Thank you for all the kind comments everyone! Jenny, It was load after load, trust me! Today my Pacifica is getting a good cleaning and a nice bath, and a long break after all her hard work. She deserves it. It really did give me goosebumps when everything came together. It wasn't until I had laid the flagtone that I really knew what I had designed and created was a piece of heaven. I can't quit looking at it. That may sound silly, but I surprised even myself. I've always been very creative, but to see an idea of this magnitude come together better than I expected, was profound. Plus, I'm a very determined person when I make up my mind about something! I haven't decided if I'm going to put fish in it yet. Thank you again for the wonderful comments. Mindy

1) Something you may feel is important for a newbie to know: Sow heavier than any commercial seed packet ever indicates. 2) Something you learned your first year: I use a modified milk jug flap - I turn the U upside-down like a doorway arch, so it opens like a drawbridge. The flap bends down to open. This allows the same improved access (instead of cutting the whole jug in half), but increases access by allowing me to see what I'm doing in there! No ducking low to see under the flap. 3) Something you would not do again: I will never use salad containers again, not enough soil and they dry out too easy. Had much better germination rates in the milikjugs. 4) Something you have always done since you started WS because it worked out so well -- Am changing this to "this year's hopeful improvement" since it's only my second year: I like sowing more than one thing per container, and often have lots of things that I only have a small amount of seeds for -- so am using bottomless dixie cups as dividers inside the milk jugs. this way I can sow several columbines in the same container, and then they should all be ready to plant out at the same time. Last year I put several things in the same jug, but had to keep them of different types (can't put rudbeckia 1 in with rudbeckia 2 or they're gonna get blurred together with watering sliding seeds around) so knew what was what if they got blurred together. This made for needing to remove 1/4 of the container for planting out and the rest of the container not being ready; and having much more complicated records for the jugs. Now I have Columbine jugs, Astible jugs, etc. Nice. From last year-- Plant tag goes in with the seeds! Still listing container code numbers onto paper with a diagram of what seeds are where in each one...just in case of a container tumble later. Paint markers are great for labels. Make friends with someone who has 6 kids. They'll produce 5+ milk jugs per week for ya'. 5) Something you have learned over the years to be effective: Organize the process for speed. Don't even try to hit the "normal germination" instructions for each seed type. Just plant half as deep as the widest part of the seed, don't bother nicking/soaking anything; make the seed lists straight from my seed box and leave it alphabetized; only separate the list by "these are definately being sown" and "these might if I have time", perennials and annuals, just basic prioritization; chunk the Priority Perennials list into 1st third = do in December, 2nd third = do in Jan, 3rd third = do in Feb; Priority Annuals into 1st half = do in March, 2nd half = do in April. Get to the extras when they fit in. Gottta love the assembly line approach. I'll follow Stage-Rat's example -- that weed seed pot is a "to die for" idea!

I'm glad you like looking at my plants :-). FlowerLady: the veggies grew well because we had suitable weather for them during the summer: light rain every day. In fact, I have had several crops planted in the same beds. Now as we're approaching cold and dry season, I'm planting potatoes there. Will follow-up with some photos when I'm in Dalat again. jkom: Vietnamese food is rich in vitamins, I think, as it contains many kinds of vegetables in the recipes. We always have at least three kinds of food on our table: meat/first stew (or cooked in similar style), stir fry vegetables and vegetable soup. Of course we change the meat/fish or vegetables every meal, but it's most likely those are the main "courses" of our Vietnamese diet. I'm glad that you like our food. I like Bun Thit Nuong, too. It's delicious especially when you have the right "nuoc mam/fish sauce" mixture! Wow, my mouth waters as I type this LOL. Annette, my Medinilla is doing very well but hasn't produce any blooms yet. I had been keeping it in partial shade but last month when we were at a restaurant and seeing their medinilla loaded with blooms was in full sun, I moved mine out onto our front porch. It sufferred a few leaf burn. I don't know how it is now because I've returned to our Saigon home for 10 days now. But I hope it's OK. Here's a pic taken a while back. About two more weeks and I will start the daylily seeds, Annette. I'll update you regularly how I'm doing with them. Xuan

Here is a pic. of our vinyl pool. Bit of an action shot but you can see the liner color. Good Luck with your pool.