Personally, I'd probably go the raised bed route, Admittedly, if you're determined to improve the soil and plant in it, you'll have to do the hard part and dig the rocks. You can amend pretty well by turning in some leaf mold or compost when you dig the rocks, and then planting cover crops, that would get you pretty good soil in a few years, but the real question is if it's worth the effort of digging the rocks. I've done that before, and pulled somewhere between 30 and 100 lbs of rocks out of a 6 x 20 bed. I doubt I'll be willing to do that again, myself. As for raised beds, they don't have to be that expensive, and if you're not really going to get started till next year you have the time to collect your materials cheap. Look up Lasagna gardening for a really easy, and relatively cheap way to build a raised bed. The basic method is, stockpile all the stuff you would use to make compost and then fill your raised bed starting with a layer of wet cardboard or newspaper, right on top of the grass, no need for a bottom in your raised bed. Follow this with thin (2-3") layers of browns, greens, finished compost and/or peat. You can dust in some wood ash or bone meal as you go to bring in some for trace minerals as well. You can cover that with black plastic and let it cook for a few weeks, or even plant directly in to it. Really simple, and if you spent the time between now and then collecting materials, you could probably get away with very little investment.

Really neat. I live in Flour Bluff on the east side of Corpus Christi, and I am wanting to build a natural pond in my sandy backyard using clay and then lining the bottom with white rock and limestone. I want to make the pond look like the Comal River in New Braunfels ( a natural spring fed river) and plant it and stock it with plants and fish from the river. I live in a Zone 10A climate (nearly tropical) with an average annual low of about 31F. I have a tropically landscaped backyard, and I think having a natural spring looking pond would be awesome underneath my jungle canopy I am starting to grow in the backyard. I would like to make the pond about 10 - 12 feet long, about 8 ft. wide and about 4. 5 - 5 ft. deep. with a small waterfall and filtration for the fish and aquatic life. I would like to power this with a small solar panel attached to the fence or the roof of the house (where it can get some sunlight). Any suggestions? Thanks, John

habanero orange are difficult to grow and quite often dont get that tall.They taste pretty horrible too.When they start from seed,you should remove laterals as they grow to premote height.Take the odd leaf off from the bottom as the tree grows to premote growth and try to develop a Y shaped tree with no leaves below the V part.Feed with soluble Thrive flower and fruit when flowers appear.Prune so light can enter the middle of tree.Allow space for the friuts to grow.Feed lightly every time once the tree is a good size.They tend to get bushy,so thin the leaves a bit.A fert high in nitrogen will premote leaf growth which is good early on but you want more potassium when flowering,hence the flower and fruit soluble fert.Pick a lot at first(no power) but then leave mature fruits on the tree a long time.They will then be very hot! especially if you eat raw straight away.They will become hotter when the temp drops eg into autumn or early winter. Drought stress will make them more angry too.The above applies to all chillies.Get The Y shape,so the tree can branch out.Gradually remove leaves up the stem,so its bare. Do you plan to eat raw or cook? Ricotto red is good for cooking in food.The above works for me anyway.Good luck.cheers

Correct on the location. Background: Late 1950s tri-level house. About 1600sf finished, with basement/part slab foundation. Existing American Standard 80% AFUE 80 MBTU furnace, no cooling. Humidity and heat of summer overwhelming us. It is my assumption house has rather low insulation values. So far I have had (4) companies come over for quotes. Company A has done internal measurements, noted windows and registers and checked insulation where possible. Company B has done a visual view and external house measurements, as well as register checks. Others have only done measurements at the furnace (duct sizing), nothing else. Company A and Company B have provided me with quotes in a timely manner. Still waiting on the Others, though one let me know it would be late. I want to add cooling. I have looked into heat pumps for their duel-fuel capability. The option to use less gas seems nice, cost wise it may not be the most optimized method currently, but that is okay. It is my understanding that adding cooling on the old furnace is possible but would be much better if upgraded to a variable speed blower. So, I am looking at a new furnace and new heat pump. I am also looking to take advantage of the rebates available. Since the Energy Star is limited to $1500 I may just do one section and wait on the other. In that case I would likely opt for the furnace first. And then wait to see what rebates come available next year. (I am waiting for the Home Star Program to pass!!) Does this make sense? Does anyone have good insight on what order to upgrade to maximise on rebates? If I did heat pump first I would get nothing because it would be matched up to an inefficient blower, right? Okay, two quotes so far. Company A: Trane: $13k Very detailed quote, including clean up and outline of install steps. However, does not meet rebate specs for HP. AHRI: 1384379 EER: 11.6 SEER: 13.75 HSPF: 8.4 Condenser: 4TWX5036A1000A, Trane XL15i heat pump Furnace: TUH2B060A9V3VA, XV95 var speed 2 stage furance Coil: 4TXCC037BC3HCA, 3 ton r-410A Alum coil Thermostat: TCONT803AS32DA, Touch screen 3H/2C w/ humidity control CO detector, F200E1029-WF honeywell filter, 1 year service included, condenstate pump, new tstat wiring, pvc venting, 3.5 ton pad, 10 year workmanship warranty, sealed external connections Company B: Carrier: $13.5k Professional presentation of quote, had to ask for model numbers. AHRI: 3330404 EER: 12.5 SEER: 15.0 HSPF: 8.5 Condenser: 25HPA536H003, Performance 15 heat pump Furnace: 58MVC080F114, Infinity ICS furnace Coil: CNPVP4221ACA, Performance series coil Thermostat: SYSTXCCId01-B thermostat CO detector, pvc venting, vinyl condeser pad, condensate pump, new tstat wiring. Larger furnace from Company B, probably just pulling it from the old furnace? With such high efficiency the 60 MBTU is probably capable. Any reason to go with the Performance of XL series over the Comfort...