I believe the long-term prospects for the US economy are bleak. Regardless of who is president, what the deficit is, etc. the country's infrastructure is largely dependent on oil. Oil is a finite resource, that is going to go nowhere but up in price over the long-term. We have missed the boat on implementing forms of alternative energy - should have been done decades ago, to avert this crisis. I am a single Mom, raising a teen alone, and it makes me a bit nervous. However, I was frugal even as a young person, so tightening the belt is like putting on a familiar old bathrobe. In 2008 I spent a total of $17 on plants - a couple flats of annuals - and approx. $200 on tools, potting soil, etc. at the nurseries. That is significantly less than previous years. Nevertheless, I acquired more plants than ever! How? - Started hundreds of plants from seed via the winter-sowing method, at least 50 species/cultivars I'd never grown before. - Hosted a Spring plant swap and received a couple dozen new types of plants and offloaded a bunch of extras! Win-win. - Ordered 50 more shrub & tree seedlings from the NH State Nursery, for $1 apiece. ONE DOLLAR each. These seedlings are 1-2 years old, so they're smaller than what you would buy in a nursery, but most have grown remarkably fast. They become $20-30 plants in a couple years! State and county organizations are a GREAT source of inexpensive plant stock. - Placed a small order at Bluestone during their June 50% off sale.

There are no summer squash that can be dried like gourds (including the scalloped squash) when grown as summer squash. However if you let them grow to the point where they are no longer edible and actually allow them to mature you might be able to dry them. I have dried yellow crookneck squash. When they are mature they are large, bumpy and a solid deep yellow. Sometimes my turks turbans dry and don't simply rot away. That is the only one I can think of that will actually dry. All others I have grown (which is a lot) will rot. Ornamental gourds, which are C. pepo, will dry. However the species C.pepo includes a LOT of squash that will not dry like acorn, most orange pumpkins, summer squash, spaghetti squash and others. The species Lagenaria sicera, the hard-shelled gourds will all dry. The reason you probably haven't found it in the archives is because fruits referred to as squash will not dry with few exceptions. Now when I am talking about drying I mean you will be left with something in the same shape as you started with that you can use for crafts. As opposed to drying them in a dehydrator which can be done with all the squash.

Thank you all! We will definitely have some wall repair to do (seriously, gluing plastic laminate permanently to plaster ought to be against some rule, ha). I just don't want to get the cabinets out and only then find out that the walls are going to have to come down too. Well, I realize we won't really know until we are there, but it sounds like there is hope. These aren't the original cabs so they aren't built in. One electrician has already told me he can run the new wiring with the cabinets in place (that was from me thinking I might leave the uppers alone), so at least for him it sounds as though the walls wouldn't be a problem. Electrical quote #2 comes next week so I will see what he says too. I will have to ask our plumber, but there is access through the basement so I am hoping he can just make holes where he needs them. The nicest, most on-the-ball and probably best contractor who came out here told me his least expensive kitchen to date was $30K. The one who said he could bring it in near the low low price I mentioned turned out (on a Google search for reviews) to live a couple streets over from us, which would be fine except that now I know whose house it is that has been sitting there on exposed foundation piers and clad in Tyvek for the last 3 years or so. Hey, I don't judge. Shoemaker's children and all that. But still. Thank you all for the encouragement! I will have to tell DH that our slightly wavy out-of-square walls that you can't find the studs through (there are studs, not laths) are valuable. :)

I think they are OK as is but get them into the garden ASAP as cucumbers do not transplant very well especially when large. Many people plant 4-5 seeds in hills 3' or so apart and then thin the seedlings to 2-3 per hill if needed when the seedlings develop their first true leaves so you can do the same with 2 transplants per hill. In the future you might consider direct seeding the cucumbers as they tend to grow better and surpass those that are transplanted at the same time. It will also save you some money for other things that do better as transplants like Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, Broccoli, etc.