure pumps. They are designed to pressurise the water from poly tanks in an RV, Boat, etc and move it up to a faucet. They dont have a lot of lift, dont create a huge amount of pressure, but are relatively cheap and can run off a solar array. They do suck a lot of 12v power however, so a 30W panel, coupled to a 120 20AH battery will only let you run the pump for about 2 hours. There are some in tank models, but they are more expensive. I use one because the former tenants rigged one to run water from the cistern for the trailer, before they froze the pipes and had them burst. It was either use it to water the garden, or add it to the junk pile,.... ( 5 ten ton truck loads of junk, 12 2000lb trailer loads and several more to go, which is why we managed to buy the 40 acres cheap). -I've seen a drip system layed out with individual drippers, but that doesn't seem practical for a large vegetable garden. Do the emitter hoses you're talking about have holes in them so it could be layed out along a row of beets say? Emitter hoses are quarter inch hoses that are tapped into a half inch or three quarters of an inch feeder line. One can attach spray nozzels, mister nozzles, drip nozzels, etc, at the end of the emitter hose for more suitable to the plant water delivery. If for example, you have a row of beets, what you would do is run the feeder hose down the middle of the beets, and punch in holes where the beets are on both sides of the hose. If the beets are say two rows, 6 inches away from each other, you would punch in the holes, snap in a fitting, ( I prefer to use the valve fittings rather than simple junction fittings, a short length of hose, then a valve fitting, then another length of hose, I am Scottish after all and it is a low pressure system), add 5 inches of quarter inch emitter hose and pin it down near the bulb of the beet. If on the other hand, you have planted your beets French intensive style, then unfortunately, you are going to need pressure and spray emitters to cover the bed. - If so, any idea of a supplier? I've never come across anything like that locally. I contemplated drilling holes in a bunch of garden hose as a winter project, but that would be rather tedious! LOL. Most Home Depots, Lowes, etc carry the feeder hose, emitters, etc in the underground sprinkler section. Most agricultural irrigation supply houses will also carry the stuff for cheaper if you buy in bulk. You can probably also find suppliers on the web, with a Google search for drip irrigation, even though I have not looked. The trick is to go modular and realistic. If the goal is a subsistance garden to feed your family fresh heathy foods, build the manifold and this year, run flood irrigation off half inch garden hoses on the existing crops. In the fall, fence the garden and over the winter, build some formal raised beds. A cheap source of wood is used pallets, line them with tarpaper and use a good wood stain inside and out. I prefer to buy bulk rough sawn 2 x 6 s from the mill, In the early spring, install, fill and plant the raised beds, ( all equal length and width), set up proper drip irrigation with individual feeder tubes (or spray nozzels and a pressure system if French intensive ), flood irrigate the rest and just keep adding to the system until it is done. For crop rotation, as you rotate crops, you also rotate the custom drip system bed by bed. If the goal is a truck or market garden, in which you sell the crop, then spend the money for a proper irrigation system, it is deductable against farm income, a capitol investment which is deprecable, exempt from many taxes, (Provincial, Federal, etc) when bought as such, and in many cases, also low interest financiable through grants and subsidies.

We had been advised in our initial communication with them that the installation of a vent did not require a permit, and I don't know any more than that. What makes the vent illegal is the fact that it's been located where International Mechanical Code does not allow it to be located. This kind of reasoning makes me crazy. Officially you don't need a permit, but if you do it counter to code, e.g., locate it in the wrong place, you're in violation of the mechanical code. How can a code be enforced if there's no upfront agreement (taking out a permit) that you'll abide by it? I don't need a permit to erect a fence between my property and my neighbor's, as long as I follow certain guidelines, height, materials, etc. But if I do it wrong, I'm in violation and my neighbor would probably be caught in the same bind.

I have been thinking about this a lot and I was able to locate a tuxedo weigela, which seems like it would provide nice contrast, grows fast, and up to 5’x5’, but then I got to thinking about how it will still look bare in winter. I don’t know what they are called but I have seen some ornamental looking blue spruce type trees with curvy trunks. I wonder about something like that for between the windows or do I just need to do more layering around the weigela if I go that route to get some height? Open to ideas if anyone has thoughts. It excites me to see all the new plants and shrubs available at the garden centers but I am having trouble figuring out what to do 🤯 haha. Thanks in advance for any other feedback!