Leaving soil exposed to the elements during the winter causes quite a few problems in fact. First, erosion due to the melting snow and/or heavy fall and spring rains. The surface 2-4 inches of your soil contains the majority of the nutrients that a plant is able to access. Once that gets washed away, you are left with various degrees of subsoils. Secondly, the constant freezing and thawing experienced in the shoulders of winter (i.e. early winter, early spring) will cause a great deal of compaction. This will eliminate all of the work you did trying to get that soil nice and fluffy. Third, in the late fall a great deal of soil organisms and microbes (including most significantly worms) can get caught in an early, heavy freeze. Without some form of insulation on the surface, they will die quickly before being able to burrow further into the soil. Now you may say "so what, there's lots of them", but if the weather warms up after a freeze, the same thing is going to happen again, and again. The bottom line is that there are only so many worms in the soil. Plastic mulches may assist in the first point about erosion, but it provides very little insulation against harsh weather. During the dead of winter, with or without a snow cover, it doesn't really matter: things are going to be frozen solid. It is the ability of a thick covering mulch to moderate the freezing and thawing during the shoulder seasons that is important.

meadows, last year I tied my jugs together with twine, and then tied the twine to some metal garden furniture which we keep outside all winter. This year I'm just sticking some chopped-down sapling trunks through the milk jug handles (a good use for the endless invasive Tree-of-Heaven saplings that pop up all over the land we live on). Ladyrose, last year Louisianagal had a great tip for the duct tape: folding back a tab of the duct tape onto itself so that the tape is easier to grab when you're ready to take it off in the spring (thank you, louisianagal!) See photo below. Last year I just did once around the jug with the tape and it worked fine. I also put small holes in the jugs with a small sharply pointed steak knife (see photo below) to make a place to insert a pipe cleaner twist tie for the spring. I just rotate the steak knife back and forth a few times while pressing it against the milk jug plastic and this makes the hole. I guess you could use an ice pick, an awl or the pointed end of a pair of scissors or something for this too. If you make pipe cleaner holes, it's easier if you make the holes BEFORE you make the big cut through the center of the milk jug. The first time I tried making pipe-cleaner holes last year, I tried to make them after I made the center cut and it was really difficult, lol. I took the duct tape off in the spring and then just used the pipe cleaner closure after that. As you can see, I'm nutty and I actually draw a little line on my milk jugs with a magic marker before I make the center cut (it helps me to make the center cut straight)!!! Happy sowing!

122) Chiggers love the sweet perfume of OFF! Wear it well at clothing openings and about the ankle. (Deer ticks are optional here but plentiful.)

