I was just sitting down to address the question of why I would want to use styrofoam covered with cement for a tabletop when I could make a form and fill it with rebar and 4 inches of cement and be done with it. I saw that NathanHurst had addressed the topic with his usual gentle wit and his own experience. I liked everything he said and I loved the site he sent us to. For me there is an additional component to this desire to make a lightweight concrete table/bench/sphere/leaf/etc. It amazes me. I have been around a long time and am still thrilled when my assumptions are proven wrong. Last summer I saw some men making an EIFS system exterior wall and went over to see if they knew where to get fiberglass mesh you could use with concrete. While I watched them I wondered why I couldn't use the neat stuff they were smearing on the wall to make myself a thin concrete leaf. I couldn't buy any (you have to be trained in the EIFS system before a manufacturer will sell it to you) so I started researching the product and came upon Quickwall and fiber concrete and knowledgeable people on this list and before long I was making 3 pound leaves that seemed as strong as the 20 pounders I had started with. What a surprise! Everything I have done with this mesh and fiber concrete has been a surprise to me. It always is harder/ stronger/ lighter than it "should be" according to my intuitive grasp on the world of physics . My personality wants to see how far this idea can be stretched. If I make 100 pound or 200 pound tabletops I will not be able to move them. If I make 40 pound tabletops I can deal with them. Now all I have to do is make them strong enough to be durable and safe. I think I can do it with cheap materials and some experimentation. Right now I have taken the foam in the pics and gotten rid of the rebar. I have given all sides of the tabletop one quarter inch thick coat of quickwall (fiber/portland/admix) and EISF mesh (alkali resistant fiberglass). My plan is to cure this for a few days and see what I think but probably add a second coat of everything . Then I will think of some way to test the strength of the piece and post the resulting success or failure photo here. Any suggestions what test would be dramatic but realistic for this purpose???? Laura ps I have a horse. Would it be impressive to get her to stand on the tabletop (it would be resting on the ground) --- or would this prove anything?? She weighs about 1200 pounds. It isn't like she is going to "fall thru" styrofoam but she might crack off the concrete covering. I think I could get her to put her front feet on it if it was propped up on a couple of concrete blocks..... would that be better? I would have to lug the whole project 30 miles to the place I keep her so this may not be the best idea.... (for anyone worried about the safety of my horse during this testing.... be assured I value her more than I do most humans. I would do a lot of pretesting to convince myself whether or not it made sense to ask Ellie to be the crash dummy.)

First, basil is not a shrub :-) It is a frost tender true annual and does not typically develop any woody stems. Your plant seems to be showing the signs of etoliation or a legginess due to reaching for light. Cut it back hard, move out into full sun and fertilize on a weekly basis with a liquid fert. When it appears to be forming flowers, pinch them out. And pinching back the growth from the tips of the stems to use for culinary purposes will encourage additional bushiness. Since it is an annual, there is a defined limit to its longevity. In warm areas with an extended growing season, basil can live upto 9 months. In colder areas, 3-4 is a good life :-) FWIW, the leaves don't look as basil-like as I'd expect.....I'd expect to see something more elliptical, less rounded and with charactertistic dimpling/puckering. But it may be the variety you are growing and the conditions that are altering the appearance.

I'm remembering how the question came up in my mind. I bought a 'Queen Alexander' oriental poppy this spring (my first perennial Poppy) and it gave me three beautiful pink flowers. The petals fell off and the seedhead started developing, and I was faced with the usual decision about whether to deadhead in hopes of encouraging new blooms or leave it up in hopes of getting seed for next year. Then I think I read somewhere that Oriental Poppy does not rebloom after being deadheaded. Then I thought: "Well, should I deadhead anyway in hopes of diverting energy away from seed production and into strengthening the root system?" But then I realized that although I have my own accumulated experience, and I value that experience, I don't know very much botanically or physiologically about the results of deadheading and I just started wondering about it from a scientific perspective. I thought it would be interesting to read a careful diary of a gardener assessing the results of deadheading, as well as academic papers about it.

I'd put in temporary supports, remove the existing poles and concrete, install new, pressure treated posts in holes that are deep enough to prevent side movement, and pour new concrete . The amount of the post in a hole should be at least 1/3 of the aboveground length (so, if it's 8-9' from the ground to the top of the structure, a 3' deep hole would be about right). If you place a couple of inches of gravel at the bottom of the hole and taper the concrete away from the post to the edge of the hole, it should outlast you.