When you applied the lime, and which lime, could have an affect on how things grew. If done shortly before planting the lime would not have had time to make any change in the soils pH and many nutrients would not be available to the plants. Lime, to have much affect on the soils pH, needs to be applied several months before that change is desired. Contact your local office of your state universities USDA Cooperative Extension Service about having a good, reliable soil test done and also dig in with these simple soil tests, Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. to see what your soil looks like and what you need to do to make that soil into a good, healthy soil.

I live in Lafayette, La. For my area, (we don't get very cold winters either) the last week of August or first week of September we prune our roses down to 30" and we prune again, down to 15" during the last week of February, or after the last frost. We always fertilizer after each pruning. We continue making certain they have enough water all year. I fertilize my roses once each and every month. Other than that, that is all I do. I don't cover the plants during frost of freezing temperatures, or place extra mulch. They are happy with it and if they're happy, I'm happy. Hope it helps. Bonne chance mon ami, T

There is no question but that you should build as energy efficient an envelope as possible. That gets you to installing the smallest size system using the least amount of energy that will suffice. The distribution side of the system remains essentially the same with the same costs almost regardless of what you install on the ‘Source’ side of the equation. The real difference regarding geothermal is the cost differential between the heat pump and the ground loop installation from anything else that might be installed. Regarding in-floor radiant, the lower the design for supply fluid temperature the more efficient the geothermal heat pump becomes. This is done primarily by close spacing of the piping. Geothermal can also either preheat or supply virtually all DHW, dehumidification and air-conditioning at COPs as high as COP 5 (1/5th the cost of operating an electric boiler). There is an absolute WAR on all energy now and for the foreseeable future - particularly Carbon based, such as Natural Gas & Propane. All the professional seminars I attend, there is nobody is talking about gas except as a ‘possible' backup or if it’s already there in residential installations and only if you really must. The leading edge today is towards Cold Climate Air-Source Heat Pumps (Air-to-Liquid), Geothermal & Hydronics. We’re even moving away from central force air to Hydronics as rapidly as possible where possible. The reason is simple economics: "A given volume of water can absorb almost 3500 times a much heat as the same volume of air, when both undergo the same temperature change.” 3/4"tube = 20"x12" duct 3/4"tube = 18" ø duct Water can be moved more efficiently than air To the OP: Particularly if you’re having a water well drilled in your property, you can contract with a well driller that also installs geothermal ground loops (Could be 1-loop of 450ft). You can plan to drill the geothermal borehole within the envelope of your home - right in the soon to be mechanical room - with no runouts, no trenches, no excavating, no backfilling & no foundation wall penetrations either - straight into a Flow Centre. Those talking about $50k to $80k more for geothermal have no idea what they’re talking about - NONE! Neither do GC that discourage it and saying there’s no sensible payback. It’s not their thing & they don’t want it to be their thing - or yours either as long as you’re their client. Separate all the HVAC from your GC, research and contract on your own. With interest rates being at historic lows, rebates, grants and tax credits, it might become a no brainer - especially the way we are and will continue be punished for using any energy. You might find the incremental cost of geothermal a real bargain when amortized over the life of a mortgage especially since it has the longest life cycle of any active HVAC system you can install. Energy savings might even be equal to or greater than its incremental monthly cost. I am a disinterested party; install whatever pleases you. IMPO SR

In years past I volunteered with my local Habitat for Humanity affiliate and removed materials for reuse. At this time, they no longer have an established program for reclaiming material but they will accept donated wood after nails have been removed. The website GPAElgin.org has a section with many preservation articles including a link to a method for removing flooring. If you work carefully you shoud be abe to get 90% usable boards. You coud even reinstall the boards in your house and buy extra boards to fill in closets or reinstall in a smaller area. There are a couple different approaches but most important is finding the direction because it is removed starting with the last installed board. Be warned that it is possible that the direction switches, often in hallway or closet. Start the project by setting a saw to 3/4 depth and cut down the midde of a row then pull the pieces out. My preferred method was using at least two prybars and forcing them under the boards unti the nails start to loosen. I have also used wood wedges for this step. Loosen the entire width of the flooring before starting to remove any boards. Once I get going, I usually just force the prybars in by hand rather than hammering. Be careful not to use too much force or go too quickly or you will end up breaking the tongues off. Use each row to loosen the next so after removing the boards it is easy to get under the next row. Put the boards behind you until you have a good quantity then switch modes and move the boards to your processing area. Next step is removing the nails which is quite a bit of work but essential to manage moving and storing. Try to hammer the nails back through the tongue and grab them with round nose pliers and use the board edges for leverage to get the nails out.  When you have enough boards put them up on saw horses in sets. I use four boards wide and three rows high, long boards on the outsides, fill in middle with short ones. Force the boards tightly together and shrink wrap the bundle.  Stack bundles flat on top of boards or bricks for air circulation.  If you get the bundles tight you can move them easily without the boards shifting or falling out.