Jo, I use a drip irrigation system and put it away before freezing temperatures arrive. Parts of it...like the t-tape can be left outdoors but it drastically shortens its life. My garden slopes much more than yours, so I have my drip irrigation set up in zones with ball valves, so I can shut off some sections while irrigating others. Since water tends to flow downhill pretty well, even underground, my higher beds dry out faster than lower ones and need to be watered more often. Also, because they are on the higher south and west ends of the garden, they are more exposed to summer's south winds. Most of the time,, since water does flow underground from our neighbor's higher ground to our south, the lower beds at the north end of the garden have good deep moisture under them for a much longer period of time and often I don't have to irrigate those beds at all until mid-summer or later. To make drip irrigation work in our big,sloping garden, setting up zones has worked better than anything else I've tried. Our lowest temps at our house this winter have been 9, 10 and 11 degrees on several different nights, so I was glad we didn't have any drip lines out exposed to those temperatures. The people who leave their drip irrgation lines in the garden all winter often unhook the lines and situate them so any water left in them can run out. Then they use an air compressor to blow air through them to insure they are dry, and then hook them back together in place to they are ready for spring. I am not certain what they do with the rest of the system, but I imagine that even if they leave the lines themselves in the ground, they take the pressure regulator, filter and other parts and dry them out and store them indoors where they won't freeze and crack. Drip irrigation might not meet your needs if you don't want to put it up every winter, but it might work okay. You can learn more about drip irrigation at the website of Dripworks, which I'll link below. They even have designers who will help you design your drip system if you want them to, free of charge. If you go that route, be sure you tell them about the change in the grade in your garden so they can take that into account. Also, there is an irrigation forum here at GW and I bet the irrigation specialists there would be happy to answer your questions. I agree with Larry that a pressure compensating system likely would work for you. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Dripworks

on the south side would be the best place, and not just because it means you have to mow less! :) that's where i'm putting mine because the south side of the house gets the best sun exposure. i don't have a compost pile either, this year i am buying my compost. hopefully i will have enough spare cash this summer to build my own bins to make it myself for next year's garden. the lowe's website (do you have lowe's out there? home depot?) has detailed, illustrated instructions on how to build your own compost bins.......i was thinking of using those instructions,though i'm sure there are several sets of directions in various places online. oh yeah, the mulched up clippings from your grass are what should go in the compost pile. i'm buying compost, peat and topsoil this year to fill my garden beds. i have three 4'x12' beds and two little 2'x3' beds, the sides are untreated pine. the sides are nailed together and supported every 4 feet on the long sides with a 2' length of rebar driven into the ground on the outside of the bed right against the wood. i duct-taped the top oo the rebar so it doesn't scratch me. it might not have been completely neccessary to enforce the sides, but this way i won't worry about it, and rebar is very cheap :) the beds i built are pretty close to the house......the edge is about 15' from the edge of the porch. they all run north to south, tallest things like corn, trellised tomatoes on the north end (closest to the house) and lower things like strawberries, carrots on the south end (farthest from the house). don't every worry about sounding silly, everyone on these forums is so kind and helpful and patient. there's no better way to learn than to ask questions.....i asked about a million before settling on how i wanted to set up my garden! welcome :) what are you thinkinf of planting?

the reason nothing happened when you went to customize is because the items in that selection area like the forward and back arrows must be dragged and dropped onto the toolbar just clicking on them does nothing. If you are not able to get it back by going to view> toolbars> navigation and check that one then you may try this Shut down firefox then go to Start at the bottom >all programs> find mozilla firefox in the list> click that and select firefox safe mode> put a check at reset toolbars and controls> click on make the changes and restart firefox. That should put them all back to how they originally were.

Thanks Pharaoh, and everyone. Prill, I had to go into the big city to get it. Natick Tile Showcase, to be exact. I tried to buy local, but just couldn't manage. Tonight, I have the feeling that I don't like the color of the counter with the tile. I have read about that initial shock response here so many times. I tell my clients to give it a few days when a new color goes on the walls. Intellectually, I know it will get better when everything is put back together. Right now, I am just tired and kind of sad. Everything was bliss with the last kitchen. Sometimes I feel like nothing has gone right with this one. Off to a hot bath...