Sheri, WOW, what an awesome project. And the time and effort to document it the way you did will surely help many folks through a very difficult construction project. OH, so many, many, years ago when I was still in the USN, I had redwood and fiberglass house that was about 8X10 feet. I grew orchids in SC, KS, FL, and VA in that little thing. We lived in a mobile home, so the greenhouse got disassembled and put in the home for transport, and the orchids traveled in a rented U-Haul. A couple of things I learned the hard way (you learned some of them also, I see) was that you need more shade than you ever imagined. I suspended my shade cloth above the plastic greenhouse (about 4 inches) and found that the air space actually increased the shade effect, and noticeably decreased the heat load inside the house. Another thing that would be difficult for you to do since your studs are so shallow, and metal, would be to double insulate the house. Mine had 2X4" supports that were wood, so I stapled painters sheet plastic on the inside, trapping four inches of dead air in the walls. You can't purchase better insulation than that, and it gives you a way to mount your electrical boxes away from the direct spray from watering. Another approach to cooling was to use a "Swamp Cooler"....to you westerners, an evaporative cooler. Mount the cooler on the ground outside the house and let it blow the cool moist air into the house. Cool moist air stays low, and the hot dry air is forced out the top vents. the vent opening at the top can be used to regulate the cooling inside the house. Also, I found the positive pressure in the house helped keep bugs outside. I don't know if HF sells different size houses, but I always suggest purchasing the largest house you can afford. The more inside volume of air you have the more economical the house is to heat and cool. Once the air gets to temp, the more of it there is the longer it takes for it to change temp, which means more time off for the heat and cooling. These are a few of the things I learned in my school of hard knocks, and pass them along for information to anyone who is interested. Bill

I finally made it out to Cicconi's and it was only a half hour drive from my father's in Colts Neck. I spent 3 hours wandering greenhouses and kept forgetting where I'd left my cart. I had 3 things I needed from their availability list but ended up with more than 3 plants! In one of the back houses was where I found the Hakone Beni Kaze grass whose internet photo grabbed me but the mail order prices for a 3-5 inch pot didn't. It's still a visible plug inside the quart but I'm leaving it in the container sunk in the garden to grow on and baby for the next year. I'm hoping I have it good light condition to achieve the burgundy, red & pink coloration in Fall but with enough shade so it doesn't shrivel up. Cicconi's prices for gallon perennials were almost on par with some other places but they had a great selection and people were extremely patient and helpful. The prices for good size plants compared to mail order, tops-lopped-off little starters were great and you get to actually see a plant in its natural state when you buy and growing the first year. Got more Asclepias Incarnata (they were out of Tuberosa-the Monarchs will have to deal with it), NY Ironweed, Heuchera Amethyst Mist, Pink Jewel Fleabane (after I saw a Spring Azure testing the nectar right in front of me), a huge Sedum Vera Jameson (funky succulent, not like its photos but a facinating stunner) and some Sweet Basil since my little seedlings won't be "Pesto sufficient" for a LONG time. The 2 Lamium Purple Dragon I got from Gasko's are fading quickly without growth or flowers while another $3. Lamium 3 times their size I got at a roadside plant seller on northbound side of Rt. 35 (south of the light at Costco in Hazlet) is flourishing and blooming its head off. I always saw this roadside place too late in zipping traffic to stop in but was keeping an eye out for it last trip up that way to Lowe's & Dearborn. I also got a Eupatorium Rugosum Chocolate (terrific burgundy tinged foliage & can't wait for fall white blooms), Buddleia Red Knight (in huge shrub pot since nowhere really to put 5'x5' plant in full sun), Salvia May Night, unknown electric blue/purple Salvia, Curly Parsley for Swallowtails and a few six packs of annuals for mostly shaded garden. Total only $36. for all that and they're doing very well. I didn't have to make a stop at Dearborn for anything and they wouldn't have any plants I got at roadside plant seller anyway except for Salvia May Night most likely. Early Saturday morning before food shopping I stopped in at Colonial Nursery on West Front Street just east of Middletown-Lincroft Rd. in Middletown. I never knew they existed until finding them listed as retail vendor for some national supplier. They had 2 year old Dwarf Goatsbeard for $9.95 that was 3 times the size of mail order gallon I got last fall and more than a foot tall/wide Astilbe Fanal that was a nicer shade of burgundy/raspberry than I perceived from online photos. It's not a huge place buy neat and clean with a good selection of plants not everyone carries in such pristine shape. The Fanal looked washed out and rangy at Cicconi's and price was the same. Next year I'll have to make it out to Cicconi's earlier in the season to look around when things haven't gone through a withering heat wave. I probably don't "need" much more to fill in what I can at my father's but there's always a chance I'll see some perennial between now and next year for which I could find a place to plant. Used quite a few annuals to fill in where I was too confused or rushed to decide on perennials to fill out a few new beds. Particularly short on spring bloomers. Maybe next year after a full year in the ground I'll have more time to enjoy all these beauties when I don't have to baby them until they get established. I was never so happy to hear thunder and lightening as last night thinking "Yippee...I don't have to worry about watering at 5 AM" expecially before getting started on cooking/straightening house for Father's Day celebration. All in all, I've maxed out on plants for my first year's attempt at gardening. I dread having to transplant the last few containers of annual seedlings I started myself. What was I thinking listening to people who said "It's a snap!" compared to being stretched out on the ground trying to tease apart tiny roots and then getting them placed just right in ground soil...to say nothing of watering with droplets so they don't dissolve into the ground? What a riot but good learning experience. Boy, do I feel lucky to live in Jersey!

