A number of things: 1) No need to remove sod, so that will save a ton of work. The newspaper, mulch etc will kill the grass and the dead grass adds humus to the soil. 2) If planning to plant, do not use landscape fabric. Fabric is designed to be used under decks, patio stones and walkways where it will not be cut into for planting. Here's how to do it. Use a garden hose to outline the bed. A curvy line looks best, likely a lazy L or C shaped bed will look good. A square bed or rectangular bed with straight sides does not look as nice. Move the hose around and rearrange until you get the shape you like. Now spray paint along the hose and remove it. Use an edger to cut the grass along the paint line, wiggle back and forth to create a v-shaped line. Cut the grass inside the future bed very short. Save your newspapers for a month or get old ones from the corner stone (they cut off the date to return to supplier and throw out the rest). Arrange to have a truck load of composted manure and another load of wood chips delivered. On bed creating day, get a few friends, some beer and munchies then proceed: One or two people place four to five sheets of newspaper over an area of future bed, folding paper to match the curve of the edge. Another person follows with the hose and wets the newspaper. The rest shovel manure and then woodchips over the newspaper, wood chips should be about 2" deep. After all is done, drink beer, eat munchies. If you don't object to chemicals, a faster way is to spray the grass inside the spray paint line with Round up, wait two weeks, respray any grass that is still green, wait another week. Then, one day have the truck load of manure dumped on the bed, rake to shape. Next day, have the truck load of wood chips dumped on the bed, rake to shape. If any weeds pop up over the summer, pull them out when small. You can plant into the mix after about six weeks or wait until next year. While waiting, draw a plan of the bed on graph paper and plan what to plant where. If full sun with sandy, dry soil rethink using iris, they need moisture. Adding organic matter is good, but you cannot change the fundamental nature of your soil. So unless you want to spenda lot of time watering, research plants that like sunny, dry conditions and use them. Depending on the size of the bed, you could consider some small shrubs like Potentilia (under 3ft with yellow flowers all summer).

UCVinero, Sorry, I've been a little preoccupied the last two weeks. Haven't had much time to devote to the forums. I agree with Butch T. I bottom heat around 85-90 degrees and have had 90-100% germination everytime with this variety within 10-15 days. I am very surprised by the result. I've had 4-5 others share similar success. Perhaps they require higher temps than other C. Chinese? I can't confirm because I always use this temp range and plant in Pro-Mix Bx. Chris

Thanks tk03. I understand what you and udarrell are saying. I have a call into a window joint to see if I can get storm windows on my house soon. At the same time, I do need to act on a new system soon, too. So, let's say I get the house fairly sealed up with storms, maybe new weather stripping around the doors if needed. Then, from my OP, which system set up would be optimal for 2700-2800 sq. ft. home with 17 registers (+ 5 more in basement) and which of the dealers has done an adequate job of sizing my needs? Here's what my Trane rep had to say about my questions: "The static air pressure test is not required. Balancing of the dampers can make a nice improvement, without the static air pressure test. The exposed ductwork in the basement can be sealed with foil tape or duct sealer (caulk type or 1 gallon can). Home Depot has those items so you can do on your own if you like. The cost for us to do the duct sealing would range from $250.00 to $500.00 depending how much time it would take. The air infiltration for your home is most likely average, the equipment that I recommended will do the job well. The duct sizes within the walls cannot be modified to increase airflow very easily. The existing ducts that are in your house are typical for the homes in the area. The variable speed furnace will react to the duct work and adjust airflow. How? Electronically it monitors the RPM of the motor and checks the amp rating and speed settings. If it is not moving fast enough the power level is increased to the motor and the speed is increased. The current furnace cannot respond to the ductwork like the XV95. The TRANE XV95 can move up to 40% more air." My response: "I'm just concerned that if I were to make home improvements after purchase (buy replacement windows) that the furnace and/or AC would be oversized for my needs due to higher efficiency, less heat gain/loss from the replacement windows. At the sizes you recommended, would I be in danger of the AC satisfying the thermostat too quickly or not removing the proper amount of humidity if I were to tighten up the house with new windows, thus still leaving me with warm/cool spots in my house?" Again, thanks for your help! - Angrysalad

dadoes: "Fault 6 refers to the inner sliding door panel and latch/release mechanism on the drum, not the outer loading lid." Hmm, well I never saw the fault code displayed on the LCD panel and the dryer never refused to start up, so I have no idea when this problem occurred, and certainly did nothing to correct it. dadoes: "E-mail sent again. :-)" And received, thank you very much! kcred: "I've only done one load since the cleaning, but I like to think the dryer is now more efficient, but it also might be wishful thinking on my part. I'm just glad it's clean as I'm a firm believer in preventative maintenance." I never thought about dryer maintenance before I had this no heat problem with my dryer. I emptied the lint bucket after every load, cleaned out the indoor lint trap water reservoir, but that was about it. Now I know to religiously check the vent for lint build up (once I get a "real" one installed especially,) as well as removing the lint bucket housing from time to time to clean out the lint from there as well. kcred: "BTW, I use that flexible-foil dryer vent hose. Haven't ever had a problem with it." I never thought there was a problem with it, either, and many, many people use the foil vent hoses. I don't believe any dryer manufacturers recommend using this sort of venting, however, and it certainly isn't UL listed, if that is important to you; Fisher & Paykell's user manual, (which I have finally read thoroughly :-o ) specifically says not to use it (and to never vent your dryer indoors, either - good thing I never needed warranty service because I bet my entire set up would have voided the warranty!) I have now read many articles as well as posts on various DIY, etc., forums written by people that also recommend against using the foil vent tubes. From what I have read, the problems caused by these foil vents is primarily due to air turbulence/resistance caused by the ridges in the foil ducting cutting down on the dryer's efficiency; even more important, the ridges - and the potential sagging or kinking of the aluminum foil venting - can also lead to a build up of lint, which can cause both a significant blockage of the vent and maybe even a fire. I'm not sure how one goes about cleaning out an aluminum foil vent tube, either; I would think one of the "normal" vent cleaning brushes would catch on all of the metal wire spiraling through the tube as well as tearing the foil itself. I think it all depends upon your venting configuration. In the picture, you can see that dadoes uses an aluminum vent, but it is just barely extended, there can be little air turbulence, it doesn't sag at all and is probably very easy to clean out. My vent will need to go about 8-10 ft to get to an outside wall so I intend to use rigid metal pipe for my vent. Holly Here is a link that might be useful: Reasons why foil vent should not be used