Just throwing some things out here considering the French garden theme: -Could you retrofit the arch to fit over the porch arch and grow your roses off of it? -possibly reconfiguring the horizontal railing to have a small two-door gate, matching it to the metal arch (that's now attached to the house arch and matching the color. -in the area in front of arch and from left side of entry walk, work in some type of stone/pavers interlaced with plants possibly containing a wrought iron bench or little French cafe bistro set. Really getting serious here would be to contain this "bistro" area with a wrap-around railing (that matches all of the other railing or using large rectangular planters to define this "bistro" space. -Not sure of the name of this water feature but using the "lion" head spitting into the trough water feature, sitting it up against your right hand side entry wall IPO the other water fountain. -all of this would extend out approximately equal to the walk off of the drive. Really pushing it here, have your bistro area "step down" into the front section of the yard. The "step down" directly in front of the porch arch with matching stones to the curb, planting your various perrenials to the right and left of that step down. I'd at least match your fence on the left side of your house to your house. Right now it looks like an extension of your neighbor's fence. Either by painting it to complement your house, by adding fence railing that matches the existing railing or by extending some type of stucco wall that matches your house design.

Tango, Thanks for the info, I was under the assumption that too much heat was as bad as too little in the curing of concrete. Actually, my main point in reference to the heat was MY ability to deal with it, ESPECIALLY, as I now know, when I would be absolutely bathed in the airflow of multiple fans as my preference. Sigh. I'll suck it up and try the breeze-free option, cuz I'd hate to go to all that trouble only to have my finished product compromised cuz I couldn't "handle the heat." ;D I wonder if literally incorporating sweat into concrete helps or hinders....? As for giving the end product the "steam bath" treatment, that's no problem. It should be truly poached within a short time. Actually, our monsoon season is just getting underway, which will mean temps in the low 90s. It may be only psychological, but I feel more able to handle the double digit temps than the triple digits. Thanks again Tango. You are a fount of information and I look forward to learning more from you as time goes on. Tah for now. Jo aka MMW

If I have the right county for you, try these links for your county's gardening resources. http://ccmg.ucdavis.edu/ http://cecontracosta.ucdavis.edu/ Now, you have a couple options. Most people do a soil test, altho I never have. Contact the above resources for info on this inexpensive test. Ask specifically about lead and other toxins, do they even test for that. Some folks dig or double dig and add in organic matter. If you have compost, use that, or you can usually buy it in bags or bulk from nurseries or the city or county. Again, the above links should know this. If I have to buy "soil" for a garden I buy "humus" or "composted manure" never "topsoil" becoz it is heavy and void of much nutrients. I would not use container soil or potting soil, either, as that is a very light mix made esp. for container plants. I like another method called lasagna gardening where you just layer cardboard and/or newspaper, wet it, then add your organic matter or compost/humus (as described above) several inches high into a raised bed and plant. This is also called no-till gardening. Underneath, the cardboard and newspaper will be decomposing and killing off the grass or weeds underneath becoz there is no light getting to it. Just like if you lay a bag of soil on the grass and in a couple days the grass underneath is dying. After planting your veggies, I would mulch with whatever is locally available like shredded wood or wood chips. I like the shredded better, it is easier to move around,softer to walk or kneel on, and doesn't float away in a rain. Here in Mississippi, alot of us use pine needles or pine straw as it's called. If you are not planning to plant right away, you can compost in place over your cardboard or newspaper by throwing your veggie scraps and plant waste right on your future garden. Read more about it by searchiing lasagna gardens. You might also want to search about planting in hay or straw bales. Here's one sight: http//www.postpaper.com/haybale.htm This might esp work for you the first year.

They do and I planted a long (150') fence line of them. What we did not know then, but do now, is that you should not trim them with hedge trimmers. it has to do with how new growth is produced, but I'm short on the particulars right now. LB's are best pruned by using loppers and cutting canes close to the ground or the main trunk. This is way too difficult with a long hedge of them. Ours hang into the alley and the garbage truck driver reports us if/when the canes begin to touch his mirror so hubby has whacked them several times with the electric hedge trimmers. So what has happened is the LB are all dead/dying in the middle and look like ...... well you know. We are slowly replacing with hop bush, which aztreelvr suggested above. I used to be on the bank wagon for LB hedges but no longer recommend for that purpose. Best if you can plant them and just let them go wild. This post was edited by marymcp on Sat, May 31, 14 at 20:53