Some good news is you never need to rototill in preparation for a lawn. In fact that is the worst thing you can do. Start now to get into good lawn habits. Here they are... Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in Las Vegas your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it. Too little is better than too much. At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide. Seed in the early fall. Is shade an issue? If not then Kentucky bluegrass is the type of grass that will spread to fill in holes and thin spots. But it does not grow in shade. In shade you'll need fescue. Hence the sun/shade seed mix. Fescue does not spread like KBG. If you can get a seed with no rye in it, I would take that over one with rye. Rye can be beautiful but for beginners it can trick you into making a mistake at the outset. Rye does not spread either. For a rental you can get your seed at any box store. Seed from there comes with weeds but who cares? You'll get your deposit back anyway even with a few weeds.

Plant a clematis at its feet.

yep, of course i knew it, lol!! thanks for the advice. i've ripped out the spinach that had bolted, added some compost, and then moved all 4 peppers - wish i knew how to add pics - they're still in the same bed but have waaay more space! they seem to be doing ok - still no flowers though and the leaves are a little droopy. my bush beans are fruiting like crazy, as well as the squash, which i was worried about because as soon as the flowers opened, they'd shrivel up and fall off! @ hosenemisis - we've had to major heat waves in the last couple weeks, as i'm sure my neighbor 'davis sue' can attest to. we've been so unusually warm the last couple months, so not normal! i'm right on the SF Bay, but in a pretty little valley (you know the california 'happy cows'?), and the immediate bay area never gets too warm during the summer. our heat happens late august through october. it's usually cool, foggy mornings, with very mild afternoons, and chilly evenings. so with this unusual weather, i'm looking for my brassicas to bolt any moment! @ deep roots - thanks for the compliment about the bed depth, i was needing that about now, lol!! in my second bed where the cabbage and broccoli are... well, the broccoli is growing like crazy, poor cabbage - they're barely getting any sunlight. i pulled one out due to me ripping it apart chasing aphids! @ savis sue - so why is the yellow pear insepid? i wouldn't mind getting rid of it, but my dd ladybug picked it, and it's the only plant fruiting at the moment - she'd kill me!! well, thanks for all the info you guys. i guess there's nothing left for me to do but to wait and see what mother nature does with me and my poor little patch! be well!

seysonn - NCHFP isn't just some unknown organization. It is the research labs for USDA/FDA and are the recognized national authority in safe food preservation/canning for both commercial and home food canners. All other approved sources of home food canning info/recipes/instructions are based on their recommendations and regulations. And yes, if you explore their many publications (or take their classes) they are well aware of the whys and do explain how density can be calculated and why their testing has determined that adding flours, pastas, and other thickeners cannot be recommended. Basically it because the amount of processing times required to compensate for the increased density would be so detrimental to the quality of the food that it would be unpalatable. Further since the thickener of choice is easily added at preparation/serving time after the jar is opened there is no justifiable reason to process it to death simply to compensate for the thickeners. So it isn't a matter of just adding 5 or 10 min here or there. Not to mention that very few home canners are able to or have the interest in measuring the density of their foods and doing all the calculations. Especially when it has already been done by professionals. Beef stew is already processed for 90 min. (quarts) so say you add flour to it. Now you have to calculate the density. Density = mass divided by volume. Calculate the mass of the container, then the mass of the container with all the liquids and subtract the mass of the container and you have the mass of the liquid. Then you do the same for all the solids. Then measure the volumes, etc. etc. etc.and discover that the density of it has now increased x fold. How many min do you has to that 90 min processing time for each increase in density? 10 min, 20 min, 60 min? What happens to all the vegetables in that stew? Slushy mush with a scorched taste most likely. You really want to do all that? If it is enzymes, bacteria, they say that @ 240F they are all destroyed. No they say at 240+ for a specific period of time and that period of time differs from bacterial pathogen to pathogen. The time is always the variable. Campbell does it all the time. Lots of discussions here about the many differences between commercial processing in high pressure autoclaves that you can play football in and use 260-280 degrees F at 50-70 psi (after first irradiating the foods) vs. the common home pressure canner at 240 and 10-15 psi. No comparison what so ever. Dave