Hi everyone! Regardeng BLACKBERRIES, we, on the opposie side of the pool, have the same problems of OVERWINTERING the canes and the flower buds. Admittedly I yet have no own experience as I got interested in blackberries only this fall when discovered the existance of the new thornles and prolific varieties. So I read all that was worth reading in the Russian and US internet, especially the rather high-profile specialised forums of our blackberry enthusiasts.. I discovered that throughout Russia and Kazakhstan which both have areas with very serious frosts blackberry growing in those is nevertheless quite successful. Maybe someone here would benefit from their experience same as e.g. you grow plums of Russian origin such as ptitsin and fofanoff. Apparently Blackberries can bring huge yealds in climates with very low winter temps, even downing to -40C for rather ptolonged periods. The TECHNIQUE below allows overwintering without much problem. Plus some easy principles to follow. 1. All blackberries need to be laid down and covered for the winter, preferably after the first frost when the land is frozen. To ensure that this task is easy and hassle free: 2. Choose thornless varieties only. Those with thorns are said to be hell to lay and cover. 3. In early summer watch for the new canes (primocanes) to emerge. As soon as a shoot reaches 15-20cm carefully bend it 90 degrees and secure with a metal peg. When the cane grows another 40-60cm, secure it parallel to the ground with yet another peg. After it reaches 1 m let it grow as it will but better tie to the lowest string of the trellis Which gets them out of the way. Do not tip the ends as this would increase the leaf mass. Do the bending for all the emerging primocanes. 4. In autumn at the time of first frosts when all the fruiting canes have long been cut down lay the primocanes in lines stretched along one side of the trellis. Peg them to the ground, cover with two layers of 60g/m2 thick white non-woven fabric and secure all sides to the ground with no holes. This is said to help greatly even if serious frosts come before the snow. In milder and wetter climates they also put a plastic film layer on top of the fabric, leaving however the end bits open so there is always air circulation. The advice here is to experiment as all natural circumstaces differ. 5. Take off the cover layers gradually, and completely only after all danger of frost is over. By then the canes are likely to bear some yourg leaves and side shoots, but this is ok. Raise them carefully as the canes of come varieties are brittle, and tie to the trellis. 5. Winer frosts may not be a problem for blackberries, but summers need to be warm or hot. The shorter and milder/cooler the summers, the earlier fruiting varieties should be chosen. 6. Floricane varieties like PA Freedom in cooler and shorter summer climates may very sucessfully fruit if treated in the same way as other primocanes, i.e. as above, in a two-year culture. They would be one of the earliest to perform. If you have any questions do feel free to write me, I will try to help with more information. cathpetro at gmail dot com.

I did. The low profile Broan Elite 36 inch vent fan that I installed can be configured to vent straight back through a 3 1/4"x14" rectangular duct or straight up through a 3 1/4"x14" duct. This rectangular duct is designed to fit completely within a 2x4 framed wall. My ducting enters the wall, and immediately turns straight up, proceeding up until reaching a soffit between the wall and an exposed structural beam. Inside the soffit it transitions to a 8" diameter round duct, turns slightly to match the roof angle, and continues through a hole I cut in the roof, where it is covered by a black metal roof vent cap. I found the local Lowes and even a local HVAC supply store to be unhelpful, and ended up having to order the needed ducting pieces from a couple of places on the interwebs. I don't remember where I ordered the pieces from, but in trying to find where I purchased them from I found an old Gardenweb post by me where I wrote: "I ordered the transition and roof cap from AirShack.com. The 3 1/4 X 14 inch, 90 deg elbow was really hard to find. I ended up ordering 2 of them and a 3 foot stretch of 3 1/4 x 14 inch duct from a different online location (that I won't name because they charged $41 for shipping for those three items) "

Definitely a non-pro here, but within the narrow range of my experience, I learned a LOT while building our house! I spent 5 years researching energy efficiency, site orientation, flow, and countless innovations in construction and design, etc. I LOVE to teach (shoulda been a teacher), and I hope some of my observations based on the School of Hard Knocks will help someone else. I try not to chime in on things about which I have no experience, but sometimes can't help myself. The good folks here on GW, as well as a few other sites have helped me tremendously through the process, and when I see a topic that I know something of, it feels good to pay it forward.

