Sheri, WOW, what an awesome project. And the time and effort to document it the way you did will surely help many folks through a very difficult construction project. OH, so many, many, years ago when I was still in the USN, I had redwood and fiberglass house that was about 8X10 feet. I grew orchids in SC, KS, FL, and VA in that little thing. We lived in a mobile home, so the greenhouse got disassembled and put in the home for transport, and the orchids traveled in a rented U-Haul. A couple of things I learned the hard way (you learned some of them also, I see) was that you need more shade than you ever imagined. I suspended my shade cloth above the plastic greenhouse (about 4 inches) and found that the air space actually increased the shade effect, and noticeably decreased the heat load inside the house. Another thing that would be difficult for you to do since your studs are so shallow, and metal, would be to double insulate the house. Mine had 2X4" supports that were wood, so I stapled painters sheet plastic on the inside, trapping four inches of dead air in the walls. You can't purchase better insulation than that, and it gives you a way to mount your electrical boxes away from the direct spray from watering. Another approach to cooling was to use a "Swamp Cooler"....to you westerners, an evaporative cooler. Mount the cooler on the ground outside the house and let it blow the cool moist air into the house. Cool moist air stays low, and the hot dry air is forced out the top vents. the vent opening at the top can be used to regulate the cooling inside the house. Also, I found the positive pressure in the house helped keep bugs outside. I don't know if HF sells different size houses, but I always suggest purchasing the largest house you can afford. The more inside volume of air you have the more economical the house is to heat and cool. Once the air gets to temp, the more of it there is the longer it takes for it to change temp, which means more time off for the heat and cooling. These are a few of the things I learned in my school of hard knocks, and pass them along for information to anyone who is interested. Bill

I left mine last year. I had just redone my entire front yard, had spread the last bag of mulch and the next day, my DH came to me and said "what would you think about moving to Saint Louis?" @@ I was heartbroken. Lived in the area my entire life. Family, friends, and now my roses too? :( I gave a few of my containers away to friends with love notes written in sharpie. I ran out of time to take a cutting from my favorite climber, and I still regret that. Moving from a happy gardening place to what felt like the 7th level of hell in August didn't help any. Having my first long winter that didn't include gardening, didn't help any. Losing four zones of planting possibilities, didn't help any...Buying a lot of books and learning about my new zone and getting ideas as to what I wanted to do, did help some. What did I get that was positive? A lot more space to garden in which was a first. The excitement of seeing things come up in the spring that belonged to the previous owner without having a clue at first as to what they are and mostly being happily surprised. Learning about an entirely new style of gardening...And yes, also learning from my mistakes in texture and color from my first attempts. Really getting the point of imagining a mature plant, not being taken in by sales of small plants. Not overdoing particular colors... Went back on vacation this spring and saw my old front yard. They hadn't killed anything, but damn that stuff needed pruning! LOL I told DH "that place would look really nice if they GAVE IT A HAIRCUT!" One good thing about an apathetic gardener is that they're less likely to do something criminal like rip out that 13 year old wisteria over the back pergola. Seeing it look similiar but scruffy made me feel better about it all. If I had it to do over again, I would have physically worked faster to get involved in my new gardening space immediately, beyond just the boxes. Having lots of stuff come up in the spring that was MINE, would have helped me more. I did do some bulbs, and had I not done that, I would have still felt like it wasn't 'my place' at all...I would have brought some plants with me that were MINE too. A handful of my old friends would have helped with the homesickness. Btw, regarding selling and taking plants, et al: The prospective buyer wanted ALL of my stuff. But when it came to containers, I made sure that immediately the point was made through my agent that the container roses were NOT staying. Included in this were plants that my children had planted which were going to their grandmother. I did not change the 'landscaping'. This was a good compromise and it worked fine. What might help with this is when showing the house, put some small signs on the items that are 'going' so that there is no misunderstanding, right from the get go. And if there are any plants that would be physically removed from the landscaping that this part would be in writing so that nothing comes back on you. I do not think that one needs to take an entire garden or even large parts of it unless the new owner doesn't care at all about it. I think that when we live in a house and create a beautiful space, that stuff belongs to the space. It's like the house numbers that we purchased on our honeymoon. They belonged to the house, kwim? And it's a charming thing to tell a new owner "I bought those on the Island of Capri"...and when she sells, she can pass on the trivia...a legacy of this home for others in the future. Leaving a garden behind does bring with it homesickness. But there is also the excitement of doing something completely new. I do have some 'homey touches'. In my old place, I had massive MW geranium plantings. I foudn two of them here and planted them in containers on my back porch. On our vacation, I brought home some CA poppies in my tote bag (now THAT was an effort with all of the kid junk I had with me to not kill them). They're thriving in the heat here! I also ordered and planted some bareroots, my children's favorites. Add that to new things and it's starting to feel like home in my flower beds. So jump in with both feet and get something going when you first move, that's my best advice. Make your mark on the gardens, even if it's not about implementing a full plan. You can always change your mind later. That's one of the great things about gardens. Good luck with your move and your patience in reading this. Obviously you struck a nerve.

We had a robin nest in our plum tree once. The tree sat right next to several flower beds and the veggie garden, but though we'd be there working on them the mother didn't care. She just watched us as she sat on her eggs. When the babies hatched, then it got fun. They didn't attack us, but if we were near the tree (the nest wasn't that high up), we'd see them sitting on a fence or power line with a big worm in their beaks, waiting until we got the hint and moved away from the tree. Then they'd come feed the babies and fly off again. This went on until the babies were old enough to leave the nest -- go work on the garden, hear a robin chirp, look up, see mama or papa waiting with a worm, walk away from tree, watch them feed, go back to work on the garden. I guess we respected each other enough! I do hope you don't have to remove the nest. Maybe you could edge it over towards the other side of the porch and, I don't know, place a few pots of plants where it used to be to shield the view? She might be less huffy then, if she is inclined to be. Our respect for our plum tree robins paid off though... we got to stand there and watch the babies leave the nest. We felt like proud parents ourselves!

We have slightly more SF but she has a two car garage and we only have a one car garage. __ Only thing that matter is sq footage and how many garage bays. Updates - unless the carpet is worn out and walls have holes and the linoleum is peeling - are pretty meaningless unless you are formica counters and your neighbor improved "above the area" and put in Danby marble (and the she would only get a 10-15% bump overall. Sellers go doing "improvements' and the buyers hate them. Over the life of a dwelling. 12 years is squat. Around here she gets a $4000+ for having a 2 car garage (or $4000 minus for your) and you get a .$25/sq ft + for each sq ft more. Doesn't matter what you 'list' for - what matters is will it appraise if she sells first? IF she does. then that will knock down the value on your property for an appraiser -and lender and thus buyer.