I think it looks very good for a beginer. My suggestions, give your tomatoes a sq ft each if your going to pinch out and only allow 1-2 main stems, more space if you are not. I would give most squash a 3x3' (9 sq ft) space if they are not a very compact variety. I would plant pole beans along the back up trellis w/ the vining tomatoes, as Granny suggest. I also agree that you need more than 2 bean plants. You can plant 8 pole beans or 9 bush beans in a sq ft. My other general garden planning suggestion is to make sure that you can reach into the garden without stepping or leaning on the growing soil. I make my beds only 3ft wide, a much easier reach for me. Good gardening, Mary

Dr Jo Black knobs (similar to most other ranges) are not an up charge they are simply not available..... The Grey knobs are standard on the Culinarian range as per most pictures on the Culinarian website, but you can change to the red ones at no cost should you wish. I don't think any of the pictures are a true reflection of the real color of the Red /Cabernet / Maroon knobs. I don't think that Capital are trying to promote themselves as a "Bespoke" company, and I hope I have not painted them as such. They are however trying to accommodate SOME of the wishes of the Garden Web Posters which is a good thing. If they tried to accommodate everyone the spec book would be huge and unaffordable. Anytime anyone asks for something different companies charge for that change, be it Bluestar, Wolf or anyone else.

MSG is bad. And it has not been used for centuries anywhere. It was lab-developed in 1907. There are natural glutamates and there is monosodium glutamate. I started looking into it a while back because I do experience bad effects from eating it - especially in hot liquid form (Chinese restaurant soups, for example). Manufacturers are hiding it now - look for: "Monosodium glutamate is one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods. Free glutamate can also be present in a wide variety of other additives, including hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate, any one of which may appear as "spices" or "natural flavorings." The food additives disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate are usually used along with with monosodium glutamate-containing ingredients, and provide a likely indicator of the presence of monosodium glutamate in a product [6]. For this reason, the FDA considers labels such as "No MSG" or "No Added MSG" to be misleading if the food contains ingredients that are sources of free glutamate, such as hydrolyzed protein.[6] In 1993, FDA proposed adding the phrase "(contains glutamate)" to the common or usual names of certain protein hydrolysates that contain substantial amounts of glutamate.[6] For example, if the proposal were adopted, hydrolyzed soy protein would have to be declared on food labels as "hydrolyzed soy protein (contains glutamate)."[citation needed]" It has been accepted and infused into our manufactured food processes for a long time, just as high-fructose corn syrup is prevalent now. Both the above are prevalent in commercial pet foods as well. They are both unnatural substances touted as natural (because they are made/isolated/tweaked from natural substances) and safe. You can find all kinds of info on it on the web now, so go for it. It's another reason not to eat processed foods if possible. And who knows what additive they'll lab-create next and how it will affect us.

Getting rid of books, ANY books, is difficult for me. I have been noticing that I am interviewing friends before I give them a book. It happened just yesterday... I said, "Do you read such-and-such author?" She said, "Yes, but I tend to take that author to the beach and the books get filled with sand and I just leave them at the vacation house for the next family." And I said, "Wow. Isn't the weather lovely today?" I kept the book. In my brain, I know that books are meant to be shared and discussed. In my heart, they ALL belong to ME. But when I do get a few that are ready to be out on their own in the world, the library sale gets them, family and friends get them. Somehow, I feel much better giving them away if I know they are going to a good home. Weird, and strange to attach such emotion to inanimate objects. But what can I say? It's the truth, I do it. PAM