I'm still not quite ready to write a full review of my Bluestar RCS 36" gas range but I will do my best to put my cursory thoughts together for the moment. At this time I would give this range 4 out of 5 stars. I am completely happy that I passed on the Bertazzoni. Beware of the loud cooling fans on the Bertazzoni and Fisher Paykel. There are computer chips inside of them that heat up and fail. It's the biggest reason why I passed on these two ranges though there were also design decisions that did not make sense. (Who uses a hob rail?) There are no computer chips inside of the Bluestar. It is analog simplicity at it's finest. I have not put the Bluestar through all of it's paces because of the hot summer and I don't have air conditioning in my pre-war apartment. Once fall approaches I will be using the Bluestar quite a bit more and will have a more thorough opinion. After the first few weeks with the Bluestar I had quite a scare. I was using a new top recommended oven thermometer from America's Test Kitchen. The oven temp on the thermometer was more than 50º off from what was on the dial. I called Bluestar and they sent a technician to my apartment within a few days. Luke, the tech, was very kind and knowledgeable and he tested the oven temp with a much more accurate and complex digital thermometer. It turned out that the oven temperature was completely accurate and my $20 oven thermometer was inaccurate. He explained to me that this happens frequently with new Bluestar owners. Trust the oven. I was holding on to the oven thermometer like a band-aide and just because it was analog it did not mean that it was accurate. Now that I know that I had a perfectly functioning stove I could move on to cooking without any worries. Let me tell you, one of the major reasons why I chose to purchase the Bluestar was because of the 1850º infrared ceramic broiler. What I didn't expect was how life changing it would be. I mean, wow, it's a stunning piece of tech. The flame is so hot, it's blue. Because it's an instant heat I do not have to wait for it to warm up before use. Even in the hot summer I could grill a steak in just a few minutes with incredible char without heating up my kitchen. My Thermapen MK4 ensures my meat is cooked perfectly. My favorite recipe so far is chicken tandoori. One of the reasons why I initially wanted the Bertazzoni and Fisher Paykel was because of their true 24 inch cabinet deep profiles. Both stoves are slim and elegant. Their grates are light, thin, and easy to remove for cleaning. The Bluestar, on the other hand, is a more industrial, restaurant style stove. I was apprehensive about putting it in my small NYC kitchen. It took me awhile to adjust to the larger footprint of the Bluestar but I am now quite happy with it's size but I'm still adjusting to it's more blunt kind of styling. Now on to why, so far, I am knocking one star off of this stove. My opinion is entirely subjective, so please take my thoughts with a grain of salt. Look at the photo below. You see how deep that front bull-nose is? I just can't quite get used to it. Granted, I have been using a rental grade stove beforehand for 20 years so I am still adjusting. My roommate, however, adjusted almost immediately to the added depth. Because of the deep, flat stainless steel area it is begging to get scratched. Yes, just three months in I do have a small micro-scratch. I brought up my concerns to Luke who came to check on my oven temperature problem. He agreed with me that scratches are going to happen and I just have to let go of this concern. Wait for several years and in the future there are ways to polish out the scratches and he would be happy to help me with how to do so when the time comes. But still, why does the bullnose have to be so deep? Luke explained to me that the wiring for the stove was all tucked densely behind the bullnose, which I gathered. But what I didn't see was that on the underside overhang of the bullnose there are air vents that help dissipate heat when cooking. These vents omit the need for the cooling fans that are in the Bertazzoni and Fisher Paykel. Hmm, again, brilliant simplicity. My question now is why can't Bluestar design a shallower bullnose while still keeping the space for the wires and the vents? Checking other stoves, like Wolf and Viking, they too have thick bullnoses but none of them are as deep as Bluestar's. I guess it's just the new world order of stove design to have these thick bullnoses. Checking the stoves out at the steakhouse I work at they too have thick bullnoses. I just need to give myself more time to adjust. Now on to those thick grates. I did not want them. Another reason why I initially chose the Bertazzoni and Fisher Paykel. But what I like about the Bluestar is that there is one grate for each of the 6 burners. Each grate, though heavy duty, is lighter than expected and easy to remove for cleaning. Other stoves have one continuous grate over two burners which makes them quite a bit heavier to remove. As you can see in the photo below I had a powder-coated stainless steel cover made for the middle two grates so I would I have more room for cooking equipment. It is easily removable for those times when I need to use all 6 burners. And what about those burners? I was amazed with how quickly I could boil a huge pot of water for pasta. I love the fact that all of the burners have high output btu's except for the far left back burner for low simmering. If you have read my other threads some of you may know how anal retentive I am about burners with incredible low simmering capabilities. I still have not tested the low simmering capabilities enough to come to any conclusive opinions but so far I am happy. I am considering getting a diffuser for this stove because the burners are so wide in diameter that the flames burn the sides of narrower objects like my moka pot. I will follow up later on the burner capabilities when the weather cools and I have more time to use them extensively. Let me tell you this though. I am so glad I chose the sealed burner range over the open burner range. Yes, I know that the open burners on Bluestar ranges are legendary. The open burners are superior in performance to the sealed burners but I can't believe how easy to clean the sealed burners are. I barely have to take a wet soapy sponge to the surface to clean up spills. I am not a professional chef. I am an avid home cook and I don't need anything more than what I have. The Bluestar sealed burners are exceeding my expectations. A couple of more notes. I have not used the convection oven too much. Again, I need to wait for temperatures to cool. Also, this stove does not have a warming drawer. I thought this would be a problem at first since my small kitchen has very little storage. My solution is that I slide my large sheet pans under my stove. I am surprised with the amount of clearance under my stove for storage. A plus is that I can now mop under my stove. Say goodbye to under-stove dust and debris. With a storage or warming drawer on other stoves cleaning under them would not be possible. Let's just say that I am happy with my Bluestar purchase. I am glad I did not get the Bertazzoni or the Fisher Paykel. An added bonus is that the Bluestar is designed and built in America and, so far, Bluestar support has been excellent. This is a set-it and forget-it kind of stove. Simplicity is what I was after and simplicity is what I got. Thank you, Bluestar.