I like Johnny's Seed - Seed Starting Calculator. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/e-PDGSeedStart.aspx??source=HomeSeedCalc0111. I will probably use this calculator this year to determine the planting dates and use Martha Stewart's Seed Starting Worksheet - www.marthastewart.com/seed-worksheet - to keep tract of what I do. I agree with you - I have got to keep better records of what/when I plant and when/what to fertilize. I finally organized an excel worksheet for ordering our vegetable seeds - I think I have that documented for easy seed ordering decisions. Here are a couple of photos of our soil sifter (we have rocky soil in places) - we built it to fit our wheel barrow so it does not move once I place it on the wheel barrow. It works pretty good for sifting soil in a small area. I go down the garden row and throw in surface rocks then dump the rocks in my 4-wheel trailer and dump the wheel barrow of dirt back in the garden. Thought it might also come in handy for sifting soil for the Soil block mixture. FYI RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: karin_mt 4 (My Page) on Thu, Dec 30, 10 at 12:21 I like both of those web resources for seed starting. The Johnny's one is particularly cool. I found that the hardest thing was forecasting the frost-free date inside my greenhouse so I could predict when to start plants that are destined to stay inside. And yes, a customized Excel sheet is a great way to go! I have an Excel database that starts from the very beginning of our gardens, so I have a pretty good history of what I've planted each year, where it's from and how it did. There are a few gaps though, notably which type of raspberry variety is where. I also have a little bar graph that I use to track the planting dates, exciting weather events, bloom periods and key harvests. Each year I print out the template, then fill in the bars by hand over the relevant dates. This gives a very interesting comparison of your growing climate from year to year. Maybe someday these will be key pieces of climate data? The note-taking is also helpful for reflection - it helps you firm up your thoughts. Now, your soil screener looks like a very nice tool. I like that it fits firmly on the wheel barrow. What do you do with all the rocky stuff that is left over? Maybe you'll have enough for a stone border? Do you have alkaline soil too? Do you find that your soil gets clumpy, even when it's nice soil? That's something I've noticed lately. Even though the soil is beautifully textured (not clay), it forms hard clumps. I am wondering if this is from alkalinity and the particles being inclined to stick together. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: 7000feet 3 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 31, 10 at 10:40 Your method for keeping notes is helpful! The Salt River runs through our property (a mild to raging stream depending on the runoff and irrigation needs - so I return the rocks to their rightful owner - the river. We have great soil because we are on an ancient river bed but the bad part is the top soil varies from 0-36" depending on the swells. We tried to locate our garden on deep top soil but still had to haul off large rocks in the beginning and now sift the soil as we plant and haul off the small rocks. I haven't tested our PH but is alkaline soil like yours. It does get clumpy but try to keep it moist during germination and use a lot of mulch to keep the walk areas dry/walkable. We add manure every fall before plowing the garden. We purchased sifted top soil for the GH and added a lot of vermiculite, peat moss & compost - not problems with GH soil. Here is a photo of what works well for us to remove rocks from our garden. I purchased this wonderful dumping trailer that hooks on my 4-wheeler. I rake the rocks in a row and use a manure fork to throw them in the trailer - then dump the rocks on the river bed with their cousins. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: soonergrandmom Z6 Grove (My Page) on Sat, Jan 1, 11 at 16:26 I have used the mini-block maker for years. I use either Jiffy Mix or ProMix with it. With ProMix you may have to throw out a small stick or two, but it holds together fine. I didn't know about the attachment for the medium block maker that makes the hole for the little one to fit into until several years after I bought mine, and I never remember to order it. So I don't use the two blocks together. Some things grow so rapidly that they need to be started in the medium size, but I start all tomato and pepper seeds in the tiny block and pot up to small containers when they get their first real leaves or when they appear to be a good strong seedling. Some things I don't need to plant 20 of, so I write the name on a popsicle stick, lay the popsicle stick between the row of blocks and slide the blocks over in groups of five to a small piece of foil. I crimp the foil up a little to hold the stick so I don't lose the name. I don't make real plant markers until I am sure I have good transplants. I make the permanent marker at the time I put them in their first small container. I am much more likely to plant 5 seeds of 4 varieties of tomato than I am to plant 20 of the same kind, so it works well for me. