Capoman: I keep thinking about getting more soil and I drive by the store every day. I don't think I will sleep right till I do pot up to the 3 gallon. Going to stop there later! And as far as the 511 mix. I am scouring my local shops to see what I can scrounge up..not going good. Thanks for chiming in. Bill: The summers get brutal here and I also picked up some lava sand to top mulch and then cover with pine chips. Just getting ready for the summer and trying to slow down evaporation. Everything helps and since I am planning on moving sometime around August, containers are my only option. Bruce: I guess I have to get out of the bonsai mindset. I am in the habit of root and top pruning my other plants because they are in containers as well. The bonchi fascinates me. With the 1 gallon and soon the 3 gallon containers, my plan was to use the thick green gardening steaks punctured through the bottom drain holes of the pots in an attempt to steak down the plants and use the bamboo with green gardeners tape to create a mock tomato cage style holding pattern to some what control the growth. I do not mind doing the additional work. My Espaliered trees require a lot of work so it is a nice break to get to play around with the pepper plants! :-)

WOO HOO! What a great way to start. ;-) Dehydrated apples are a BIG part of our diet. They are used to make all kinds of things - apple pie/crisp, applesauce, added to quick breads and homemade granola, as well as a favorite out-of-hand snack food. Once new-crop apples are available, I'll dehydrate 50- to 75-pounds of apples and store them in canning jars in the basement. I'd REALLY suggest a hand-powered peeler/corer/slicer if you do a lot of apples. Otherwise, I suggest one of those corer/slicers you push through an apple. Then with a paring knife you can quickly slice each large apple slice into several 1/4-inch slices. You can also use a cutting mandoline and slice the apple, starting at the bottom to the stem in complete apple "rounds", core and all, for very little waste. You will get a decorative star-shape center where the seeds were. Don't bother removing the seeds, they generally fall out during drying. If not, a poke with a toothpick will take care of them. Bananas, not so much..... In order to dehydrate bananas until they are crispy dry, you need to choose bananas that are UNDER-ripe (less sugar developed in them) and firm, and over-dry them. And when they do get crispy, they quickly rehydrate and soften. The crispy dried bananas you have probably eaten, and are more familiar with, are actually deep-fried, not dehydrated. I will incorporate bananas in fruit roll-up mixtures, which work best if they are ripe and sweet. I do have a handy-dandy banana slicer that cuts a banana into even slices which helps them dry evenly, and if you are going to dehydrate a lot of bananas, I'd suggest getting one. Back to apples.... You can sprinkle apples with cinnamon or cinnamon/sugar. You can also sprinkle apple slices with Jell-O powder (a little goes a long way, so use a VERY light hand - place the powder in a salt shaker and cover all but 2 or 3 holes). Keep this in mind if you have some less-than-tasty apples. My favorite apples to dehydrate are Jonathans, but I pick a LOT of free apples and if they aren't as sweet and flavorful as I'd like, I'll "doctor" them with cinnamon, or occasionally, some kind of sweetener (Trehalose) and cinnamon if we're going to use them for snacking (although we normally just eat them plain). Otherwise, less-flavorful apple slices work well for applesauce since it can be easily flavored with cinnamon and sweetened (if necessary) after it's rehydrated. PRETREATING: I'd suggest an acidic bath (1 quart water + 1 T. ascorbic acid powder, citric acid powder, or Fruit Fresh - which is a mixture of ascorbic and citric acid) rather than full-strength lemon juice. If you'd rather use bottled lemon juice, the ratio is 1 c. lemon juice to 1 quart of water. Lemon juice is only 1/6th as effective as ascorbic acid. This pretreatment does several things. It helps prevent the fruit from oxidizing/browning - Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant - it adds a little Vitamin C to the finished product, and most important, it helps prohibit microbial growth (such as Salmonella and E. Coli 0157:H7). There are new recommendations for drying that nearly always includes some form of acidic bath pretreatment to prohibit microbial growth. You will find a lot of up-to-date information about dehydrating at the link below. The recipe for Mango Leather is one of my granddaughter's favorites. I also mix fresh (or frozen) peaches and mangos using this recipe. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: National Center for Home Food Preservation

I love the look of the Traditional White Kitchen, inset or full overlay cabinets. I will be keeping my Bosch dishwasher. I Love the Samsung fridge, but it is very deep and sticks out past the doorway. I don't know if it can be recessed into the wall behind it or if we would be better off getting a new FD fridge. I will be getting a new stove. I would love a gas range but we would have to have propane and dh isn't keen on the idea. So I'm thinking a 30"slide in induction range with convection oven. I would like a wood hood, I saw a photo somewhere that had pewter pieces displayed on a shelf and really like the look. The ceilings are only 7'8" and the bulkheads...which will be coming out are 9". I'd like to have the cabinets go to the ceiling and trimmed with crown molding to give me some much needed storage space. I have a closet in my hallway that I uses as a pantry that needs a makeover too! The desk area is a waste of space. I'd like this area to maybe be a baking area???? I also need to improve the lighting...under cabinet, over the sink, peninsula, dining room and foyer. The kitchen is open to the dining room. We do not utilize this area except for holidays and use it as a buffet when we have friends over.. Dh and I usually sit at the peninsula which is not comfortable at all! I'd be open to some creative way to better utilize this dining space. I want to replace the carpeting in the living room/dining room/hallway with hardwood...not sure what kind yet. I'd also like to carry this into the kitchen. We will be changing the baseboards and moldings out so suggestions would be welcome. I hate the cabinets over the peninsula, I will not miss them one bit! I would like some type of seating, maybe a bi-level peninsula either side of the kitchen would be ok. We do entertain a lot and everyone tends to gather in the kitchen. I need storage for all of my cookie sheets, trays, parchment sheets, mixing bowls, spices. I'm leaning toward all drawers on the lower cabinets. I had initially thought of tearing down the wall between the living room and kitchen but now have mixed feelings.I'd like a bread drawer and under counter trash bins. There are just my husband and myself, no children except for the four footed kind. I would like an area to keep the pups and kitty's food and water. I would like to get a hot water tap at the sink along with a water filtration system so we can get rid of the bottled water. We will also be remodeling the 2 bathrooms adjacent to the kitchen...My head is spinning! If there is anything else you need please let me know. I'm waiting for plans from a KD and then I can post exact measurements. Thanks so much!...Sandy

qknitter - You are LUCKY! Can you shows us 'before' pics? The staples in this chair were incredibly hard to pull out. There was NO WAY I could get them out with even a less expensive tack puller. If yours come out with a screwdriver and pliers, I'm jealous. Many of mine broke as I tapped the tack puller into them. The 'real' upholsterer showed me that I had been using my tack puller incorrectly. I was just taking those sharp points and trying to wedge them under the top of the staple, and then prying them out. He grabbed a small hammer that I had in here and he used that to it the wooden handle of the tack puller and drive it up under the tack, then push on the handle to bring the staple up. 99% of them still needed to be pulled out with pliers or 'side cutters' that I have similar to what I linked below. The cutters are very sharp, so they sometimes cut the tack I was trying to pry out and the fun continued, but I was determined after making that back cushion and seeing the improvement. If your tacks come out easily, you're very lucky. The upholsterer saw my chair and said 'It's the worst type to re-do' and that's because of all the staples. I did spend hours removing them, but sewed in between sessions to rest my hands. Here is a link that might be useful: Diagonal Cutting Plier