A mailbox near the pond to stow fish food, water test kit, net and rubber gloves looks real cute. A small wooden bench by the back door to sit on when I take off/put on my garden shoes is handy. My dad built my potting bench a couple years before he passed away so it's very special to me. I keep it inside the potting shed so it stays dry. I keep a plastic trash barrel next to the bench to hold potting mixes. I have a foxtail brush on the potting bench to brush extra soil back into the barrel. An old rake head hanging on the wall near the barrel is a handy place to hang the brush, small potting tools, gloves, etc. I installed a window on the east side of my potting shed so it wasn't so dark in there and also so it warms up more quickly in the morning. I make a lot of my own potting mix from compost, perlite, peat, earthworm castings and crushed tree bark. The plants seem to like it OK. Alright, so that's more than one tip, take your pick and ignore the rest. haha Cheryl

David, Also a transplanted Californian here, and I agree that the NYC can't touch the CA nurseries. Of course land here is at a premium, and plants don't stack well on pallets... :-) The HDs near me (Flushing and College Point) normally have run-of-the-mill plants which tend to be poorly cared for and not that much of a bargain given the condition/selection. I can't speak for Lowes, as my one visit there for a screen door left a very bad taste in my mouth and I've not been back. Hicks on LI is very good, but pricey. There's Keil Bros. in Bayside/Auburndale Queens. They do the plantings at the US Open, which, if you've not been there during September, you're missing one helluva plant display. It'd remind you of Cali. There's a Garden World in my neighborhood,too, and I've been pretty pleased with them, but again, pricey. And you need to find the one dude there who knows anything about horticulture, since their staff is predominantly high schoolers with NO interest in plants. That one dude will also do soil testing, insect IDing, and really knows his stuff. But finding him can be a challenge. Good luck to you in your quest. What part of CA do you hail from? LA, SF, SD here... pieper

Westminister Nursery on Westminster Rd. in West Hempstead. They have lots of herbs, veggies, and a large collection of peppers every year. Most of their herbs are from Gilberties, which I find hardier than where other places source their transplants and seedlings (bought some from Hicks that didn't seem as hardy or large). It's open later hours during the growing season and they have half off sales once or twice a year. Hick's I'll only visit if I can't get it at Westminster. It's just okay. They seem to have not that much of selection of growing medium for orchids and the more exotic plants, definitely less than some years ago which is disappointing. They do half off on their veg and herbs in the summer but it just comes to nearly the same price at Westminster anyway. For more exotic veg and herbs, I have picked up Tulsi plant seedlings in Bellerose/Glen Oaks on Hillside Avenue at the small grocery stores. I saw small pots of Curry plants at the Maharaja supermarket near the corner of Hillside Avenue and New Hyde Park Rd. in New Hyde Park. Very rarely I will stop by the farm in Malverne to check out what they have. All the herbs and veg there are organic and most of them are grown in coconut coir. Nothing too unusual and the prices are higher there but I did pick up some nice lemon thyme. In the same vein, I sometimes stop by the Queens County Farm and see what they have for sale in their greenhouse, I picked up some regular English thyme there. I've had the most horrible customer experiences at the Walmart in Westbury, I will never return there (although I did pick up a terribly abused orchid from the clearance section for about $7). The Lowe's in Garden City is nothing special, they carry mostly "Bonnie" herbs and plants and they are pricer than Westminster's herb flats and don't look that hardy. This post was edited by PurpleLotus88 on Sun, Jun 30, 13 at 17:50

Wow!! Carol, I'm happy for you. Heel to toe for 8 steps takes a lot of coordination, and YOU DID IT. When my kid was 4 years old, she would be so happy when I lost weight on the scale ... health for my friends cheer me up more than roses. I'm elated when I heard Garran home & healthy, and I'm happy about rain for Jess & no more thorns in her toe. I am happy when my daughter is happy. I'm sure that's how God, our Father in heaven, feels .. He's happy when His children (us) are happy. My kid has a friend came over today (same age). The friend was on Ensure (canned nutrition with soy milk) .. her skin was clean this past summer. I did research on soy milk and thyroid disorder, yes, there's a slight link, esp. with carrageenan added. So I e-mailed this teenager info., and her nutritionist switched this gal from Ensure (soy-based) to Kefir (fermented cow-milk). Fast forward today, this friend gets pimples on her face. I feel bad since the bad news about dairy didn't come out until this year. I google thoroughly when I switched my child from soy-milk to cow milk .. could not find a link between cow milk and acne until recently. But I learn something: always look at how many people are involved in any study. The thyroid & soy link are just a few personal testimonies, versus the below: " The famous Nurse's Health Study examining health habits of 47,000 nurses found that those who drank more milk as teenagers had much higher rates of severe acne than those who had little or no milk as teenagers. In other studies of over 10,000 boys and girls from 9 to 15 years old, there was a direct link between the amount of milk consumed and the severity of acne." Today I'm back to the diet that I was on when I was skinny: soy milk (new formula without carrageenan) & high fiber cereal ... I feel so much better & more energy. My kid loves her cereal & soy milk. She could NOT handle cow-milk either .. she's lactose-intolerant. I checked on soy milk again before I switch back: if the soy-protein is concentrated, like soy Isolate in faked meat, then it will screw up the thyroid. If the soy is concentrated and made on aluminum equipment, like tofu, then that will UP the risk of Alzheimer's. But soy milk in low dose with cereal, isn't bad ... at least it's freed of hormones, antibiotics, feces, and pus like in cow's milk. Soy milk is easier to digest, plus zero cholesterol. What I like the most is: it smells clean, NOT strong like cow-milk.