Mowing a bumpy yard is no picnic. Our yard is amazing - I can really cruise over the part of the yard that was graded after the house was built. Here's what we did. We had a uni-loader (bobcat S185) when the house was built and when the time came to plant grass, we graded it the entire yard meticulously (about 3/4 of an acre that he was working). I must say that the loader operator that we had was very good and I really think most of the levelness was due to that. We then rented a soil conditioner attachment for the Bobcat and went over the lawn with that, stirring the soil a couple of inches. Before that, though, we had several dump truck loads of good dirt put on the front yard because we only had terrible, rock-hard clay. The loader spread all the good dirt out evenly. We then went through with garden rakes for a couple hours getting as much gravel out as possible and fine tuning anything that we could. Then we planted - put seed down, dragged a section of chain-link fence over it, rolled it with a small lawn roller (probably 60 gal. or so), but starter fertilizer down, and covered it with straw. And then watered it. :) No easy chore... It turned out amazing. Like I said the yard literally doesn't have any bumps to speak of. If you are planning on renovating completely the homework must be done correctly with the loader - that's the key. As for doing it with an established yard, I've heard that you can get compost and rake it in, but have never tried, and that sounds daunting to me.

Charles, I'll be 69 this year and have citrus in heavy 22" clay pots. I also have figs in half whiskey barrels. Been rethinking that one. Anyway my husband and I move them with a 2 wheeled cart (dolly). I think that I could move the clay pots by myself if I had to - probably not the half whiskey barrels. The leverage is all wrong. If worst comes to worst, I'll top and root prune the plants to fit them in smaller pots, sort of bonsai them over time. I suppose when I get very old I may not be able to grow the plants that I like but I intend to fight it. Buylady, We move the citrus out in the Spring about mid-April and back in in the Fall about October 7th. The timing is based on frost dates here. Because the moves are only twice a year, it may be easier to coordinate it with your helper than this year. Cath

If anyone is still reading this thread, I'll give you an update. I cannot do any decking as I do not have enough clearance on the patio door. It is only 7". They need 11 -1/2". So that eliminated that possibility. I called a few people - and of course, haven't received callbacks yet. I did call one person that I had heard of through a friend. He has quite a large company, does landscaping, patios, etc. The way he works is that he comes out, looks the property over, then does a design. We paid $300 to have the design done, which I do not think is unreasonable. He, of course, hopes that we will work with him because he is certainly not making any money just doing designs! We talked about concrete and pavers. He suggested pavers for a number of reasons, the main one besides asthetics being that if they move or crack, they can be fixed. I need to read my paperwork, but I believe he said he guarantees them for two years and if during that time anything moves around, he will fix it. He also said that most, if any at all, movement will occur in the first two years. He suggested that the tree I want to get rid of might infringe on anything we do - the roots. With that, DH said to take it out. Yeah!!! Victory!! As I said, he asks for so little that I was not going to argue that point. So, I am awaiting his design which he said would be about 2 -3 weeks. JAN IN WISCONSIN -- if you see this ---- he showed me a book with pavers. He asked if I liked the sqaured off corners or the more rounded ones. I said the rounded ones. I picked out the Brussels pavers. I haven't seen them yet, but from the catalog, that would be my first choice. Then I reread this thread and see that is what you are using!!!!! What color did you choose??? I am excited. I know his plan is going to come in at way more than I am willing to pay. But he is also willing to work in stages or have us do part. He even said things like - the step coming from the sliding door. Right now, there are two steps. I really only need one, so that is a cost savings. I really think he knows what he is talking about, so we'll see what happens. Again, thanks to all for your help. I am so very excited!! As I thought about it, we haven't even used the back and the patio in the last few years. I didn't even like going out there. Now I look forward to being out there, drinking tea (Salada or Long Island depending on the time of day) and enjoying summer - at least part of it. I am sure this will all take awhile to get done.

ssewalk1, In General I would agree that a Dealer is better than a Box Store. My Wife and I went to a Dealer for our regretful purchase though. Through my personal experience in buying a Garden Tractor that wasn't, I have become very educated on the GT market. This is how I got to the place I am at now. Armed with the information, I had spent a couple weeks learning about what a Garden Tractor really is, (there's a lot of misleading info out there) I went asking questions, and took a check list of most common things to look for, and spent time looking at parts diagrams to verify what I was being told. This was my list for minimums of a true Light Duty Garden Tractor; Tuff Torq K66 with actual locking differential. Verification in manufacturers product literature that the advertised GT is capable of "ground engagement work", and that the GT is warrantied for this. 23" diameter wheels and tires, preferably larger. 20hp or greater. Verified product literature for the implements I planned on using, such as a front scoop to move sand and material around my property (including the johnny bucket jr) (The Johnny Bucket jr had some warnings around the Husqvarna but the same tractor under the Craftsman brand (GT6000) did not have the warnings and I would ask if the GT could handle these things). For more heavy accessories like light hydrualics in a GT; K72 Drive shaft verses belt. Horizontal shaft motor, traditional motor configuration. just to name a few. I was on a path of JDX500, Simplicity, or Cub Cadet X3 when I stopped at Sears to close the gap or make sure I was looking at everything. The salesman at the store recommended I give the Husqvarna Dealer a try because some of the Craftsman GT's were Husqvarna, (such as the GT6000) and it might be cheaper from Husqvarna. The Dealer had the literature to back-up what he was saying and the JB jr was on current customer machines. After 2 visits I went back and purchased, because I felt I was mitigating risk by the included, very convincing, 5-year chassis warranty. What I found out about Cub Cadet X3, they have most of the ingredients but the K66. The Yanmar produced (I think?) versions have hydraulics and are in the category of what looks like the very capable JDX700 to sub tractor class, and of course price. So the real dilemma is in the gap in price between large glorified riding lawn mowers ($3,000.00 to $4,000.00 range) and real Garden Tractors ($7,000.00 to $9,000.00). The low end seems to be hiding something missing while putting out misleading information hiding this fact, and without any standard (or accountability), those new to the market can be fooled without recourse. I'm sure I've missed something but I actually wanted this to be half as long as it is. To sofaspud, I to echo your thoughts on the manual trans. I believe more power gets to the wheels with the manual and they are so reliable. I prefer the reliability of the manual over the initial ease of the hydrostatic. If the pump was on the outside of the hydrostatic with line filters and such, then maybe they would be impressive.