I would start with some practical questions, which can be useful with the short-term plans, and can help you set the 'bones' for your longer-term plans. And can help you keep things simple. Might help with the 'stuck' thing. Where on that porch do you want shade, either from shrubs/small trees or trellises with climbers? Sun in the morning and shade in the evening? And do you want a blocking of vision from the road to feel that the porch is more private? Or would you rather have that view more open? Which way does the prevailing wind come from? Depending on where you are, you may want to leave that breeze corridor open, or you may want some buffering. If I had that porch, I would want to just plain live on it [jealous grins]. But is there another area to the back or side of the house where you might want other outdoor-living spaces.... Barbecue/picnic areas, play areas, a patio, whatever? Or is that front porch likely to be the focus of your outdoor-time? Once you've thought about all this stuff, you will have an idea about where to place some of the 'bones'. Shrubs, small trees, trellises, any walls, fences, whatever. Then, *around* those bones, you can keep developing plans for later, and can plant the things you want. And there is no reason that you can't just pick a garden spot or three for some of the sun plants you want to try, preferably in close view from your chair on the porch. But you can keep the plants, and the labor and maintenance, very small. Forget worrying about foundation plantings around the house. Concentrate on the areas that will affect your enjoyment of the property in the way *you* want to enjoy it. [What do *you* want to see when you walk out on the porch with coffee in the morning?] And with the setting of your house in its landscape, you would do better with more irregular planting areas where they work well and for you, rather than nice, neat standard all-around-the-house-suburban foundation beds. Plant where and what you want, and you can add more irregular space to the bed, and more plants, later. Use a weed-whacker along the rest of the foundation....

Hello laschai, The greenhouse is going to add a couple of growing zones to your location, depending on what zone you're in and how you insulate it, i.e. double wall, bubble wrap, etc.. Many plants require a certain amount of cold temperatures each year to produce fruit and berries, and they need pollinators to set fruit. For that sort of thing, why not fence in a location and cover the top with bird netting when it's needed. Like when the berries are almost ready until after harvest, then take down the netting and save for next year. Also, wrens are seed eaters, but territorial, so if you put up wren houses, they would chase off the birds that would eat your berries. Or, maybe your stuff will be so tasty, they'll try a nibble now and then. For vining plants, like pumpkins, also your peppers and your peas, growing 2 kinds that close together will result in cross-pollination, which, if you intend to save your seeds, will not be what you desire over the long term. Personally, I would grow vining plants on a trellis. What I did in my greenhouse last year was to attach chicken wire from the raised beds all the way up to the rafters, that's 9 feet in my greenhouse. My squash vines grew up to 19 feet long, they went all the way up to the rafters and cascaded over the other side and down onto the ground. It was an impressive sight. I had problems with chipmunks coming in, and also with stray cats. I bought some fake snakes and laid them around. They worked. For my next project, I was planning on doing more raised beds in the front yard, and bending some EMT for mini-hoop houses that would extend my growing season for greens without taking up space in my main greenhouse The benefit of my building a wooden frame and using a raised bed is that it gives me a place to attach the row cover to on one side, so it doesn't blow away and I can store it in place, instead of trying to fold it up and move it. Hope this gives you some ideas.

I'm not going to plant any seeds indoors. I did that for many years. Did a test once with tomatoes planted indoors in Feb and some directly in the soil on Apr 15, our "last frost" date. They all came up, they all did well, but the ones outside were the first to produce fruit and had heavier yields. All the seeds were from the same packets so there was not a chance of variables. My sister told me to clean house in Feb and Mar so that I could rest on my laurels through the spring and be outdoors playing in the dirt. I do jump start my seeds Apr 1 by laying them out in damp paper towels in a baggie so I just plant sprouted seeds with 100% "germination". All my herbs get planted with shredded paper mulch in garden pots to sit halfway in the soil with less weeding. I space them out so that the weed whacker can merrily chop around the pots for pathways. Nancy

Dionne, Looks like you have a seed pod off of one of the branches. Looks nice and sunny where you live. In the U.S.? Pruning would definitely promote more blooms and also get your tree more compact. if you should decide at some point to repot this tree, do so in a pot not as deep. The width could be the same. Prune with a razor type blade. Not secateurs as they will crush the branches unless extremely sharp. Clean blade with Rubbing Alcohol with each cut. To be safe. Make all cuts on a 45 degree angle. This diagram kindly submitted by Martin is an immeasurable help. I would prune most of the branches. The branches which come from base and "fork". Prune these two forks 1"-2" leaving a ""Y" shape. Any of the other branches which come that do not have forks, prune according to desire. Think of the top of the tree shaped somewhat like an inverted bowl. Giving it a mushroom type top. These Adeniums are very resilient and will push out nice new branches after pruning. I try to not have branches which cross each other. I hope this helps. Rick