If you are talking about the plastic mulched beds, no we laid that by hand. It takes some time, but we are getting faster. I hope the time spent now means less weeding in the future. First I till the beds out to at least 3 feet wide. Then I come back with a rake or a hoe and make a 4 to 6 inch furrow on each side of the bed. Then we set the roll of plastic on the bed roll it out a few feet and bury the edges and on the end. It works best to hold it down with a helper or a heavy concrete block. Then unroll further and stretch as you go. Fill the sides back in with the dirt. Then at the end of the rows, my helpers help me out. I hope this helps. I wish I had a mulch layer, but I need to get the tractor and tiller first. I did build a garden bedder/hiller that I used to make raised beds outside. I rented a tractor this year and it worked great. Jay

I had some F**** the other night- the lawn and veggies (well some) were white and the flowers did just fine-- grr go figure! anyway, here is some of the surviving flowers this week-- getting it in just under the wire aren't I? puppy likes to help- here with those fall blooming crocus and what she really wanted lol here with next years sweet william Sunflowers finally going now that the f**** is wilting them! and misc out of the five beds that surround the house oh and I can't leave out the plants I DID bring in and THEIR helper

CEF- I keep waiting to see a picture of the living room, pretty please with cookie dough on top? ;) So glad you are able to sell the doors and make some money back. Also, yay for having a properly working car!! Pinkelephant- I am so intrigued by your old school house turned home! I'm curious, do you happen to have any pictures from when you first bought it? It sounds like it has already been through a lot and now you are renoing it again. Your little girl is gorgeous!!! Sorry I couldn't help more with layout, it must be b/c of the time of year it is, the board seems kinda dead. You might try posting another new thread asking for layout help. There are some amazing layout guru's on here, you just have to be lucky enough to catch them. Good job though on shoring up walls, getting window openings set at this time of year, I know I don't want to be outside working right now!! OB2B- I.e. refinishing wood floors, I don't envy you. The first place hubby and I bought was a 60 year old house, remodeled in the 80s and they installed wood paneling and carpet over the wood floors. When we bought it, the first thing we did was pull off the paneling and pull up the carpet. We ended up refinishing all of the original floors ourselves before we moved in. I can't imagine trying to refinish wood floors in a house while living there! The dust and fumes are so pervasive!! Good luck! Also, on a personal note? Only 10 lbs?!?! You are doing much better than I am with reno fatigue!! Terri- I really want to see the before/after pics now!!! From the pic with your son, those trees were massive!! It must have made a huge difference to remove them! Annkh- I'm not a skier but those views look amazing!! I'm glad to hear you had a wonderful time on your ski trip. Schick- I, too, have all our taxes done, just waiting for a few forms to come in before submission. Are you good with electrical or are you going to have to hire it out? Our first house had to have the main replaced to bring it up to code, we were able to do it ourselves. When we added my kitchen last year, we added a sub panel for the new addition and, once again (thankfully) we were able to do it ourselves. I have only, in the past few years, come to realize why renovations are so expensive for the average homeowner. I was raised with a dad that taught me plumbing, electrical, car work, etc. (Yes, all work was done with a permit and passed inspection) No wonder others reno budgets are so high!!! I would have never been able to get even a fraction of what I have if I had to pay others to do it. I hope you are able to replace the main without eating into your bathroom reno too much! As for me, we left Saturday afternoon for them to spray insulation. We came back Sunday night with a vomiting kid and I spent the next few days trying to tend to her AND get work done. She was well enough to go to school on Tuesday so when the baby was napping, I pulled (what used to be) the window in the master bedroom which will now be a doorway to my closet. I also went in my "closet" and pulled all the decking off of what used to be the outside of the house. Just need to finish running electrical in there, build a header and install a door, and get drywall up and I will be able to start planning the design of the closet and planning the reno on the master bath. The bricks were delivered yesterday and the brick layers are supposed to be here tomorrow to start bricking. My dad is the one calling the shots on the reno since it is his (and my moms) place and I think he is honestly just ready for it to be done. We hired out pouring the slab. We hired out the septic (necessary since you have to have the proper licensing, etc. for it to pass inspection.) Hired out some framers to do the HIPP roof and now hiring brick layers to come and do the brick work. Most of this (except the septic) we could do ourselves but he is ready to be done and I don't blame him one bit!!

Fertilization is going to depend on your soil. If you're growing in containers, especially if you're using a good soiless container mix, fertilizer is a must... you just can't get anything without it. If you are in ground, it depends on the type of soil, the amount of irrigation and rain, and such factors as available nutrients and bio-activity of the soil life. To get optimum growth, your plants need enough of all the necessary nutrients at a pace to match their needs. That means the nutrients need to be in an available form that the plants can use. If your soil can provide them, then you're all set. However, many nutrients in soil are in unavailable forms, or soil life is not active enough to process unavailable nutrients into usable forms. It's a balancing act though. Too many available nutrients, the plants will 'burn'. Too few, and they just won't thrive at their potential. So, knowing when plants call for nutrients helps to know when to assist the process with fertilizer. In general, they need abundant nutrients when getting established; after a rain which can leach nutrients away; at flowering and fruit set; and during later fruit sets. Different nutrients are needed at all these stages, and it's up to the grower to have an idea of their soil, and to learn what nutrients a plant uses for different growth, and how much.