Cindy, enjoying your pictures as usual and the big green throats in a couple of yours caught my eye today. It is such a nice contrast to the flower colors. Going to have to make sure I have a few with that co bination. Sherry

So you dismissed all core aeration studies that are for crop fields as irrelevant, then came along with your own crop field study that's relevant , because you say so. Show me a study on core aeration for crop fields. Tilling is not core aerating. I didn't present that OSU article for a discussion about aeration. In fact the one weakness is that it isn't specifically geared toward home lawns, so we have to make some assumptions. I'm the one saying it is hard to find any real scientific studies for a "home lawn." My interest in this article is more in the soil biology that explains why a biologically healthy soil probably doesn't require aeration. I guess this seems hypocritical to some people. Not sure why. As to your next point, yes, I say the soil biology presented in this article is completely applicable to a home lawn. Explain why it isn't. 1. In an average well maintained organic lawn, with no deficiencies, what is the average percentage of organic matter? When you say "organic" lawn I assume you mean any lawn, even yours, that has enough organic matter mulched in each year to maintain a healthy level of organics. I'm not an expert on what the exact organic level should be, but the number depends on the type of soil. Sandy soils will be hard pressed to get very high levels, while heavier soils can exhibit much higher numbers. I think morpheus' lawn is around 15%. Morpheus says 3 or 4% is borderline low, 5 or 6% is good and anything near 8% is excellent. 2. Is this level of organic matter sufficient to get in between all soil particles and prevent all soil particles from compacting and if so, what do you base that assertion on? I understand what you are getting at with these two questions, but again, you'vegotten something into your head that has no basis. You seem to think 100% of the particles must be linked to an organic particle in order for the soil not to need aeration. Nobody but you is asserting that. The article clearly shows the relationship between roots, bacteria, fungi, bugs and worms and all the other things that form macroaggregates. If you have lots of these macroaggregates around the root level, which is what naturally regulates oxygen, then you probably don't need mechanical aeration. Listen, the way science works is that you have to go on a hypothesis that may or may not be proven out over time. Eventually it becomes an accepted "law" or fact if it holds up. I've come to believe that this and other online forums are like laboratories where everybody contributes their experiences with their own lawn. Lawn companies and even universities have biases. Ask dchall about all this. He has been here the whole time and has seen a lot of what works and what doesn't. My position is that I am not going to do something to my lawn unless I have evidence that it does good. Otherwise you can do more harm than good. From the evidence I've seen in this forum, from doing other online research, and just observing problems different people come into this forum with, my conclusion is that there is no need to aerate if you are doing everything else properly. The nice lady, Lisa, started this discussion by saying she had summer fungus caused by over fertilizing ("live and learn"). She cut back on the fertilizer and started aerating. I think she is attributing the lack of fungus to the reduced fertilizer and the aerating. My reaction would be to get a Logan labs test and see if there are any soil problems, and then decide whether aerating is really doing anything. Again, if she has good soil biology and plenty of us never aerate, then why should she have to? I think too many people see lawn companies aerating and just assume it is a good thing to do. The article I presented from OSU suggests the increased oxygen can actually do harm. Scott's recommends you weed and feed in April. Do you think that is a good idea, too?

A few years back when the site was Gardenweb, I swapped for some Laura Bush Petunia seeds. I planted them recently and almost none of them germinated and those that did, probably won't grow well. Is there anyone out there that can send me a few dozen Laura Bush and if you can spare them a few of any wave petunias? All I have to trade are a few variaeties of tobacco seeds (mostly good for cigar rolling). Please email or message me. Thanks in advance.

Johnny, thanks for the link. I an sorta working that way. I was over in my wildlife garden building some mounds for winter squash about an hour ago. I gathered the material late last fall. i have some unwanted fescue over there, and an old road bed I am trying to work on. The first work I did on the old road bed was around 50 years ago. Anyway, this past year I would drag organic matter and pile it on the old roadbed. I would also dump a bucket of extra dirt over there when I could come up with one. I built 4 pads for winter squash from the material that I had gathered by dragging my pasture cultivator through the brush hogged fescue. I hated to tear the pile down because it was so pretty with crimson clover, fescue, and other very green growth, but I needed the material. I already have a pile of old burned trees piled to plant Seminole pumpkins on, I hope it will be a hugeikultur bed at some point in the future. I will have to talk to the grandkids about that because I wont be alive when than that pile rots down. If I see no interest in the hugel idea I will burn the pile before it becomes an eye sore. While I was in the wildlife garden I checked the berry plants I ordered form Simmons Plant farm, it looks like all 25 Kiowa blackberries and the 5 elderberries are starting to grow. Johnny, above you can see the type of material I am building the pads for the pumpkins and squash out of. Above the first compost pile you can see my log pile across the highway. The piles here are old hay and manure.