Hi Dale!!!! How are you? Long time no see. I hope the business is doing great. I always was a horrible typist, but I did start out as a 'stenographer' at General Dynamics in the earliest 1980s. Even though they hired me for my shorthand (140 words per minute, I'm proud to say), I mostly typed and this was back when we had to type on IBM Selectric typewriters and and then had to learn to type on computers (called word processors at the time) and I hated them. LOL In the mid-1980s we had to start using a brand new (in the business world) process called 'Electronic Mail' on our brand new computerized word processors and I didn't like it either and could not see its' worth, which just goes to show that I am not good at spotting trends! So, I guess I've been typing a long time but never especially liked it...and didn't stay a stenographer long either, promoting out of secretarial work and into first a personnel administrative job and then later an accounting job before I quit my job in the early 1990s to do the whole stay-at-home-mom thing. I then spent the rest of the 1990s and even the earliest 2000s avoiding computers because I had my fill of them at work all those years. After we moved to a fairly remote, rural area ihere in Oklahoma in the late 1990s, I eventually had to learn to like my computer and communicate on it in order to stay in touch with what was going on in the real world. Now, of course, I cannot imagine my life without electronic communication. I do always write long threads, though, and that's just me trying to be thorough and complete and cover all the bases. Hope you're well and looking forward to another great garden year. Dawn

The vivienne files has a lovely aqua and black capsule wardrobe, Maire cate! I am decidedly not a size zero, so you may well be Impressed at the number of garments in the bag :-) I am not a roller, I tried that method once or twice and it was a hot mess to get things out--- any time you want an item you have to completely unpack and repack. If I am staying in a hotel longer than one night I unpack almost completely, hanging everything and putting other things in drawers. But I usually use the packing cube thingies from Eagle Creek and ebags. I will use a medium or large zippered packing bag for all my slacks, another for all the tops, a small cylindrical one for undies and socks, another for scarves, etc. that way when I want a shirt I can just take that cube out and not disturb everything else. I put these cubes in drawers as is unless something would benefit for being hung up. Alternatively, if we are going on a trip requiring a lot of dressing up, I will pack complete outfits individually in those space bag thingies. That way I have not only the clothes, but the stockings, shoes, jewelry, any special underwear, etc. in one package. Those are the bags you ziplock and then roll it up to,squeeze all the air out, then unroll it to lie very flat. It's amazing how unwrinkled clothes are when packed in those space bags!