Hi there, We did this around our potager. We dug down about 3-4 inches to level, used a hand tamper to compact and laid lanscape fabric to suppress weeds. It's held up nicely for four years so far. Few weeds root in the gravel, but easy to pull. We haven't had to top up the gravel yet, but may do so in a year or two. As to what to use, this terminology seems to differ by region. I've heard it called crusher run, road mulch, etc. You can ask for 'quarter inch minus" which means a mix of larger pieces (but no larger than 1/4" plus fines and small stuff). You do NOT want pea gravel or anything too large which is shifty underfoot and a pain to drive wheelbarrow through, etc. HOpe that helps.

I just googled "restoring gold rim on fine china" and came up with these ... one says it is difficult to do and the other gives a quick diy fix! http://www.antiquerestorers.com/DISCUSSION/ceramics.html http://www.ebay.com/gds/Top-5-Methods-of-Restoring-24k-Gold-Leaf-and-Plating-/10000000178630660/g.html

Patty W thank you for sharing your lovely pictures. I am not the one to ask about blackspot because I am just learning. Though I wanted to mention that the soils in Iowa and Illinois are closely matched.... Ijust wanted to add that might be, but for any newbies like me in the rose world that all soil isn't quite the same. I grew up on a relatively small farm in Missouri and our soil on different parts of the farm was quite different. People talk about micro climates in different zones I would go as far as to suggest that soil has the many different aspects. I remember digging post holes with my father and in some places we had to dig with jobbers by hand because the tractor auger would even touch the hard clay, but 10 feet away at the next post hole it would be easier digging. We also grew crops and you could tell a difference in the ground as you looked across it by how well the plants were growing. As a newbie on learning about roses, I thought I would share some of my experiences. Schaute, I am not an expert by any means. So take this with a grain of salt and you might want to have your soil tested if you continue to have problems with plants. But for the problems that you are currently experiencing on your rose bush I think the above suggestions will help you to fix the immediate situation. Thank you

It would likely be only on rare occasions where you needed to travel between inside-the-screened-in-porch and the garage/driveway. Walking from the drive around to a back door area, in order to enter the SIP, is not something a guest will begrudge. That's how they would enter the back portion of any home. Adding an extra door to the porch would not be worth sacrificing how the room is used and arranged. You could make the entrance to the back yard much more inviting if instead of having a plain gate, a flowering vine covered arbor was the entrance to the yard. I'm adding a path scheme to the basement to the plan. It looks like you'd need a couple sets of steps. Exactly how you divide lawn from non-lawn areas of the back yard will depend a great deal on what area gets consistent sunlight. (The drawing is schematic.)