I really like the gray produce crates. I am guessing those are the ones that stack one way and nest the other way. The only problem is I don't have an enclosed truck to take to market. I have a small enclosed trailer, but most of the spring I use it to haul seedlings. Then in the summer, I try to take the least amount to market, only my truck. Unless it is raining. Also, my wife sells at a small market on the same day I sell at the larger one She needs the trailer. The containers I use are able to be be closed and they keep my produce dry. Important if it starts to rain. At market when it starts to rain, I can just run around and put lids on tubs. Also, when stacked up, they stay cool. I don't put tomatoes in the fridge, but they are stored in my cool basement. At market, when I open up a new tub, they are always cool. Marla, On tomatoes, I just sell them out of the tubs. I also usually sell anything I have a large quantity of out of the larger tubs. My problem is I can't get enough tubs on the tables I have. I am also limited in my stall space. So adding more tables won't work. So the 1020's allow me to put many different products on the table. I stack my produce pretty high. Jay

We built in MN and moved in about 1 1/2 years ago. Two story plus full basement walkout. We have 2 Econar geothermal units, one hydronic and one forced air with 8 - 1,000 ft horizonal loops. The hydronic pumps water for the radiant floors in the garage slab, basement slab, upstairs bath, master bath, 1/2 bath and mudroom. The forced air unit is for all other areas and provides A/C in summer. Our insulation is closed cell spray foam and it's awesome. I wanted to wait to see how the humidity was in winter and it was around 25%, which is too low. So I'm looking at adding a Honeywell Truesteam humidifier that will add water directly into the ducts and is controlled automatically by the thermostat with an outdoor sensor. I did all the underside-of-the-floor mounted radiant pex tubing (and accompanying insulation) myself as well as the floor insulation under the slabs. It's critical that you have a thermal break between the concrete and the ground. I used 2" XPS (rigid pink foam board insulation) on the ground and taped all joints. I also used a reflective bubble-wrap type insulation around the perimeter walls and interior footings. No concrete touches the ground at all. You mentioned carpet in the basement. As long as your installer knows what flooring you're installing, he can change how close together he puts the pex tubing loops. For carpet the loops will be closer together to create more heat. Geothermal is very quiet. The fan is on all the time so it doesn't come on like a jet engine and shut off all the time like propane or natural gas. Quiet, steady heat. In the summer there is no condenser outside and thus it's silent. Love it.

So without ever trying it are you saying my belief is rwong? gumby_ct said: "My belief is that any vining plant will be able to hold any fruit it will grow. After all what did Mother Nature do before "we" came along?" Are you saying that the fruits of plants developed over the year but the roots, stems, tendrils, etc never caught up? Kinda like Microsoft eh? Just as an aside the last time I harvested a pumpkin - I had to use a pair of loppers to get it off the vine. Do yours just fall off? You think 3ft up w/o a sling is just too high? Like a high wire act? btw - History of Pumpkins. showed nothing to the contrary.

I really like raintree's selection and many of my trees are from there. You're right that it is definitely a pain to the home orchardist re: rootstocks. If you want to try wackier cultivars, they will all come on different rootstock because not all nurseries sell all things and each one has rootstock they prefer. I've got things on lovell, St. Julien, citation, G5, M26 and more. On some of my other trees I've got no darn idea what they're on, because my mother got them for me from Stark bros and for some reason Stark refuses to disclose what rootstock their products are on. I don't think it's necessarily that they are trying to conceal anything, I think it's more that often in a single cultivar the rootstock may vary since they've got so many locations. So they can't swear one way or another. I avoid very dwarfing rootstock in general, but insofar as you keep trees small with vigilant pruning in summer and winter, it makes less difference and trees can be kept to any height the grower desires. Mainly I choose both cultivars and rootstock to withstand zone 5a cold, for disease resistance, and for tolerating different growing conditions. To the best of my ability that is - if you want a french mirabelle you're going to have to take what you can get!