ok, I'm in too! :) I've been reading alot about this topic for years when it's time to go out and buy those expensive looking planters. I just went to my local (high end) garden supply and found that a big bale of peat moss was around $15 and a small bag of vermiculite was around $6. I thought I'd just go to Walmart and check it out. The weather is looking good for this weekend (finally!) and I'm gonna go 'tufa'.

Well, now is a good time to plan. Think for a bit about what you really want to end up with... lots of pretty grass - which also will need frequent mowing, summer watering, and probably fertilizers... and just which flowers appeal to you? Annuals? Perennials? Low care? Specific types and/or specific colors? How much time will you really spend taking care of those guys -- and don't say 'every weekend' unless you never take trips or go shopping! Be realistic about how much effort you are willing to put forth regularly, and then plant accordingly. By using mulch (and sometimes installing drip irrigation), and bulbs/perennials it is possible to have blossoms from spring to fall with very little effort once they have been planted. Roses, on the other hand, are considerably more demanding. Most of us go somewhere in between those two extremes, but you need to decide for yourself what suits you. Take notepaper and figure out for sure just what you want, and where. It helps to have real-life measurements of what you have right now: fence-to-fence and house-to-fence; mark in permanent items such as trees and lightpoles, shrubs you want to keep, sidewalks, the tool shed, etc. Then measure and sketch where the present flower beds are. Then put a piece of heavy, transparent plastic (or a clear page protector from the stationery store) over that base drawing and sketch where you would like to have the various beds, and how much lawn you really want. (I use the dry-ink pens, they are easy to erase from the plastic.) Remember that curves are more comfortable to live with than straight lines, and clusters of flowers usually look far more attractive than a rigid row. Visual variance in height, width, and color is good, but allow for repetition especially in color to keep the whole thing looking planned instead of looking splotchy. While doing all that, you also need to decide just what you want in the way of flowers and herbs. Most herbs are perennial, and many are demanding of well-drained soil, which means that unless you already have light, sandy soil the herbs will be happier in a raised bed. That's okay because raised beds are neat, easy to maintain, and easy to harvest. They don't *have* to be permanent, but most folks prefer the appearance of permanent beds. Just give yourself a break and be sure to put a mowing curb around any and all tree/flower/herb beds. A mowing curb is made of almost anything including rubber, concrete, brick, or hypertufa. It allows the mowing machine [rider or push] to trim the lawn neatly so you don't have to use an edger or pull weeds. Now, having overwhelmed you with all that, let me say: do just a little bit at a time. Unless you have lots and lots of $$$ and can hire help, *don't* try to do a whole makeover all at once. Or even all in one summer! Use your sketch to decide what you want to end up with, and then list. A list could read like this: shrubs to hide the garage; annual flowers all along the west fence; a bird bath among hostas under the oak tree; an herb garden near the kitchen door [best place for it]; an all-weather path from the porch to the tool shed; etc. Once you have a list of projects, choose which single one is the most important to you. Then break that project down into steps needed to get it done. If the project is physically big like putting annuals along a 100' of fence, downsize it into 10' sections. The only time you shouldn't break a project into sections is if you decide to have a concrete truck come and pour a sidewalk or driveway or patio -- better to pour it all at once instead of in 10' segments :) Do make use of the GW forums, read the FAQs and then use 'search' for specific questions. In fact, if you do a search on this forum for "new beds" and read all the postings (about 7 pages worth popped up for me), most of your questions will be answered! I'd also recommend visiting the Soil forum, because no matter what plants you decide to use, you are likely going to have to do some soil prep - even for a lawn.

Thanks for that, Digit! I will now be posting pics again—even if they only look like ugly links! I have SO many things blooming in my yard already I’ve been WANTING to post some pics! But have more I need to download/upload (never have figured out which is which!) into the computer first—that I hadn’t bothered since I “couldn’t” post them anyway! Will do it in the next couple days! I don’t have a google+ page! And I don’t intend to ever have one! If I sign up for google+ my WebAlbums will be TOTALLY messed up—as I discovered when I tried to help somebody, last fall, try to figure out how to use Picasa and WebAlbums! It’s a total mess in WebAlbums in “+”, and as near as I can tell, once you sign up for it it’s TOO LATE, and the “new and improved” version (NOT!) is all you have access to anymore. As a matter of fact, if some of your pics really did “disappear,” I wonder if that had something to do with it! I haven’t “updated” Picasa for a couple years either (I just keep telling it NO when it pleads with me to update it!) ‘cause I’m afraid that’ll somehow get me into the google+ version—and I won’t be able to opt out of it again! I REALLY don’t understand why these companies keep trying to “improve” something that’s already working really, really well! (google maps REALLY screwed up their “maps” too, IMO! But I still have a link to Olde Google Maps—that still works! If they ever discontinue the olde maps, I don’t have a CLUE what I’ll use for maps! Bing, IMO, is at least as bad as the “new” google maps! HELLO out there! STOP “fixing” things that don’t need fixing!!!) (And my avatar on FB, which I haven’t signed into for a year!, is an airplane! And that’s the only place I have an avatar at all!!!) I don’t know why you didn’t “need to” change your setting to “enable” PMing, but maybe that’s something else they’ve changed recently—like putting in the ability to enter your zone (tho I’m gonna leave mine in as my “last name!”) When I went to that page I had to change the settings to get them right to enable PMing. Maybe now it’s the default when GW folks get into the houzz site. But there is SOMETHING that needs to be “fixed” for David, because there’s no “message box” visible on His Page, and until that’s there, nobody can PM him. I’m sure it’ll all get straightened out! We are, gradually, getting back to “our old GW!” Never would have believed that when I showed up here the first day and went—SAY WHAT????? I’m really impressed with the admins and all they’ve done! As for me! Maybe I’ll take some more pics tomorrow! Skybird

For anyone here chair shopping, you might find a really good brand secondhand. I'd be a little bit worried about authenticity, so see if your city has any authorized stores for that kind of thing. (Or check out Duckys.) A bit of warning: see if it's possible to rent or borrow any chair before buying, so you can test it out for a while. (or make sure there's a good return or exchange policy.) I hate to admit it, but I had the newest Aeron chair and didn't like it. I was going through a period of hip pain from tight flexors, and the bouncy mesh seat made it really hurt. I don't think there's anything wrong with the design, but it just wasn't right for me. it took several days to figure that out, the few minutes I spent in the showroom wasn't nearly enough to detect a problem. (my husband was more than happy to take it, thankfully we're about the same size. he really loves it.) Of course you can get a really decent ergonomic chair for less. There are some pretty ok looking ones out there. Maybe not as pretty as the WS Home posted above, but hey, it's an office chair. If you don't need any complicated adjustments, the pretty ones might be fine too. It just depends on your own needs. I strongly recommend something height adjustable no matter what though. You really want your forearms to be level with the desktop, or otherwise.... ouch.