Thanks for all the great feedback everyone! I ventured out this morning and dug where I'm pretty sure I planted my seeds and didn't find anything, really. There was one seed that showed no change and easily crumbled in my hand. It may be too warm, with the days staying steady in the mid 70s and the nights in the 50s, but I think I'll try again and give the seeds a little water overnight before planting them out in the morning. We'll see what comes up, if anything.

You're welcome! I can never read Mrs. Wright without tearful eyes. A lovely friend whom I met through volunteering at The Huntington Library nearly thirty years ago, and who was easily nearly forty years my senior at that time, gave me my introduction to Mrs. Wright. "The Garden of the Commuter's Wife", by "Barbara", was a delight in every way. Historically, geographically, botanically and horticulturally accurate, it shared the story of a young woman, her country doctor father and her eventual husband, "The Commuter" and their lives outside New York City at the end of the Nineteenth Century. Each addition to the series, The Garden You and I, The People of the Whirlpool, The Sign of the Fox, develops already wonderful characters further and describes how rural living changed dramatically as NYC "encroached" and absorbed the surrounding areas. Her books are wonderfully written and contain many, genuinely interesting and sympathetic characters. She wrote several series designed to teach children about Nature. Her Birdcraft was long considered the consummate work on American Song Birds. Flora, Fauna and their Haunts was written with J. Horace McFarland and is as excellent as her others. Her autobiography, My New York, tied them all together and shared what a fascinating character she was and what a rich life she led. My introduction to her through the "Barbara" series taught me the background to the love affair and life she shared with "The Commuter". Reading how in 1925, the home and garden she shared with him were then "passed into others' hands" brings tears to my eyes now, just as it did all the years ago when I first read it. Several of her articles appeared in the ARS annuals. "Silver Anniversary Roses" in the 1921 edition, I remember was quite enjoyable, though I lost that edition in a fire in 1996. Any of her books make great reads, but the "Barbara" series are sure to touch you. She was quite an author. Kim Here is a link that might be useful: Mabel Osgood Wright

Hi, I think you need to get rid of the weeds first. I used Weed B Gon and had very good results. Took care of the clovers and dandelions and other stuff. Some remarks on WBG... -Bottle says it covers 16000sqft but that is only for warm season grasses. It only covers half for cool season grass. -Even though it says it works in 24hours, I did not see it work that fast. Well, the clovers looked depressing, that was all. It took about 2 weeks to notice the results. -You will see weeds growing like they're on steriods in the first few days after application. This is normal as it is depleting the weed's nutrients. I did some searching and you need specific type of WeedBGon to kill creeping charlie. One user on GardenWeb commented... "We tried many kinds of weed killers, and the Creeping Charlie in our lawn laughed at every kind UNTIL... it was pointed out to us at a garden and hardware store that we needed the Weed B Gone with the label that prominently says it kills Oxalis weeds. It is a different kind from Weed B Gone Max. We had a hard time finding the Oxalis specific formula Weed B Gone, but after several stores we got some, and my friends, it was the magic we had looked for. Charlie was gone after a couple of applications. We had tried everything from manually weeding, to plowing under whole patches of our yard, and a lot of expensive useless chemicals in between. But I'm here to say we have the problem conquered with Weed B Gone Oxalis formula." Looks like you need Weed B Gone that kills Oxalis weeds.

I'm still not sure why footers are poured here in southern Oklahoma without forms and why they are not poured along with the slab, but I do know it is just how it is done here by everyone. In fact we are going one step beyond the usual residential build to have bigger rebar and much more of it than is customary. We do not feel it is overboard though because of our heavy clay soil. We are building on 13 acreas outside the city limits so we are not held to city buidling codes or inspections. Yesterday the footers were "cleaned out" by hand and the rebar put back into place. Today the concrete is to be poured....woohoo...this has been a long time coming!! I am on my out right now to watch the process and take pictures. If/when I find out answers to some of our footer/slab questions I'll be sure and post a follow-up.