lou is right, who is agreeing with who here? LOLOL stick to topsoil. site preparation for seed is a hassle, overall results wont be as good as quick, and the cost/time element is great. the last step-style bulb planter i bought i think was maybe??? 15 bucks? add the cost of a 12 pack of beer to drink while you do the work for 30 bucks youve got a new backyard. if you dont like beer and a neighbor has a planter you can borrow... a total lawn rennovation done right is a lot of work and expensive. seeding the backyard, (btw.. ive never used zoysia seed, never looked for it for that matter either) first you will want to spray glyphosate over everything where you want to rennovate, wait two weeks and spray again, two weeks after that drag the area clean with a tractor and a box blade. (if u want a sprinkler system now is the time) bring in some topsoil if you need to and drag that out level or you can come in with a tiller and just till existing soil up and then level and plant seed. roll it out and water it twice a day every day for a month. never let it get dry till the grass has been mowed twice. weeds will be a huge headache. that newly prepped seedbed is a haven for every weed seed to come by and they will compete with your new seedlings. rabbits love baby grass too. if you have a hot dry summer that new grass will take a beating . you can forget pre and post emergent herbicides - turf needs to survive its first winter before applying chemicals. is more susceptible to chem burn otherwise. (this bulb planter idea is starting to sound even better isnt it?)

None of you who love - and have lost - sanguinaria are going to like this story, so avert your eyes. . . Twenty years ago, when I moved into a co-op in New York City, I brought with me a treasured little clump of bloodroot (purchased a decade earlier in North Carolina) and carefully planted it alongside a rock in a tiny garden area in front of the building. Total shade, no care, utterly ignored. . .and yet, I carefully trained the staff and tenants of this bustling urban building to patiently watch this rock (and it's buried treasure) early each Spring. Like clockwork, those pristine white beauties would pop through the soil every Spring for the past twenty years - the word would spread like wildfire and pictures were being snapped and I'd happily demonstrate to kids why it was called "bloodroot" by picking a leaf and letting them see it bleed. For about ten days out of the whole year, everyone slowed down - if even for just a moment - and then life in Manhattan charged on. . .at least until next year. And THAT, can be the power of plants. . . Marie: one of my favorite nurseries in this tri-state area carries your coveted DOUBLE sanguinaria. . .link below: Carl Here is a link that might be useful: Well Sweep Herb Farm

shadeyplace. Sorry you had problems with folks you traded with thru the mail. I guess you must have ran across some difficult folks. I trade and send using Priority Mail, always 2-3 days, and only send early thru the week so plants do not sit at post office over the week-end. Perhaps you may have sent them to wet or too dry. Knowing how each plant grows and how the " nurseries or growers" ship, it is easy. They have to ship their plants when ordered thru the mail, but it can be confusing. I understand it is easier to share with neighbors and folks that live close by. Never meant for anyone to think we would expect you or anyone else to be a mail order nursery. Perhaps you may have sent them to wet. Good luck with your gardening and I understand about your not wanting to mail plants, it is understandable,

Woke up today to find the house across the street for sale this morning for $60,000 less then we are asking. WTH is up with that. I know they just want to get rid of it, but it's gonna kill us. We knew it was going on the market, but we didn't know what the asking price would be. The woman that lived there passed away, and her family just wants to get rid of it. It's 400 SF less then ours, and the lot is smaller. We figured they would list it around $319,000. They would have no problem getting that. I'm not sure you really need to worry about this house. What's the condition of the interior? If the former resident was elderly and couldn't maintain her house, it may need quite of bit of work. This, along with the smaller size and lot, could explain the price difference. When we sold our townhouse, our neighborhood had the oddest price structure. The inside units all sold in 2006 for 350K, but all the outside units all sold in 2006 for 340K. The outside units are all larger with larger lots. I think a lot of buyers were puzzled by this (I would be) asking why the inside units had higher comps. The sold amounts aren't rational and they make no sense but that's just how things are in the neighborhood.