Hi Hayman I would love to try this one too, possibly two trades if you have more left. please feel free to check my list and let me know if you'd like to trade for anything. Thank you. Happy New year! Firegurl Danielle

Hi - go ahead and take of bottom tomato leaves if you want - that will never be a problem. Has nothing to do with whether the plant is producing fruit or not. I yank leaves every day. If I don't like the looks of a leaf or it's yellow or droopy I break it off. On the snap peas, well, they are starting to go down which is what they do in the heat. Mine are gone already and I am re-planting them for the Fall by the end of this month. What you are seeing is the beginning of the end.

without a picture.. its hard to tell you if they are the same plant... nor able to give you pruning advise ... on words alone ... i seem to recall.. many moon ago .. that cotoneaster was evergreen in my z5 MI .... so i dont know why it wouldnt be for you ... but i claim no specific knowledge of the various kinds ... and its hard to rebut unknown website info.. without a link ... can you post some pix?? ken

If I understood your description of how you will be laying out your floor plan: You will have concrete walkways, and are concerned only about gravel under the benches? If so; then why pea gravel? It looks lovely when freshly laid, but over time, leaves, soil and other debris will accumulate and be a devil to remove and eventually, mat on the surface and clog drainage and if you try to sweep or rake it, you will take out as much of the gravel as dirt. Why not river stone? It would still give you wonderful drainage and if you use large stone, you can clean it with quite a bit of force from a hose without disturbing it. In fact, you could even wait until sections are dry and vaccuum away most all of the soil and debris. The key to that, is stones too large and heavy to be picked up with the vaccuum. As for depth: that really depends on the permeability of the soil beneath your GH benches. The less permeable, the deeper you need to dig down and fill with stone to prevent standing water. Frankly, if your "construction professionals" didn't check your soil maps or do any borings before they started construction, they wern't being very professional. But it's still not too late. Contact your local Soil & Water Conservation District. They will have the soil maps, and in-house experts to help you make sure your drainage is done correctly, courtesy of your state and federal taxes; for a change- at work- for you.