This is a great thread! I've learned SO much this year as it was my first true "gardening year". There definitely were a few bumps in the road but overall I think it was a great first year considering I had very little to no experience, and a sad, naked patch of grass when I started. I must credit the many experienced, helpful and friendly people on this forum for all the invaluable information you have shared on this forum over the years, as I have picked it apart this year and it has been a priceless source of knowledge and inspiration. Here are a few lessons that stick out to me right now. 1- Give roses SPACE... apparently more than you think they need. As someone that is brand new to roses, I made what I assume to be the most common error made by a new rose grower & planted my roses way too close together. And a few of them too close to my house. This has caused me all kinds of trouble, most of all it has encourage blackspot to spread from one plant to the next, down the line, eventually reaching the other side of the boarder, I'm still not entirely sure what to do about certain layout problems that I've got, but several things will be moved/removed this fall, so I'll just have to sit down and plan it out... which leads me to ... 2- PLAN PLAN PLAN where to put big things like roses, trees, and other shrubs. Most of my most frustrating gardening errors revolve about my placement of something, be it a rosebush or another large plant. 3- I need to pay more attention to the shrub sizes given in online reviews and forums and less attention to the shrub size the nursery lists in the description. 4- Rose slugs are jerks. They really are the worst, and now that I know what they look like and where to find them hopefully they won't cause as much devastation as they did this past spring. 5- Plant everything immediately or ASAP. From my experience in trying to care for plants that are still in their nursery provided pots I have gained a whole new respect for nursery gardeners & the magic they must use to keep these masses of fledgeling plants alive. These baby plants (mostly talking about perennials, but tiny bands fall into this too) in their poor quality soil and flimsy nursery containers are the equivalent of a ticking time bomb when left in my care, even on a mostly shady porch and watered regularly. I have lost so many plants that were waiting on me to plant them, for no apparent reason at all other than they were tired of waiting on my unrelenting schedule. 5- Cut back the rose more severely after big blooms. So many of my roses are looking scraggly and overgrown right now and it is driving me crazy, but I know cutting them now could put them in danger of suffering more winter dieback, so I guess I just have to live with it. Next year they will be getting more regular haircuts. 6- Sweet potato vine, my newfound love this year, was both a blessing and a curse. I think someone above mentioned putting sweet potato vine in with their roses for container interest, but I would have to recommend against it. These things form a thick, chaotic network of roots like I have never seen before! Every planter that they were in they choked out all the other plants that went in with them. They completely killed all their companion annuals, and just plain sucked the life out of their companion roses. Just for an example, I bought the famously free-flowering Easy Going and Living Easy as bands, put them in GIANT containers with a small sweet potato vine in each, great soil, full sun, consistent water and they haven't done anything all season. I think easy going had maybe 2 tiny flowers and Living Easy had zero. Neither has grown any taller or wider than when I got them, meanwhile the fragrant cloud (not the most free flowering plant) which I got at the same time, in the same shipment is in a tiny pot off to the side on my porch with only afternoon sun & is already 2 feet tall and blooming regularly. It has to be the sweet potato vine, it is one hungry, fast growing beast. I love the bright green foliage and draping nature of this vine so much next year I might just put it in its own pot on a tall plant stand behind the shorter pots so that it may drape down behind them all, but it will never be a companion plant for me again. there is so much more but I don't have enough time to write it all! Jessica

Overthinking again, eh? [laughing] Thanks for the reality check, hollysprings and dseng. Wonder who buys the $90 stainless ones, then. (The chrome ones are REALLY shiny...) Probably I am worrying about everything because our normally-dependable handyman has left all his tools here and disappeared. I am worried about him more than the kitchen at this point.

Hi - new member here, and I enjoyed reading this thread. I've never been married, no kids, and got out of my last relationship 2 years ago. At times I feel like there's something wrong with me for not dating, and sometimes I do get lonely. But this thread helped me remember all the things I do like about being single and living alone! So here's my list of favorites: - I don't have to listen to Howard Stern in the morning anymore. - I can rent silly movies without having to listen to comments about it being "gay". - I can listen to anything on the radio, whether it's classical or jazz or country - I have hot pink accents in my bathroom, which never would've gone over with the ex-bf. - I eat a lot better because I don't have to work around his picky diet (ex-bf wouldn't eat a lot of the things I like) - I can stretch out in the bed, and can sleep late without anyone making comments - I don't always shave my legs or other body parts anymore, unless I feel like it I think the key, though, is that if you have a really GOOD relationship, a lot of these things aren't an issue. For example, my next boyfriend will not be someone who would call everything "gay" or criticize me or veto all my decorating decisions. At least I hope not.

tinmantu, you mean you don't have a bag of beef jerky or a sandwich next to that beer, computer and football game? Now and then make a phone call at the same time. Now THERE'S multi-tasking! ;) Somehow I was thinking about this very topic just the other day. There's certainly advantages to being single, as are there disadvantages. And when people would ask why I never married, I got sick of hearing it so I came up with the answer because 100% of all divorces started out with marriage! It shuts them up. And if I know they've been divorced, especially more than once I'll occasionally throw in that I can't afford a divorce and my religious beliefs require "till death do us part..." That really puts a cork in the religious ones! A few other lines when appropriate too! I definitely enjoy solitude. Time to think great thoughts, solve the world's problems and come up with some great jokes. Then again, there's nobody handy to tell the jokes to and the cats don't appreciate my sense of humor! There's times I'd enjoy a board game or game of cards with some intelligent conversation with someone other than myself or now the cats. But there's the reverse too. Yes, there's nobody to split the chores, but then there's the other advantages you've pointed out before. If I can't sleep and want to get up and wander around, have the TV on, etc, it's no problem. But I will say, it would be nice to have someone make a bowl of soup when I'm not feeling well... I know I have my quirks as does everyone, and laundry is one of them. When I lived with a gal, she washed her own clothes and I washed mine. I didn't want anyone doing mine and I didn't want to do anyone elses! BTW, one of the other advantages, toilet seat notwithstanding, is that the toilet paper is ALWAYS put on the right direction! I know people who feel they HAVE to be married. Some, or most of them I feel sorry for. Either must have someone take care of them or have someone to take care of. Can't be a mutual thing. Hope I never feel that way and feel fortunate I never have felt that way. Course it makes me the oddball in most social circles. Everyone's life could be better in other ways. But then again, they could all be worse too.