Zone 4a and this will be my fifth year doing this. I start around new years, typically with hardy perennials in my zone, shurbs/trees and seeds that i don't really care about (e.g. old seeds). I typically wait until late February to start putting out a lot of my annuals, and I leave the following til the end of march or early april: zinnias sunflowers ornamental millet abutilon dolichos lablab morning glories 4 o'clocks cosmos and pretty much anyhting tropical in origin Most of these will sprout if sown earlier, but their foliage is sufficiently tender that I lose them in the cold nights we have earlier in the winter/spring. If I wait til then, they typically don't pop til mid april or later and i typically don't have to worry about the seedlings freezing then.

I have a mammilaria rhodantha that is two inches wide and four inches tall. sadly, it appears to have base rot and I fear that my only options are to either cut it in half and try to root it or just throw it away. Can it survive this kind of surgery???

The window itself isn't a problem if your local code allows it. The window might make your hood higher than optimal however, and it can be dangerous reaching across hot pots to adjust the window. With induction you won't set your sleeve on fire, though. Moving the ducting for your hood might well be a bigger deal than moving the gas. The best way to know is to talk to your plumber and HVAC guy and get estimates from them. A range is usually the less expensive route. Plus, if you don't already have induction capable pans you'll need to budget a bit more for cookware (though sometimes they give a few pans away with the cooktop). Most people here report back after changing from gas to induction that they'd never go back. A few miss their gas or actually do change back. Most of the reasons are in the realm of it being too weird cooking without fire or otherwise missing the flame, or having trouble adjusting to setting the temperature by number rather than sight (flame height). Have you tried getting advice on your layout in the Kitchens forum? If you did, and didn't get much response, try again.

"It wouldn't be the compression strength causing the joists to sag in the middle. That would be 'modus of elasticity'." The point was the lack of derating is what allowed joists in older homes to sag. Derating must seem like a strange requirement to you, but it is used to make sure structures stand long term. It is not just modulus of elasticity for wood that causes problems. There is also fiber creep under long term loading. Wood is a very anisotropic material and has a completely different set of engineering issues compared to steel or concrete. Even load bearing fasteners behave differently in wood since a nail is much harder than the wood it is driven into. Unlike a typical bolted joint in metal, all fasteners in a wood joint will share load without significant loss of strength. The building codes go to great lengths to specify allowable limits for materials in wood design. Woods are divided into a number of classes based on there usable range of loading. Designs are then required to use the class characteristic numbers. There is even machine stress rated lumber available with higher limits, but every piece has been measured. Superbeam may still have a 30 day free license for trial use. You might want to mock up some wood designs to get an idea of the allowed limits and rules. A copy of the building codes and the standards for wood structure design be required reading also. Good luck in getting a PE to stamp off a set of jacking plans without on site supervision. I would not. There are simply too many unknowns to formulate a set of plans to blindly follow without making them rather detailed and probably painful to even consider using. My license depends on making sure mistakes do not happen. A soil survey would be required to determine weight bearing capability. It is pretty unlikely the top surface of the ground will be suitable, so excavation will likely be required. It could be just a few inches, or maybe feet deep, to obtain suitable bearing. Generally existing concrete is not suitable for the point loading of jacks and either large timbers or steel beams are required to ensure adequate load spreading. The loads are often difficult to determine, so over specification must be used to ensure margins. Add to this the distinct possibility that older houses often have structural loading that would not be acceptable today. I have jacked many times to restore structures. Each job is a little different and requires careful engineering to come to a successful conclusion. Even a simple floor sag over a basement can turn into a disaster if the supporting floor starts cracking from inadequate load spreading, and determining the allowable loads for 100+ year old concrete is guesswork at best. Assume very low strength and spread well more than you think is needed. Large footprint cribbing is required. I use sections (usually 3-4 feet long) of old railroad ties after careful inspection and removal of any seriously damaged portions (there is a reason the railroad yanked the ties).