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: ngrrsn 7 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 11, 12 at 1:33 Would like to know more about the tunnel construction; why the wire mesh instead of pvc or waterline pipe? What is the mesh sizing? Is this welded wire? What size is the wire (#10,12,14)? How easy is it to form the wire? Is it fairly strong, or does it bend easy? Why the gaps between sections of wire? How is the wire secured to the ground? What is the height of the tunnel at the center line? I am very interested in this. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: Hudson...WY 3 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 9:09 The mesh is 47" 12 1/2 gauge Field Fence available at most farm supply stores - a full roll is 330' but most stores have smaller rolls as well. I cut the fence in 6' lengths with small bolt cutter or wire cutter and cut the vertical wire such that there is 6" of wire on both sides of the hopes to push into the ground to anchor the fence. The center height is approx. 24". I plant in wide rows of 30". The mesh size is 6" squares (for easy reach-in, weeding etc.) although the bottom couple of rows are a bit smaller. I gap the fence in the rows approx. 18" to reduce the cost and because the row cover does not sag with the gap. I like the fence because it will last many years and I live in a climate where we have had snow every month of the year and periods of hail or strong wind. The fence does an excellent job holding up the weight of the snow and withstanding the wind/hail etc. It pulls out easy at season end and stores by stacking one inside the other. I have never tried PVC pipe so I am not in a position to compare. I am sure this fence method is more expensive but I like the way it performs. RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: Hudson...WY none3 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 10:44 This Years Broccoli using the tunnel method - keeps out the insects too. I usually plant veggies in the garden with the row cover the 1st week of may or earlier if I can work the soil. Without the row cover, there is a threat of frost until the middle of June and after the end of August. Well worth the effort! RE: Row Cover Gardening Posted by: ngrrsn 7 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 28, 12 at 17:18 Thanks! That helped a lot! I Appreciate the follow up. 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What's this "we" stuff, Kemo Sabe? There is plenty of room in my woods for more plain green hostas. I'm not gonna register any of them, name them (I don't name my mayapples or any of my other wildflowers), and that's what they would be. Ground cover, background, etc. I'm not likely to have a thousand babies, and I really don't have any goals. Other than the serendipitous pleasure of getting an occasional something different that is fun to watch growing to see what it's going to turn out to be when it grows up. Goals are for you serious hosta growers, lol! You set 'em, grow 'em, register 'em, market 'em. I'll be there to buy 'em! Meanwhile, my green seedling babies will be growing up right along side them. And if I get more than I want, well, I know a lot of people who would like to have them!

Mls99 - yes, the squirrel cage or "Magic Lung" that VAH uses is an alternative to both mesh or baffle. I have the VAH, and really like it. It just makes logical sense to me. There should be less noise due to less air turbulence that occurs when air goes in and out of baffles and mesh. In any case, Cfm's are all relative to your ducting - the manufacturer can cite, e.g., 900 cfm's till the cows come home, but if your ducts have a long run, a lot of turns, or are too narrow, the spec'd 900 will definitely NOT be there. Setting aside VAH, and just deciding between mesh and baffles, I'd choose baffles over mesh any day. I used to have a hood with mesh filters and it was a poor performer. The mesh got clogged easily, often with just one meal, and was just kinda gross. Also, you would never find a mesh filter hood in a restaurant kitchen due to its inefficiency. In case you haven't seen it, I am linking below the Appliances Forum FAQ on Vent Hoods. Here is a link that might be useful: Appliances Forum FAQ on Vent Hoods

That's because it's not a seamless pattern. There is a great free small program to use for seamless backgrounds. It's called 20/20. Here's the link to the download site... 20/20 You can take this... And get this... After you open up 20/20, for some weird reason, you won't see the program in full screen view, but you will see the controls up top for it. You'll see what I mean when you open it. To do a seamless tile, open up an image from your files, and click on IMAGE / SEAMLESS TILE. Then save it and that's it! However, if you want to see how it will look in full view, then click on IMAGE / MUTED BACKGROUND. Make sure the checkmark is in seamless tile. Then click on the Preview button. If you also want to fade the background, then slide the opacity bar to lower and preview again. (This is a great feature to get backgrounds faded for use on e-mails so text can be read over it.) Then just click on APPLY when it's what you want, then click on FILE / SAVE AS. Make sure you put in what you want in the FILES OF TYPE area...most likely JPG or JPEG. Click on the OPTIONS button and slide the quality button to BEST, if that's what you want and OK that box. Now save it to your folder of choice and that's it. :·)) -:¦:- ) ¸.·´ .·´¨¨)) ~Summer ((¸¸.·´ .·´ ( -:¦:- ((·: