Well, sounds like most of you are going to jump all over me. But I crunched the numbers and went for the synthetic (polyester) pine straw. I put it over weed cloth in my flowerbeds in 2004 and it still looks great. It and the weedcloth have cut my weeding time by about 98%. The artificial straw contains no molds, diseases nor insects. My beds are on high ground, and the straw stays put. There is one area that gets a lot of leaves. For that, I take the straw out on the lawn on a lovely day, sit on my rolling garden wagon and shake the leaves out, bagging the cleaned straw as I go. Then I blow any remaining debris off the weed cloth and replace the straw. I understand that they now have a glue that one sprays over newly installed texstraw so that you can use a blower to get the leaves off without disturbing the straw. That might work if your planting were all perennials and you weren't planning on new plants for a while. When I want to add a plant, I simply remove the straw from that area, cut an x in the weed cloth, plant, and replace the straw around the new plant. No problems. My spring bulbs come right up as usual.

gerorge toma and now his son, of the KC Chiefs is a hero of mine. I guy so good at growing grass that he has been awarded his own "day" by several cities; having saved the day on the field. George's fanatical crew carry thier own personal reel mowers to the site... at hss practice fields for the Chiefs he has a system that can grow a perfect field which can be practiced on two times a week!! and still looks perfect. I love a plant fanatic like this even if i wouild not wish to do what he does.But i do like mowing with a reel mower, and making a lawn really perfect! I love the wzy some baseball teams mow to show the mowing strips - some lawn artists are quite obviously better than others, the Oakland A's are quite good!. Anyway the lawn is a great place for "tidy mainia". At a Green Bay play off game a few years ago they had no grass that time of year, George replaced all the grass with new turf that was specially grown for him in Virginia and was cut at 1 ft thick and installed so that you could not see or feel any seam!! But if you haven't got George then you have a problem on a field which can get very high temperatures on field, can be hard to drain in a heavy rain etc. I personally prefer the turf system which the Seahawks use which incorporates both plastic and real grass. This gives a good feel and yet it resists compaction (because of the plastic blades) and so is easier to grow and easier to build and drain. Though i'm not thinking i have a need for this at my house... - A

I'm sure all your suggestions are well intended, Don. However ... 1) there are no cotton gins in Northern Virginia. They don't grow cotton in Northern Virginia. The cotton industry left Virginia a century ago. 2) Before determining how much sand it will take to effect any significant change in a clay soil's texture, one should consult the Soils Triangle available by clicking here and studying carefully. I think you'll find that it may take as much as one foot depth of sand across the entire lawn area for every foot depth of clay soil you intend to amend with sand before a soil with a predominantly clay texture becomes anything approaching "sandy clay." 3) Adding enough sand to a hard clay soil to effect any significant change will change the elevation of the yard to the extent that the protective grade away from the house foundation most likely will be compromised and the result will interfere with sheet drainage away from the house and most likely interfere with the common drainage pattern set for the adjacent lots in the subdivision. 4) Adding "topsoil" and organic matter on top of the sand-filled reworked clay soil would further raise the elevation of the yard and compound the grading issues particularly regarding the protective grade away from the house foundation ... which should be a minimum 6 inch fall in the first ten feet. 5) Since there are no laws or state regs of any kind defining "topsoil" and since most true topsoil long ago was eroded away or destroyed by poor farming practices and subsequent suburban development in the Falls Church, Virginia area, the most likely source for anything truly topsoil would be a nearby national forest. Otherwise, you are gonna get manufactured "topsoil" or river bottom silt or generally whatever the local vendors are calling "topsoil" which again has no regulated definition. Buyer beware! Lastly, yes, adding organic matter is the best bet and that's been covered, but can be re-addressed by the homeowner after a soils test is done to assess the needs, and then the homeowner can follow the recommendations for amendments provided by the soils lab and the local extension service. And compared to sand, it doesn't take as much organic matter to convert a clay-based soil to a suitable medium for growing grass. Christine already has said her garden plot will be small, so when addressing the rest of the yard, a massive reclamation project re-excavating the top 2 feet of soil and adding 2 more feet of amendments isn't required to grow grass turf. Bill

I love the unlovable animals too. toads,lizards,snakes(except copperheads),i've killed 2 copperheads and i was sure they were copperheads,we are overrun with the things and my hound was bit by one. I still feel bad about killing them as i even take spiders,granddaddy longlegs and grasshoppers outside to avoid killing them. i have heard a panther a time or two but never seen one. Don't use pesticides except once when a Direct tv serviceman made me sprey the wasp nests around our porch.They had never bothered me. I have never seen a possum around here. They must all live in town. LOL Have all kinds of birds,bugs,and creepy things. I leave them all alone except for copperheads and if they left my dogs alone i'd leave them alone. Its really true that its a jungle out there and humans are the most dangerous animal of all. vickie