I took pictures but they're way overexposed - will try again. We have two sod cutters - Ryan and Jason. They're amazing - when they get their teeth into a project. Almost comatose when they don't. Bahia, you've expressed my concerns but I still couldn't see any alternative. What we have now is low mounds of flipped over overlapping sods arranged toward the back of the bed, among the shrubs there. We'll round out the mounds with topsoil, and then place among them the largest rocks the boys can move, and plant woodland groundcovers - we have a pretty generous budget for plants. Also try to establish some moss. The way I see it, grass is a perennial pest anyway (although no worries here about invasive species like Bermuda). So we'll deal with it as it rears its head - which it will do more than if we'd turned all the sod, but that seemed too daunting a task to tackle manually. The lawn that's left we'll try smothering under fine sawdust topped with eelgrass - a good natural lawn-killer. One of my favourite books is Landscaping with Nature by Jeff Cox (Rodale Books). He reinforces this idea with his description of Rock and Berm Designs p. 32 It is a fun project, Wellspring. Really a dream job.

I thought I was messing up my profile since every time I go into it...my favorite forums is set at Terrariums and Urban Gardening. Marti, There is a fix to the pop ups, albeit a bit technical. This was posted on a different Gardenweb forum and I have sadly not made a note of the original poster, but I thank him or her! It works beautifully for me, but only when I am logged in. This will work on Windows systems for all browsers; IE, FireFox and Netscape. The Windows operating system provides a system-level method to block specific IP addresses before they even get to the browser. To effect this solution you need to edit a Windows system file called hosts. This file is located in the directory: Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 2K: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 98: C:\WINDOWS Open the file in Notepad. Cut the following from this post and paste it to the end of the file. 127.0.0.1 amch.questionmarket.com 127.0.0.1 a820.g.akamai.net 127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net 127.0.0.1 i.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 m.2mdn.net 127.0.0.1 tste.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 img-cdn.mediaplex.com 127.0.0.1 ads.vmirror.com 127.0.0.1 cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com 127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com Edit each entry so that there is a tab between the IP address 127.0.0.1 and the URLs. Save the file and you're finished. Close and re-open your browser and all the ads will be gone. Unfortunately, iVillage may in the future buy ads from a new source. In this event the new ad source will have to be added to the list. The IE solution. Most of the ads are placed using Java$cript. You can remove the more offensive ads in IE with the browser settings. You can't however remove them all. To improve GW using IE do the following: From the menu select Tools -> Internet Options -> Security and click on Custom Level. Scroll down to the end of the list and you'll see an entry for Scripting. Disable all the sub-entries. Now select the tab labeled Privacy. In the bottom of the box that appears check on the option to block pop-ups. I recommend you also click on the button Advanced and select the option to block Third-party Cookies. NOTE: By disabling Scripting you will also effect the way other websites behave. You may need to get used to switching scripting on and off as desired. That's why this is the least desirable of these various options. The FireFox solution This is an excellent choice -- it's the fastest performing of the options listed here: FireFox is superior to IE in every possible way. FireFox provides the added advantage of blocking all Spyware, an evil that IE brought into this world. * download and install Firefox 1.5 * in the FireFox address bar type about:config * scroll down the list to the entry xpinstall.enabled * right click on the entry and select toggle from the menu * toggle as needed to set the value to true * go to the Firefox website and follow links to extensions * find the extension adblock and install it * remember to toggle xpinstall.enabled back to false * in Firefox select Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences * use the New Filter field to add the following items: http://amch.questionmarket.com http://a820.g.akamai.net http://iv.doubleclick.net http://i.ivillage.com http://m.2mdn.net http://tste.ivillage.com http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com http://ads.vmirror.com http://cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com http://ads.pointroll.com * enable Adblock The trick with Adblock is to block the domain rather than the specific ad. If you click on Adblock to disable an ad. Select Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences from the menu and then edit the new entry; remove anything that follows after .com or .net. This will block everyting from that source. The Netscape solution. With Netscape you can shut down all the iVillage ads using the browser preference settings. From the menu select: Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Cookies Allow cookies for the originating website only Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Images Accept Images that come from the originating server only Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Images Block unrequested popup windows -- turn this on Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced Enable native object scripting -- turn this off Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Scripts & Plug-ins Enable Java$cript for Navigator -- turn this off NOTE: GW will now be ad free, however disabling Java$cript will effect how other websites behave. You may have to get used to switching this setting back and forth. Therefore I suggest the Universal option above is more appropriate. NOTE: You MAC users out there: Sorry I don't have more info for you except to say that FireFox and adblock are available for the MAC. There's no sense in further complaing, iVillage IS an ad. We need to let them be who they are and stop them on our end. Take care all.

I should point out that I'm not winter sowing for that back woodland area this year. I'm actually wintersowing edibles and flowers for my front garden - mostly edibles for the terraces and a herbaceous border for the side slopes. Growing plants from seed for my 1/4 acre front garden seemed ambitious enough for the first year... I have coughed up cash for foundation shrubs and trees, particularly ones necessary for privacy and to stabilize steep slopes and pull water out of wet areas. I picked up 10 Western Red Cedars and 10 Oregon Grape for now from the local native plant sale. That's about all the cedars we can fit in until we clear more uphill (and all the Tubex tree tubes I can afford). We'll put more in next year and keep working our way uphill. The Oregon Grape we're putting along the property line up the hill. Hopefully it will eventually block out the view of the neighbors driveway and parking pad so they're not looking in the back of the house. I'm still tempted to head out to the King County sale to pick up sword fern, which works really well here. The local sale only has shrubs and trees. As for island living, I'm personally in love with "the moat" as the locals call it. Keeps out the riffraff. ;) Living here would be much less convenient if we commuted, but we both work from home, so it suits us perfectly. We end up over on the mainland every week or two for some appointment or another, which keeps us from getting cabin fever.

So, my options. Lots of them, quite likely all involving tree roots. Option 1 - Rain gardens for sidewalk drainage. Where our front walk flows down to the sidewalk, and also just because of grade, water stands. It does this from the center of the house over to the driveway, and if there is a real storm, it overflows into the driveway, then the street. This also happens on the other side of the driveway, so I'd probably try to do one long, narrow garden in front of the sidewalk, up to the flower boxes, and a bigger one on the north side of the driveway between the sidewalk and the street. Option 2 - Backyard gutter garden. Again, there is a tree root issue, and anything here would likely have to be hand dug (by which I mean with a hand-held spade, not a shovel). Our backyard is on Chalmer's Drain (I always thought it was Mallets Creek, but it appears not??) - and there isn't much in the way of a run-off issue back there. The waterway is lined with caged rocks, and I suspect my back garden is already acting as a filter between the house/garage and the creek. Just feels like, since I've already got a long gutter clearing the water away from the house, this wouldn't be the most helpful rain garden. Option 3 - Driveway Dig Out Right now I have a downspout that comes out from the corner of the house about 3' into a flower bed. The flower bed helps retain some water, but it isn't dug in more than a few inches. Problem here is two-fold. The ground for the first 4 feet near the house is full of gravel. And then, tree roots. In an ideal world, I'd dig out a drainage path from the house-bed, under the walkway, into the other bed, and build the rain garden inside that bed. Then I'd put in the black flexi-pipe and cover the over up to the rain garden. My helper isn't going to want to help dig out that much... so I'm avoiding this, although I'd like to see that water come out further from the house, and need to do something about that regardless.