I wonder...how did your lawn turn out? It seems from the picture that more than one thing is wrong. Obviously pH, but also it could be your watering schedule, amount of fertilizer, and mowing. The cheap lime is ok but you might not get great success with it. I live about 60 miles from you and have compact clay as well. I use the fast acting lime every 4-6 weeks (1/2 the recommended values to avoid rain runoff). But it seems because your pH is so low that you aren't watering your grass (usually city water is hard). For watering if you have compacted clay soil, you should make sure to water in the AM (before 9) because it looks like your soil easily dries out. This way you'll give roots access to water in the mid-afternoon during "respiration" which is when most water in the blade is lost. Plus you'll dry out the top surface of the ground to discourage weeds and disease/fungus. Plus the high humidity/dew in the AM lets more of the water get into the ground. Water every 2-3 days during the hot summer months...if you water and your grass is beginning to turn brown, you should have watered the previous day - but never water the lawn everyday. You'll need to water long enough to get down to the root zone (water in the AM and in the PM dig a small hole and see how deep the water went - if it didn't go 2-3" deep, try watering longer until it gets this deep. if you look at the soil after a nice soaking rain, 3-6"+ of soil will be damp). For those bare spots, it's best to use a water-absorbing coated seed - those seeds tend to grow much faster than regular seeds covered in peat moss. You can use these in the middle of summer as long as you water the spots everyday for the first 2-3 weeks. I've seen these seeds germinate in 4 days (Scotts brand). For fertilizer, a balanced fertilizer is best, i.e. 20/20/20. You might have to go to a specialty store for this. Fertilize a little below the recommend settings every 4-6 weeks. Finally, for mowing make sure you set your mower as high as possible. That will help keep the top 1" of soil from drying out so soon and help new seedlings grow.

Bob Walsh covers Mimi's egg-rooting method in his book on "How to grow plumeria-frangipani anytime anywhere", btw. Still miss the "Aloha Plumeria" forum though...and Mimi, too. I hope she's happy in her life, and stress-free. I'm currently rooting a bonus plumeria with an egg, and an Oahu Star cutting w/o one, -since I only had one egg available when potting them up. The bonus cutting is showing tip changes on it, already, but I can't consider this a fair test, as the Oahu Star cutting was considerably thicker than the mystery (gift) cutting was, when I rec'd them. To do a fair comparative test, I think I'd have to use 2 cuttings from the same source and root them the same way, (except for placing an egg under only one of them).

Lars, i have lemon, lime and ginger powder. And the peel in hard dried tiny chunks. And whole lime dried. They are all a bit different. Still working out how to incorporate. Most of my spices are whole seed. So i toast on low heat, then add the powdered spices. Testing using warm water to soak. Last night i made a blend into warm olive oil and it is soaking to top some naan tonight. It seems a completely different flavor profile than fresh, like most spice. I do like it. Just different. Like fresh turmeric vs dried. A challenge but a fun one. The Za'atar is interesting. The mix i purchased. Not something i normally would buy but trying new blends is interesting. Many of these spices are anti-inflammatory so that seems to be proving so. @sarah. Elk is on the lean side like Moose. Not gamy. Using some pork would add some minor fat. Are you cubing or grinding. I think a stew, cubed, would tenderize enough. Like in your ragu. I've used game meats cubed and used a bit of ground chuck for some fat. Just to differentiate the two flavors. Sounds really good.

We are supposed to cut back and only water on certain days but there are no penalties. I have a very low water use garden. It is why I like spring blooming bulbs so much - Mother Nature waters them for me. I also have Mediterranean climate plants and native wildflowers. This year I have 300 tulips blooming that have not been watered once. In the late spring and summer my front yard looks more like the California hills - fairly brown.