"From what I can see every site Eric listed is a "Big Pharma" site." Not a single one of these sites is run by or for a drug company. Unless you're using "Big Pharma" as a generic term for "anyone who disagrees with my health care philosophy". Another poster in this thread (with whom I disagreed on the proven efficacy of an herbal cancer therapy) also cites governmental and university-based information sites. The PubMed site is a searchable database of herbal and other medicine-related articles published in a huge variety of journals, and has been frequently linked to in this forum by those who fervently espouse herbal medicine. Do you label everyone who uses and appreciates the information from these sites a "Big Pharma ad man"? Few of us have the time and resources to do original research. But we can use these sites to get good, reliable information to guide us on what therapies to use - as opposed to the scaremongering, conspiracy theories and distortions that are so common on many "alternative" websites.

Hollingsworth suggests that in a field situation slugs encountering caffeine are more likely to move to other non-treated plants. In the meantime Louise Simms and Dr Michael Wilson of the University of Aberdeen have investigated caffeine on the basis that it is an Âenvironmentally acceptable alternative to metaldehyde and methiocarb (Simms and Wilson, 2002). Caffeine, a natural product, is classified by the US Food and Drug administration as a GRAS (generally recognised as safe). Simms and Wilson presented new data suggesting that caffeine may be a less effective molluscicide than previously thought [due to the sheer amount needed for treatment at the ag scale and resultant effect on receiving waters -D]. In addition, the product was shown to be toxic to three earthworm species at low doses and some phytotoxicity was observed on the plants. [emphases added] Boy, it would sure be nice to know on which plants somebody upthread sprays coffee, so we can avoid phytotoxicity. Don't want dead plants, ya know. Suuuure would be nice... Dan

If there's sand just a few inches down, you're not going to have forked root veggies. Heavy clay would be another story. You haven't told us what kind of topsoil you have, but given how thin it is, I wouldn't remove the sod. Turn it over, dig it in, maybe cover with newspaper before adding material on top, but don't waste it. Finally, what you're adding on top: if you use only compost and leaf mold, it won't make an ideal growing environment. Maybe you want to strip off the sod, dig out remaining topsoil, dump the sod at the bottom, blend in compost with the remaining topsoil and put the mixture on top. That will help make sure the grass is good and dead under there while giving you a soil/compost blend to plant in on top. Might be a lot of work though. When I started my garden I just tilled some compost into the grass with a big riding tiller. The grass fought back in a few spots but only because it was very aggressive fescue. You could just turn the whole thing over and not worry about putting the sod at the bottom.

I actually don't like butterfly bushes. They need to be cut back every year and I seem to be allergic to them. Also, I've seen them spread like weeds. Except for vulnerable new plantings, it is preferable to water roses deeply once a week, not moderately twice a week. That is good practice in a dry climate. Some roses can eventually get by on watering once every third week. There is a demonstration garden in my area that has 'Mutabilis' and 'Happenstance' on an every third week watering schedule. That is how often I water my established climbers and ramblers, too. The key word here is established. Probably this this kind of water diet suits all roses. IMO the plants need to be big and have deep root systems for this to work. My front yard garden is watered weekly by overhead spray for half an hour and deeply mulched with ground tree trimmings. If we get a run of hot days, I will drag out the hose and give supplemental water to new plantings. I grow roses with all sorts of companion plants there, many with average water requirements (peonies, lilies, clematis, and so forth). About a third of my garden is on this watering schedule, but the other two thirds are watered every third week. That part is fruit trees, established climbers and ramblers, and areas of mixed natives, succulents, and Mediterraneans. Like you I have a dry summer. Our yearly rainfall averages about 15 inches a year with a yearly variation of about 6-22 inches. When you are planning your companion plants, remember to group them by water requirements. For example, you can plant some lovely buckwheats, native sages, and drought-tolerant succulents together -- but don't place them with plants that want weekly water! Some of these plants can actually suffer from too much water, even rot. Rosefolly