Macv - You raise some interesting points. Especially the actual installation (nailing) of siding and the resultant holes. But rules are rules. I try to follow them, but mostly the manufacturer's have these rules to protect themselves, and not the acutal consumer. I like 30# felt. But apparently Tyvek breathes easier. Not real sure. I don't like installing Tyvek. But it's entire purpose is as a membrane - to allow moisture VAPOR to pass thru - while prohibiting water liquid. I tend to agree that all this stuff is probably going to be outlawed down the road. After all - we all know the companies making this stuff are totally evil, and are cauing... Thought you made some good points. Abbey - if you truly would like to have hardi siding - this is easily installed. Not sure your age, or physical condition. A 12' board, 6.25" wide is just $5. A same 8.25" wide is $6 These are for unpainted lap siding boards. You can purchase them pre-painted; they have thin pieces of plastic between them for proetection, and the paint will get damaged during installation. But they have 'touch up' kits for the install. I prefer to paint afterwards. Much easier. (Have to have the correct weather.) Prices above were from HD. You can purchase from a local lumber yard, and special order a bunch of various product. You can also special order more varied prodcut from Lowes, or Home Depot. Anyway - installing siding is not difficult if you are not afraid of heights. Probably your major cost quotations is in Labor... Have a couple of active friends? Throw a couple of pizza parties, and learn a new skill... Cement siding is hard on the health. A lot of people use a skill saw (I've used a miter saw equipped with a cement cutting blade) - but this does produce dust. You NEED to wear a dust mask when cutting. I also own a siding cutting shear - expressly designed to cut cement board without ANY dust. But that is an expensive tool - so we won't go there. For a reasonable cost you can also purchase a hand held cutting shears or scissors. You can get one of these designed to 'add on' to a normal drill... Or purchase a small portable diamond blade tile cutting saw (around $35) at HD; and make small cuts in the siding with that... You need diamond blades to cut this stuff. A Siding Gaugae (SA902) by PacTool international (1-800-297-7487) is a beautiful tool for not much, ($76 from Ace Hardware) that makes installing siding almost a 1-person job. Sets it at the right height, etc. Made expressly for Hardi board. This is a quality, precision tool. WORKS, and works well! You cannot hand nail Hardi siding. Per James Hardi you can hand nail it. Guess I'm weak or something. I definitely do not recommend 'hand nailing'. Just impossible. So you would need a nail gun. An excellent one would be: Max CN565S. This tool allows you to easily operated it as a 'single shot' rather than 'bump'. And it is much easier not to hurt yourself and more accurate placing of the fasteners - when not being used as 'bump'. Bump places a nail each time the tool strikes the siding. Since as the tool fires the nail - some recoil occurs - in bump you can easily jam the tool trying to place 3 nails at the same location... You would need a small air compressor for this tool. Readily available for less than $100; or pay a little more. You should also use stainless siding nails. This eliminates rust stains later on. And you don't have to 'blind nail'. (The siding covers up the nails during blind nailing.) This makes it easier (since you can see the fasteners) to remove siding down the road for replacement, or to get into a wall or something. The stainless won't rust and are easily painted. If you blind nail - it also looks good (some would say better); and you don't necessarily have to use stainless. But it is still good to use stainless. (Rust considerations/Stain). But it is much harder to remove siding without damaging it for later work down the road... You can use regular Tar Paper instead of Tyvek. Tyvek has supposed advantages, and has definite disadvantages. Blows like a huge sailboat in the slightest wind. Have to use thousands of staples to keep it from blowing around, unless you use the plastic button washers for the nails previous mentioned. Kind of your choice. Tar paper is tried and true. Tyvek works, and I use it; but not real sure that it has a huge advantage. It's purpose is as a functional membrane, which allows VAPOR to pass thru - but stops WATER. A Tyvek nailing gun would be: HITACHI NV50AP3. You can use stainless siding nails in this tool... Have to also purchase the plastic buttons. You have to use this gun SLOWLY. If you don't watch it - all the time - invariably a button tab won't be cut off, and when you move the gun to a different position for the next nail - a whole stream of plastic buttons comes pouring out - which you must then get back into the gun... Pain in the job. Anyway - this probably all seems like a huge amount. It really isnt! All of these tools are readily available on the internet. ToolBarn, etc. Reasonable prices. You can then sell them as almost brand new - only used on one job - on ebay or craig's; and recoup some of your investment. You would probably save a bundle, and learn a bunch, and have a couple of fellowship parties all at the same time! Maybe you and a couple of your friends would like to reside your houses. Make a round table tool investment, and help each other out... To get up High on your house, you can purchase some Siding Jacks for around $60. These are metal jacks which you attach to the side of your house, and you makes up some plank boards, and a railing; and then the jacks hoist you up the side of your house as you side. You 'pump' or jack them up. I'm not talking about the ones which cost thousands. You can get what I'm talking about from a Box store... and they work extremely well. If your at all interested in doing this job yourself - I would recommend Black&Decker "The complete guide to roofing siding & trim" $25 UPC code: 5294401703 ISBN: 978-1-58923-418-5 Among other things, it discusses siding, and pump jacks. I don't like roofing, and just recently picked it up because I'm doing some roof work. My brother is a roofer, but I'm not! I also recommend Home Depot's "Home Improvement 1-2-3" This has a lot of good general info. As a home owner, you should have it, for just general anything. I have some much older siding books, but I'm sure you can easily pick up a couple of other books on siding as well. What I'm really trying to say is: Siding a house is not that difficult. You would save a bundle, and be proud of a job well done. Quoting from the Black and Decker book: "Few other exterior improvements will give your home such a dramatic facelift as new siding. Siding allows you to change both the color and texture of outside walls... Wrapping a home with vinyl or wood is well within a seasoned do-it-yourself's capabiliites. And when you're through, both you and the neighbors can appreciate your handiwork for many decades to come. If you have a basic collection of hand and power tools, you've got most of the hardware needed for the job already..." [page 109] I can hang drywall. My lovely wife can do an AMAZING job of finishing it! When we started - we both knew NOTHING about drywall. But we read "Drywall" by Myron R. Ferguson (I have the 2nd and 3rd edition.) Extremely valuable resource if your doing drywall work... So for you siding job - if your at all up to it - don't be afraid. Get a couple of books, do some reading, and save yourself a bundle. Have a couple of parties, and sell the tools (if you want) afterwards. Sorry this is so long. I wish you the best on your project. God Bless. A couple of links for info below: http://www.stainless-fasteners.com/ http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/products_siding_hardieplankLapSiding.py http://www.jameshardie.com/ http://www2.dupont.com/Building_and_Construction/en_US/ http://www2.dupont.com/Tyvek_Weatherization/en_US/customer_care/warranty.html http://www.toolbarn.com/maxtools-cn565s.html http://www.toolbarn.com/hitachi-nv50ap3.html http://www.northwestpowertools.com/nail/coil/nv50ap3.htm http://www.northwestpowertools.com/tool_manufacturers/pacificshear/sa902.htm The next is discontinued, but gives you an idea of what I was discussing: http://www.coastaltool.com/a/port/6605.htm And as stated previous - Box stores carry sheasrs which connect to your drill... I know you never mentioned doing the job yourslf. Just an idea. Really not hard to do. Bye!