European roses are always grafted - the only own root roses will have come from personal cuttings. Since there is a huge climactic range across the whole of continental Europe, I am a bit mystified by the US craze for bare root to the exclusion of all else, especially when many old and beautiful gardens contain grafted roses which are practically ancient. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the argument essentially holds validity for commercial rose-growers, who use certain methods for both convenience and tradition. Of course they are going to claim superiority for this or that method - for those of us who simply buy and grow roses in our own gardens, the own root vs grafted is of less importance than selecting appropriate plants for climate and soil conditions. As someone who has an almost equal number of each, although I grow roses in a temperate climate, I find this dilemma is one of the least contentious - of far greater importance is the continuing care and maintenance which plants receive (or not) once planted.

This is my first year with my SFG. The main thing that I've learned that I'll do different for next year is to put all of my 'leaf' crops in the same box and cover it with row cover as soon as the seed is planted. I'm getting destroyed by leaf miners and cabbage loopers despite ninja assaults with Neem and BT.

My lessons this year: 1. Just because you have the seeds, you don't have to start them. I was lucky and found homes for my extra 300 plants but it was touch and go for a bit. I still planted 50 plants and as I can, for the third weekend in a row, am seeing the error of my ways 2. Those cute little plants become giant mangled monsters so - don't over plant in small raised beds. They will get bigger - keep up on the pruning unless you want a tomato jungle - use better and more supports to keep the giants from falling over - write down what's planted where because sharpie will wash off sticks and the plants will grow big enough to hide the name sticks 3. Hail is horrible! My beautiful plants have looked beat up for three weeks now. 4. Chickens do not belong in the garden once the tomatoes begin to ripen... Unless you want them pre- tasted Already saving seeds and thinking about next season!!!

I am a regular guy with no special skills, experience, or knowledge. I feel the most amazing sense of accomplishment when I do so much as change a light fixture. I figure there are many of you out there like me who aren't scared to do a TON of research and then do a project you've never done, especially if it saves you money. So then, I thought I'd share my experiences and lessons learned staining our deck, which we just finished yesterday. CLEANING The biggest thing I learned here is that all power washers are not created equal. We borrowed our neighbor's power washer, and it did just ok because it wasn't strong enough. If I had it to do over I'd have sought out a pro-level power washer, even if it meant paying to rent it. I think it would've been must faster and would've done a way better job. There are spots on the deck that got cleaner than others, and yeah, I could've gone back and redone it all and made it perfect but it would've taken days, and I just had to move on. LESSON: Get a powerful power washer to do your cleaning. CAULKING/PAINTING Our railings and pickets are painted so I went over them and caulked the gaps before painting. But the big thing I learned was that if you're going to caulk, make sure you paint pretty soon after so you seal up the whole job. It'll last longer and you won't have to do it over like I did. LESSON: Caulk, prime, paint within a short amount of time (no more than a few days). STAINING We went back and forth a million times about how to actually do the staining. Do we use a garden sprayer? A brush? Roller? We decided on one person using the garden sprayer and then the other person going back over and smoothing out puddles and generally brushing in what got sprayed on. For tight spots we sprayed stain on the brush and brushed it on. It worked great and was honestly pretty darn fast. One thing that was super helpful was that I took the time before starting staining to tape up painter paper over parts of the house and painted railings that I didn't want to spray with stain. This saved a ton of cleaning and heartache. If I had it to do again, I'd use plastic instead of the paper. LESSON: Use a garden sprayer to spray a few boards at a time and then go back over quickly with a brush to smooth it out; and be sure to tape up plastic drop sheets to protect areas you don't want stained. CONCLUSIONS Lots of good lessons learned, and even though the job was not perfect I still feel great about having it done. The bottom line for me on all jobs I've never done before is research research research, plan plan plan, then knock it out. I hope this was helpful. I know how much I appreciate how much you all share of your own experiences and knowledge. Have a great one!