Hi jaybizzle: Welcome to the garden web. Your picture looks like it could be a perennial called Astilbe Here is how you grow plants from cuttings Taking cuttings is the same for most plants. First you must make sure everything you use is very clean. In a clean pail mix your soil with the water so you make sure the soil is damp right through. Use a soilless mix like pro mix or one that is formulated for seeds and cuttings. Just make sure it has no fertilizer in it. You want the soil wet but not too wet. Squeeze a handful and some moisture should come out but not a lot. Fill your pots and make a little hole in the center with your finger or something else that will make a small hole. Take your cuttings: With a sharp knife or razor blade cut a 5 or 6 inch piece from the growing tip, cutting just below a leaf. All roots and branches come from a leaf joint. Remove all but the top 5 or 6 leaves. Dip about 1/2 inch of the cut end in rooting hormone. It comes in powder or gel, either is OK as long as it's for soft wood cuttings. I use Stim-root NO. 1. After it's dipped put it in the hole and cover it in, and you're done. Keep the soil moist but not overly wet. They will look wilted at first but that will change as it starts to grow roots. You will know it's rooted when it starts to show new growth. Wait until it is rooted well before you set it out.

I was asking about the space on the south side of the house in case you could put a tree or two there to help shade the house (that helps with the A/C cost) as well as the SW corner of the backyard (during the middle of the day). It would be a good idea to spend an afternoon in the backyard with your diagram, plotting exactly what part of the backyard is shaded by the fence and other people's trees (I see some in the pictures that look like they might shade part of your yard). That will give you some idea of how much sun the area near the back fence gets. [Ideally you should have done this at various times earlier in the summer as well, since the sun is higher at midsummer than in the spring and fall.] If you put a tree or two adjacent to the house, the area by the fence will be shaded in the morning. Then in the late afternoon, the area by the fence will be shaded by the fence. In general, this doesn't mean you can't grow veggies, but it means that some won't grow as quickly, and some may not be very happy. For example, theoretically tomatoes need 6 hours of sun, but some manage with less. And theoretically my daylilies shouldn't flower, as they only get sun for a couple of hours during the middle of the day -- but the middle of the day is the brightest sun, and the shade during the rest of the day is a bright shade, and they flower pretty enthusiastically. I'm not sure how much room you'll have for veggies -- at least once the prospective backyard trees(s) get larger. So you could place some of the more decorative veggies in the front or side yards. You might want to ask on the Vegetable forum for their recommendations -- not merely which veggies look better in the front yard, but also books which cover the topic. The only one I know is an oldie, Landscaping with fruits and vegetables, by Fred Hagy -- and IIRC it's more fruits than veggies, though it's also very strong on landscape design. Remember that you can obtain books your public library doesn't own through their Interlibrary Loan service (sometimes for a small fee, depending on the policies of your library and your state library system). I believe GW also has a Potager forum (a type of decorative garden of both flowers and edibles) which would give you some ideas. Carrots have beautiful foliage. Tomatoes used to be grown for their foliage and fruit color by people who believed they were poisonous (in fact, I'm growing a tomato which was developed in the U.S. a hundred years ago as a decorative plant by a man who firmly believed tomatoes were poisonous -- the joke was on him, though, because it's a particularly good-tasting variety). I have a generic Grape tomato with beautiful small-scale foliage which would look marvelous on a trellis. Sweet potatoes are grown for their foliage as well. In the front yard, hide your leafy veggies behind or in-between decorative flowers. Grow crops in the front yard which don't have obvious fruit -- red or chartreuse leaflettuce; decorative cabbage; multi-colored Swiss chard, Florence fennel with its fine, ferny tops; etc. Many herbs are perfect for a flowerbed too.

This is my grandmothers recipe for dill pickles. She did it this way for 50 years, and learned it from her mother. I have added comments for my own benefit to the original instructions. I scale this recipe as needed. If I have just 3-4 cucumbers in the morning, I can just one quart. Smaller amounts take shorter times. I grow my own cucumbers, garlic and dill. As the other poster noted, use wide-mouth quart jars if possible. My grandma called it pickling salt, but it is canning salt at the grocery store. Once you jump in and do a practice jar or two you will get the hang of this in nothing flat. Just like falling out of bed in the morning. * Exported from MasterCook * Garlic Dill Pickles Recipe By : Hazel Berens Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :1:00 Categories : Canning Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 24 pickling cucumbers -- * see note 12 cups water 6 cups white vinegar 1 cup pickling salt -- rounded 12 heads fresh dill 12 cloves garlic -- cut in half This recipe will make 6-8 quarts, depending upon size of cucumbers. If more than 6 quarts, increase amount of dill and garlic required. Wash cucumbers and remove 1/16-inch from blossom end. Place in a 5-gallon bucket with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 4 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Fill enamel canner with water and bring to a gentle boil; this will take at least an hour. Boil canning jars in canner. Process lids in simmering water for at least 10 minutes. Do not boil lids, as this will compromise the rubber seal. All we want to do is soften the seal. Combine water, vinegar and pickling salt in a large stock pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. This will take 20-30 minutes. Make sure pot is covered so that solution does not evaporate. When mixture has come to a boil, remove a jar from the boiling water, making sure all water has drained from the jar. Place 2 half-cloves of garlic and 1 head of dill in the jar. Add 3-4 cucumbers, leaving 1-inch headspace. Top with an additional 2 half-cloves of garlic and another head of dill. Using a canning funnel, fill the jar with hot vinegar mixture, leaving ½-inch headspace. If necessary, wipe jar top and threads clean. Place hot lid on jar and screw on ring a little more than finger tight. Place jar on rack to cool. You should hear the "tink" of the seal within a couple minutes. Repeat with remaining ingredients. After jars have cooled, test seals. Write date of canning on lid using Sharpie. Store in cool, dark place for at least 6-8 weeks. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place. This recipe will give a much crisper pickle than those processed with a hot water bath for 15-30 minutes. [Scale recipe as needed. 1/6 cup canning salt = 8 tsp] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTES : *about 4 inches long

Thanks Palimpsest for blowing it up and commenting and to other for their comments. I've been away but got together w/ and architect last week. Surprised at the estimate - $6000 for design/plans/working w/ city - permits. Is that in the range for a basic second floor addition to a 750sq ft house? Palimpsest - both 1st floor windows will be partially overshadowed by a front porch with sloping roof (this roof helps disguise the brick to siding transition and "heavy" look of the second floor being bigger than the first (taller due to running floor joists over existing trusses (sorry if my terms are wrong).