You made some excellent choices! We are in Texas, somewhat (!!!) different from New Jersey, but we have had experience with some of the varieties you listed. Brandywine tomato--complete disappointment. The few that we got were not very good. Sungold cherry tomato--absolutely the best cherry we've ever grown! Prolific--we put in two plants, had to extend the trellis to 7', and had so many to give away that the neighbors began to avoid us. Celebrity tomato--this is our reliable producer. It gives us a great harvest in early summer for canning, freezing and eating, and then again in the fall. We love this tomato! Straight Eight cucumbers--We've fallen for the hype about other cukes, but always go back to this one. It is prolific, tasty and we even use them for pickling. Cal Wonder peppers just don't do well for us. We plant Keystone Select instead for the big bells, and Cubanelle for freezing/canning/eating. Sugar Snap peas are already planted here, and last year we had a big harvest in spring, and the fall planting did well, too. Scarlet Nantes carrot is one of the very best--reliable, tasty, doesn't split easily, and for us, doesn't core. If you get a chance to plant Striata d' Italia squash, do so because it is fantastic. Great taste, can be harvested anywhere from 4' to 1', small seed cavity and produces well, but not terribly prolific like most zucchinis. Sounds like you will have a great garden this year. Prepare your neighbors for an influx of delicious vegetables!

I live in the PNW with only 1/2 acre and have no window coverings except in the upstairs master bath-that I close when I'm up there at night. The main floor bath has the lower pane of a double hung window glazed with obscuring glass. One of the things that makes it okay for me is the way the neighbors' houses are sited as well as the outdoor lighting I have on the house...just some old style flood lights that light the areas outside the windows so that I can see the garden areas in the dark, as well as anyone who might be lurking. It keeps the windows from looking too much like black holes. I'm sure if I tried to live with window coverings at this stage I'd feel totally claustrophobic and would always wonder what was going on outside. Plus I'd miss the nocturnal visitors to the yard, the foxes and raccoons (I could gladly miss the possums). I love lying in bed watching the wind whip through the tall firs, with the moon shining behind them. I've gotten used to sleeping in any amount of light or darkness.

Crisco (solid shortening) in the can is supposed to perform differently than oil when used in baking. Oil is used in cakes but seldom will you see it in other baked goods. Cookies baked with shortening,butter or margarine will spread differently, sometimes brown differently and have a different "crumb" or tenderness from one another. Same for pie crust. The old cookies that called for shortening instead of butter did so for a reason. It was not just because shortening was less expensive. Grandma's recipes will be OK with butter but they will be different, especially in mouth feel. But with the removal of trans fat from Crisco and the like this has all changed. It is simply not possible to make a good non greasy and heat stable buttercream without trans fats at this time. A lot of bakers are working on a solution. But so far nothing perfors like a good trans fat laden hi ratio shortening. Trans fats both in the shortening and the fudge base kept it from slippage, weepage and that awful greasy mouth feel that gives cheap buttercream such a bad name. You can make good tasting buttercream but forget picnics. No more outdoor cakes in warm weather. I have stopped decorating cakes for this reason. Only cakes that can be kept chilled or in air conditioned rooms do I now do for family. DD feels the same. May as well buy a Costco cake which are actually not bad for what they are. Pastry Pride/Bettercreme (sort of like a fancied up cool whip product that can be flavored) is used by many bakers these days. If you look around you will see not many stores have buttercream cakes and cupcakes left out of the cooler. If you find them they are nasty in texture and flavor. True margarine has been hard to find for years. They have added so much water to it it has to be called spread.

What a find, that is absolutely GORGEOUS! ! ! And useful, too! Rusty