I have a hill at the back of my lot, faces south toward the house, which had a dry dusty lawn on it. Mowing was a real chore, because it's a hill and the grass was kind of sparse and the mower kicked up lots of red clay dust. So last spring I turned it into a garden, with a path cutting across it diagonally. One third I dug up and amended with compost. Another third I spread a thick layer of wood mulch and attempted to grow vegetables (big headache, couldn't dress with enough compost and manure to overcome nitrogen shortage, but it's looking better for this year). For the section above the path I used lasagne method. I had a large pile of rotted leaves, and my other ingredient was grass cuttings the neighbors set out in brown paper yard waste bags. Spread the bags over the old lawn, and layered the leaves and clipping over them. Planted petunias and ageratum along the path, and tomatoes behind. One thing I worried about was that the whole mess would slide down the hill with the first heavy rain; never happened. I planted into the lasagne without adding any soil to the holes. This was very easy, the lasagne was thick enough that I don't remember seeing any paper when I made the holes, just make a hole drop the plant in and smush the lasagne around it. I was amazed that everything grew. Had to do a lot of watering, but it is a dry site and the whole garden was that way. I was expecting to see a lot of the paper turn up, but there was no sign of it in the Fall when I was cleaning up the vines, etc. What remains is a very dark, powdery soil several inches deep; when I planted bulbs I dug it in to the clay soil some and the clay was very mellow (it mixed nicely with the black stuff).

Everyone just laugh along with us. It's free & soooo good for you. I'm glad Shirley found a good use for the upcycled binder piece from a zippered binder from my son. It had frayed beyond repair again and was previous repaired by my daughter with duct tape, so two kids used it hauling a lot of places. Now it's a hanger for Shirley's things by her computer. Great idea by the way because there are lots of thin binders that get beat up here, too, but the rings weren't large enough for the garden tools like this one was. I didn't take any pics of what I made to send. Shirley, do you know how to upload pics to GWeb for Heidi to see? Description of how I made the book cover: I folded a brown paper sack to slide the ends of the front & back covers. I used hot glue to seal the sack to itself, but not to the book. I laid 2 scraps of upholstery samples side by side to cover the front. They already have pinked edges & I only cleaned up the side that was attached in the sample book. I placed another smaller piece overlapping both of the 1st pieces for the pocket or pouch gluing it in place on the sides & bottom. Next to it I attached another smaller rectangle for the pen & pencil. It's a bit tight, so hope it loosens up, but at least you won't lose the pen or pencil out of it. The denim blue & white color scheme looked nice on the brown paper, so that's how I picked them. I also selected one of the Sunset books that is the same size as the Ortho garden books, so if you have another thin volume you're using to carry around with you for reading in the garden or while waiting at dr's office you can slip that book inside the cover instead. Hope that helps, Corrine

Syllabus- Husband and I sort of doctored it up a bit, using various ideas we found on the Internet. I was sure I'd seen a video that gave us a good nudge in the right direction, but I'll be damned if I can find it now! Isn't that always the way? Lol Basically, the way we did it without any special tools or kits, you need to use the laminate sheets rather than the preformed countertops. Build the base of the counter with your plywood or whatever (we had existing countertops which we peeled the old laminate off of, thereby skipping this step). After you have your sink hole cut to size and you know the position of your sink, what you're basically doing is sandwiching the sink between the plywood and the laminate layer. We cut the sink hole in the laminate ahead of time, then epoxied the sink down to the counter, vey much like you would with a standard sink, just laying it in the hole with the edges overlapping. The video I had seen used automotive putty to taper out the edges of the sink itself, much like you putty drywall to smooth out imperfections. We found the putty wasn't drying, and was instead cracking and shrinking. Plan b, plain old wall repair patch, the stuff I keep around for filling nail holes and dents in my walls. Let dry and sand til smooth so that the hard edge of the sink itself is tapered out a few inches in all directions. I painted over the putty just to ensure a nice smooth surface that wouldn't soften or crumble when we put the adhesive over it. Then we used contact cement for the bulk of the laminate, however at the edges around the sink, we went back to the heavy duty marine epoxy, just to ensure it was a solid adhesion. Lay the laminate over the counter, positioning your precut sink hole over the sink (carefully! You only get one shot here!) and roll out to smooth and remove air bubbles. Lastly, I did a thin bead of silicone around the edge of the sink where it meets the Formica. Clear as mud? This would be so much easier to explain with pics or video!

No one has been rude and I am truly sorry you feel that way, Lynn. Presenting different information and letting readers see different facets is helpful in developing an understanding, especially when it relates to health issues. We appreciate your help. Surely that does not mean than we cannot bring up other information that might be of value even if it differs from information you have presented?? It seems to me that participatory health, where people have conversations with their health professionals and are encouraged to learn about themselves and whatever medical conditions they may have is a more positive environment than the olden days when the doctor's word was gospel and no one disagreed or asked questions. Teamwork in no way decreases the value of medical professionals, on the contrary, I suspect it may save lives. Doctors make mistakes. Patients mis-comprehend. Without a healthy exchange of information, either of those can result in needless loss of life/good health.