This is really a great thread! I just wanted to chime in a bit. I just finished planting 140 trees on about 1 acre, and it went pretty well. I planted: 25 Common Lilac 15 Manchurian Crab 25 White Pine 32 White Spruce 10 Bur Oak 5 Paper Birch 5 Silver Maple 5 Black Cherry 5 Red Oak 5 Rugosa Rose 2 Red Maple 5 Red Pine 4 Hybrid Poplar In addition, this summer, I planted 4 larger trees... a bur oak, an Autumn Blaze Maple, a Siouxland Cottonwood, and a Red Splendor Crab It will be interesting to see how fast everything grows. The clone of Hybrid Poplar I planted can grow anywhere from 5-10 feet per year.. while the bur oak will grow at a glacial 6-18" per year over its entire life. In 1996, about 60 red pines, 10 white pines, and 10 black hills and blue spruce were planted on our land. In 2007, the tallest Red Pine is about 15 feet tall, the tallest White pine is about 12 feet tall, and the tallest spruce is 7 feet tall. Of course, these were all started from seedlings with no weed control for the first 3 years, and only mowing after that (when we moved in). We no longer mow the eastern portion of the property, where red pines are growing. There are a few clearings among the trees, and some shrubs are starting to become established. Among them are Rugosa Rose, low bush blueberry, chokecherry, and American Hazelnut. To date, not one hardwood tree has seeded. Under our deck, however, about 6 Boxelder seeds germinated, and one vigorous and desperate sapling is about 4 feet tall in its second year. I will transplant it to the edge of our property when the leaves drop... Otherwise, the land we own on a lake is already forested... and it's more of a question of management than anything. I desperately want to clear some of the underbrush (it's nearly impossible to walk through the woods here... so thick with underbrush). Between the Beaked Hazel, tree saplings, fallen logs, grass clumps, and various other shrubs, if yo'ure not tripping and trying to regain balance, you have several small branches trying to enter your head through your eye sockets. You basically have to close your eyes and bore your way through the woods with your hands in front of you, shielding your face.

Yes, pick all but one or two from the vine. Pick the ones that were large on the blossom and appear to be growing fast. Full sunlight is important but not much you can do about that now. Here's the thing, you want to get as much water and nutrients into that plant as possible. That doesn't mean overfertilizing it or swamping it with water. It means providing moist, fertile ground under *all* of the vines' lengths. They grow roots at the bottom of each leaf node. Sinking their roots in there gives them the ability to draw the "strength" they need from the ground. A pumpkin plant with roots only at the main stem will never achieve its potential. If it wilts, even on a hot day, it doesn't have enough roots in the ground. Of if it does, it's too dry. Wilting means the plant is struggling to nourish itself. Yes, it will recover, but it's being stressed. The wider the plant roams and the more roots it can lay into fertile ground, the bigger it will get and the bigger the pumpkin it will produce.

i accidentally deleted these from photobcket right after posting them....sorry... here they are again

Here are some more thoughts on the MN floorplan vs the SD drafts I've been sketching... Old floorplan notes: CONS too much wasted square footage (office, formal dining room, bonus room, foyer, laundry room, loft) foyer - nowhere to sit or hang coats master wc - shares wall with guest bedroom (sound privacy issues) PROS good sight lines from piano to living space laundry near master 2-person walk-in shower NEUTRAL (things people warned us against, but don't bother us) laundry against kid's bedroom Draft floorplan notes: CONS front entrance - spills into kitchen, entrance feels a little abrupt (I don't want to waste sq footage on a grand entrance, but would prefer people to see something "special" upon entering) master bath - unsure of shower dimensions, vanity clearance, wc location master bed - is it possible to flip w/ master bath, but still access bedroom without passing through bath/closet? upstairs - larger closets (but ensure 2 twins / 1 queen still work) kitchen - island shape/placement? all sorts of questions about max efficiency in kitchen garage - unsure of necessary dimensions (we NEED 2 car + motorcycle, would be nice to have room for 2 more motorcycles --- also driveway should allow someone at least one car to park close to house without impeding garage access) bonus room - not 100% necessary, but I truly love the location/utility of this room in current house covered / sheltered porch area - where to add it? probably has expensive features we don't know how to design around (corners, water lines all over the place, etc) laundry - make it deep enough to leave baskets on floor in front of machines when lazy PROS good sight lines from piano to living space laundry near master master near kid room master+kid on first floor powder area separated from bathtub garage entry goes into kitchen (near pantry/fridge) stairs go up on the south side (hopefully bringing some light in through the stairs window) family/guest entries combined (less wasted sq ft) family/guest entries have a bench and a place to hang coats NEUTRAL (things people warned us against, but don't bother us) laundry against kid's bedroom master wc - shares wall with master bedroom (the sound privacy issues aren't a concern here)