If you are talking about the plastic mulched beds, no we laid that by hand. It takes some time, but we are getting faster. I hope the time spent now means less weeding in the future. First I till the beds out to at least 3 feet wide. Then I come back with a rake or a hoe and make a 4 to 6 inch furrow on each side of the bed. Then we set the roll of plastic on the bed roll it out a few feet and bury the edges and on the end. It works best to hold it down with a helper or a heavy concrete block. Then unroll further and stretch as you go. Fill the sides back in with the dirt. Then at the end of the rows, my helpers help me out. I hope this helps. I wish I had a mulch layer, but I need to get the tractor and tiller first. I did build a garden bedder/hiller that I used to make raised beds outside. I rented a tractor this year and it worked great. Jay

Toni, I've got a couple of friends that may have some work for me - I'll help them out as soon as they need it. I plan on starting officially around Sept. 1. By then I should have my marketing materials printed and ready to give out and my licenses done. I just lined up a free houseplants seminar I'm going to do at our local library sometime this coming January or February, and I'm hoping to write a monthly plants column for our local paper, both with the idea of getting my name out there to people who don't know me yet. I also have letters, brochures, postcards and emails I'm writing to send out to various categories of people I know and companies I'd like to pursue; they'll go out Sept. 1 since it seems a lot of business just kind of goes on hold over the summer while people are on vacation. I'm still working for the other company three days a week and plan to keep it that way for quite a while until my own business gets really big, if it ever does. I don't have any ethical issues since our territories really don't overlap geographically and my boss isn't interested in the smaller jobs I'll be pursuing.

SD I called Lesco and they gave me a few recommendations. They told me the TMP is their best selling seed - and that is what they sell to most of the landscape companies. They also suggested a Transition Blend after I told them about my concerns on the rocky soil. One of the guys said that if TB won't grow - then nothing will. If I went with the TB, then I would have to mix in some rye. I saw on another post that you used the Lesco TB. I too will not have a sprinkler system. What do you think about the TB vs. the TMP? Have you since switched to TMP? Lesco also mentioned a seed called Fawn and said that this is close to K-31 if I want that type of grass. They said it is a very wide blade fescue. I am not sure I want to go down the K-31 route based on what I have read on this forum. It seems there are other alternatives that would do just as well in my soil and area, but yield a nicer lawn. For the spring planting - If I go with the TB, then I would probably add in 30% annual rye and 20% PR to make my own "contractor mix" but with the better TTTF from the TB. If I go with the TMP, I would probably add in a little AR in since I have these "dirt police" that I have to deal with and 20% PR might not be enough. Any info you can give me on the pros/cons of the two types of TF mentioned above would be very helpful and appreciated. Thanks

I heartily agree, that "compost happens", and we need not stress over it at all - or you can fiddle with it and have it occur faster. I began composting when my girlies were babes, and i had just enough time to grow our vegies in city gardens. I taught gardening in an elementary school and a preschool, where they valued such for the kid's education, play, and diets! In biodynamic gardening, there are Master Composters - a valued position...and they know it all. Here, i just do piles in various parts of the gardens, maybe turning them once for the year. Sometimes in just move all the fresh stuff off the top of my untended piles, and use the black gold underneath...just once a year. The stuff atop, then becomes the next bottom - and the cycle goes on. There is never enough of the lovely stuff for the acre or so that we keep. Any amount of compost, given any extra time you have, is better than not doing it or over-analyzing the "correct method"! I say just do it - and easy way, in your busy time of life! Enjoy it, even if slowly done, and revel in the life it sustains. Perhaps someday, you might enjoy really working at it - but for now, it is all good anyway. May whatever you CAN do, make your gardening time glad. It is a labor of love to keep our family and friends well- fed, while stewarding the soil in any small way possible...and compost is the best for that. Good luck with your plantings!