More wise folks than I will no doubt chime in here, but this is my two cents. The weighted gauge is a primary standard, which means it is accurate when used correctly no matter what the dial gauge reads. Dial gauges need to be calibrated, even when brand new, and even then can be off by up to several pounds in either direction. So, you should do your canning by using the weighted gauge, not the dial. The dial is just a " rough approximation" of your pressure. If you let the weight jiggle more than the 1-4 times per minute, your pressure is actually somewhat higher than the nominal pressure on the weight. Your food will be "overcooked" slightly in that it will have been canned at a slightly higher pressure than is needed. This is perfectly safe, AS LONG AS you don't run out of water in the canner. Food can always be canned at a higher pressure and/or for a longer time than the recipe states with no safety concerns, if ALL OTHER FACTORS ARE STILL EQUAL ( proper packing of jars, venting of canner, proper canner cool-down, etc). The food may have quality issues, but not safety ones. Increasing pressure and/or time is never a substitute for proper safe procedures. On the other hand, if your canner did boil dry, the food is underprocessed, and you risk damage (warping) the canner. Once the canner boils dry, there is no longer the correct amount of steam inside the canner, and therefore the temperature is no longer correct, either. The safe thing to do, especially considering that we are talking about meat, is to either reprocess within 24 hours (but preferably sooner) those jars that were in the canner when it boiled dry, OR to freeze the meat as soon as it cooled down. But first, check your canner carefully to make sure the canner and lid are not warped. To prevent boiling the canner dry, remember that you can add more water to the canner initially, especially if you are doing a long processing time. The water level can come halfway up the jars when you first load the canner. After the canner vents and starts building pressure, start turning your heat level down on the stove so that you "coast" up to the correct pressure instead of "blasting" up to pressure. When the canner is running at pressure, you may only need your stove to be a medium, or even lower to manintain the correct pressure. Fiddling too much with the heat (to get up to pressure as fast as possible, then turning it way down because you are overpressure) causes siphoning, which is when the liquid in the jar is drawn out during canning. So, it is best to find the "sweet spot" on your stove heat dial where your canner will hold the right pressure, and not fiddle with the temperature much if at all during the actual canning. You may want to try canning a few jars of colored water to find that sweet spot on your stove. Sharon

Patrick, if you use a good quality potting mix it will already contain sufficient balanced nutrients to last about 3 months - adding more is not necessary and might even be detrimental. If you add blood and bone, or 'bone meal', you will be providing nitrogen and phosphorus but it contains no potassium. If I might briefly quote from my Encyclopaedia of Aus. Gardening: ".....plants deficient in potassium have weak stems and leaves (especially older leaves) with yellow spots or streaks and scorched margins." Any added fertiliser should only be placed on top of the soil and watered (well watered) in, and really, all you need to revitalise a depleted potting mix is a well balanced slow release fertiliser sprinkled over the top. I'd recommend you buy a good garden book Patrick, Yates Complete Garden Guide is a good beginners reference. Good luck with the cucumbers. B.

I don't know.... Most homemade potting soil mixes are complicated and expensive enough to make you wish you went to the store and bought some. Priced a bag of perlite or vermiculite lately? I mostly improvise. I had a real successful fig mix by mixing peat moss roughly 50-50 with fine screened (1/4 inch) compost. It's just exploding this year. I've also riffed on the "gritty mix" formula by adding diatomaceous earth sweeping compound I got at the auto parts store. (Use respiratory protection!). One thing about my homemade stuff is that it's a lot more durable than store bought potting mix. The stuff is usually better the second year than the first. Don't mix it with garden soil but don't sweat it too much either. I'm like you, though. Spending lots of money on bags of this and that is not where it's at. I try and keep my bag purchases to commodity type things.

The most valuable prep space is between the sink and range, and you should have a minimum of 36", but--42-48" would be better. I agree with anniebird, about the sink on the island, and if you have only one sink, then put the DW to the right (as you face the island), so that it is not between the fridge and range. In that layout a helper can load or unload the DW, or gather dishes to set the table, without interfering in prep and cooking tasks. If you really don't want a sink on the island, you might consider making the island 8' (which will still accommodate 4 seats), and putting the clean-up sink on the left wall. You might need to move the door down, but when you build the DR addition, you could make the window a pass-through, and dishes would be convenient to the new DR, in drawers on the end of the island, and in the corner susan or in drawers next to it. The clean-up sink as drawn could then be a prep sink, centered on the right window section, to give you more prep space between it and the range. A trash pull-out under the prep space would be convenient, and the clean-up sink could have a smaller trash pull-out below. Click to enlarge: Good kitchen planning info: New to Kitchens? Read me first. Also: NKBA guidelines