"other than adding to the cost to the benefit " makes it even more likely the chalet would have it. they're that kinda place. lotsa folks in wilmette got the $$$$ for stuff like that. BTW, I DONT live in Wilmette. :)

Hey, Crelatia, liked your blog. your tree is bigger than my Nagami ( and taller than both of us) and looks very health.You made good decision of potted it in gritty mix. I found Kumquat is one of easiest citrus tree one can grow here. It can withstand the colder temperature till Oct.-Nov. outdoor; It can adapt to indoor lower light well; It can tolerance some neglect. if you like the citrus scent, you might want get a Meyer Lemon too. Meyer lemon blooms all year long, even during the winter months. I don't care the fruit that much... to me, it tastes like a tart orange with lemon color skin. But I do love the clean scent of its flowers. I usually leave mine outdoor when the weather is steady in upper 40 low 50s. Although, I must confess that I can't wait to move my house plants out in spring. when temperature is still low and fluctuating , I move my plants out in day time and move them back at night...I know it sounds a little crazy, but for the love of my plants... A dose of direct sunlight and breeze of fresh air is good for their health. you have very nice garden too. I grew rat tail radish few years back. it can grow 4 feet tall. it is very nice to mix few in the salad. Among all the Veggies , I have never grown french sorrel... I don't know how to cook it. Last year, my cherry tomatoes grew very well in ground. I love the flavor of Sungold and Sweet Million. This year, I am going to grow them in 5 gal. pots along the driveway ... just experimenting to see if I can save my garden space for other veggies.

The concept of "winterizing" a lawn or spreading a "winterizer" fertilizer comes from the people that sell synthetic fertilizers, although feeding turf grasses in early fall so the plants can store energy that can be used to grow in early spring is a good idea. Since one of the basics of organic growing is to make the soil into a good healthy soil that will grow strong and healthy plants that is the area one wanting a good lawn should be looking at and synthetics such as Urea do not contribute to a good healthy soil. Urea is known to adversely affect soil bacteria as well as the other members of the Soil Food Web. If the soil has an active Soil Food Web any of the grains as a meal, Alfalfa meal, etc. will be just fine as an early fall food for the soil. If the soil does not yet have an active Soil Food Web the same materials will aid in making that happen.

If no one minds that I hijack mtn's thread... we got back Monday night, actually 3 am Tuesday, from our Seattle/Vancouver trip. We had delays in Phoenix, so it took us a total of 21 hours to get from Vancouver to Boston! Ugh. We started in Seattle. Needless to say, meeting Mtn and Mr. Mtn was the best part. :) The funniest was seeing how quickly the DH's hit it off. Mtn and I could have wandered off and they wouldn't have noticed. Second best was the Chihuly museum and gardens. Really didn't expect to like it THAT much, but we were all so impressed. DH and sons really loved the EMP Museum. DD and I were more "meh" about it. Really just liked Seattle Center in general. Space Needle was cool. We had lunch at the Collections Café at Chihuly, which we also liked a lot. Also in Seattle, we did the Underground tour, which everyone enjoyed for the Seattle history lesson. We all loved Fremont! Shops, Sunday Market, lunch at the Cantina (not sure it that's the exact name). Even though it was chilly, we also enjoyed the Argosy Locks boat tour and later went back to Ballard to see the Locks and the salmon ladders, and browsed some shops. We walked thru part of the Olympic Sculpture Park but it was at the end of a long day, so I don't think we appreciated it as much as we should have. Went for a ride on the Great Wheel. Drove to Snowqualmie Falls and Gasworks Park (so cool!). Took the ferry to Bainbridge Island and had lunch there and poked in some shops. Oh! Of course we went to Pike Place Market several times. We had great meals everywhere, and the weather was perfect while we were there. Vancouver...rained almost the whole time. Gah. Still loved it, but would have loved it more if the weather were better. We carried on and did everything we'd planned to do. We stayed in the same floating home Mtn mentioned, and she kindly left us a pretty bouquet on the dining table! (Thanks, Mtn!) I asked for chocolates, but whatevs. We walked around downtown Vancouver a lot. (In both cities, we had 15,000-20,000 steps on the fitbit on most days.) We went to Capilano Suspension Bridge, which scared the --- out of me, especially in the rain because it seemed like it should be slippery, even though it actually wasn't. Such a neat place, and wish we could have seen it in better weather. DH and kids went white water rafting in Squamish, which was more hair-raising than their experience in Iceland, but they loved it. I stayed safely behind and shopped in Vancouver. Loved a store called Poppy & Rye for clothing and bought a couple of things there. We went on a whale watch, which was very different from the whale watch we did off Cape Cod many years ago. I was nervous when we had to get suited up in similar suits we wore for white water rafting in Iceland, and when the guide talked about procedures for when someone goes overboard...but it was all good! We saw many bald eagles and seals, but just one whale, and it was a humpback, not an orca. And we were out for 7 hours. So, while it was still enjoyable, it felt like a long day to see just one whale that we could have seen closer to home. On our last day, the sun came out and we walked to Stanley Park... we didn't have enough time to find/rent bikes but would love to return and do that one day. Again, we had lots of good meals, and I am sure we all gained a few lbs. All in all, it was a great trip. I would go back, and would stay longer to explore some of the surrounding areas.