Thanks for the additional comments. Okay, I've got a peat experiment going on now in my new potato patch! My last 25 ft potato row was not planted yet when I hauled my first load of peat out of the swamp. So I dumped it out by my potato garden and used part of it to ammend the soil in that last unplanted row. First I put fertilizer down (10-10-10) in the bottom of the trench and then spread about 2-3 inches of peat on top of that. Then I hoed it up and mixed the peat into the sandy soil a little bit. Then I planted the row with potato seed, watered it well, and then mulched it with newspaper & pine straw. Out of the 4 rows I now have one with peat mixed into the native very sandy soil. We shall see in time if this small addition of peat makes any difference this season in the growth and production of my potato crop.

Where do you live, Amy? Typically the seeding window opens when the end of summer temps start to fall in the evenings. That's usually a sign that the daytime temps will soon follow. You can't really look at the calendar to determine when it is. If you have several weeks left with temps in the 60s or higher, your window is still open. For example if you live near the coast where the temperatures are influenced by the ocean temperature and morning dew, you would have time. New grass seed does not need a wonderful bed of loose soil to germinate and take root. It needs sunlight and moisture. If you bury the seed under top dressing the seed-to-soil contact will be better but you've blocked out the sunlight. Hopefully the germinated grass seed will pop a blade of grass through the top dressing to get sunlight quickly. The way Mother Nature seeds new grass is to have grazing animals knock the seed onto the ground, and then they walk or run over it. It has been observed by farmers that seed sprouts most quickly in the footprints of hooved animals and less quickly just an inch away from where it was clearly stepped on. What that means is the heavy footprint of the animal pushes the seed into the surface to get better seed-to-soil contact. If you follow the Mother Nature logic, there is no need to aerate, dethatch, rake, top dress, or any of the other processes that have become normal in many places. The best thing you can do is scalp the existing grass down low, scatter the seed, and roll it down with a water fillable roller. If you just have a small area to seed, you can simply walk on it and get the same effect as when the animals walk on it. Believe it or not the pressure we put on the soil is about the same as what cattle put on the soil. Their weight is distributed over larger feet than ours, so it works out about the same.

Condos, senior neighborhoods etc. I'm 47 and I would never want to burden my child with rolling out my trash (and doing a lot of other things) when I could move to an area with better services as I need them. When my parents were in their 50's they moved to their ranch house and used to say the same thing to us. However when it became clear they were no longer able to live in their house without assistance, they started balking at the idea of moving to something with better services. As they aged they didn't quite realize how much more help they needed, even after we got my Mom full time help during the day. (Mom had parkinsons and started to lose her ability to think clearly, while my Dad kept his facilities till the day he died) So would it have been better to drag my parents out kicking and screaming to someplace else, or better to help them to still live in their home. And since Dad was "clear of mind" I doubt a court would have allowed it. Once my Mom passed away, my Dad moved in with my sister. But that was his choice because he realized he couldn't maintain the house himself and he was afraid at his age of living alone. Trust me when I say the decision is never an easy one on either side of the fence.

Melissa, I agree. I would understand it if you are standing more than an hour at a time or walking throughout your house all the time. But, how often are you doing that? I always use rugs in main areas, and for standing while doing dishes, you could put a mat for comfort. But, really, if your standing, not jumping up and down, how much difference would the harder material make? Hmmm, I wonder if there’s a study done on it? Regardless, I never noticed any pain when living in my tile home (or my wood flooring home). I love the look of wood... but, never noticed a difference in the feel of it. I believe those that have, though.