The pregnancy thing sounds an alarm bell in my ear but I guess that is your call not mine. You will find that the sod farms want to begin selling their product as soon as possible, when they can efficiently take it from the field you can lay it. It would be unwise to lay a patio if the ground beneath it is frozen. My advice honestly, have somebody else do it. I don't want to lay a trip but which is more important a May baby or an April emergency trip to the hospital?

I like to re-pot when I get a new orchid but it is not necessary and definitely, most orchids don't need larger pots. Pot size is based on root volume. That is one way that orchids are different from other garden plants. As for fertilizing, I like low even numbers, e.g. 20-20-20 at half strength once a week for most plants. Cattleyas, Laelias and any hybrids like to drain well and get fairly dry between watering. Bark is better than sphagnum for that purpose. Sphagnum moss can be tricky. I grow my Laelia anceps in sphagnum but in very high light, good air flow, warm temperatures and careful monitoring of how wet the sphagnum is before watering.

Look up 'pinching' basil. Maybe you can get a better idea or pictures of what to do with this size plant. Both previous posters gave wonderful advice. Basil grows a leaf pair, then the stem goes up in the middle. Pinching takes out that stem, encouraging the plant to bush out more, rather than just growing one stem. Personally, I would pinch some tiny new growth to encourage the bushing, then just enjoy the scent a little longer and wait before actually trying to harvest--give your plant more time and leave the larger leaves for now.

But a zone 8 climate, assuming that is accurate for your location, can often harvest well into late November. Even here I harvest ripe fruit until end of October. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Zoning number have a high co relation to frost free season and winter hardness issues but not meaningful for summer growing/gardening. I have gardened in ATL, GA, zone 7b/8a and I am in Seattle area also zone 7b/8a. The two climates , as far as summer growing is concerned have no resemblance. Even in July( one of the warmest months) our nigh temperature are in mid to high 50s On the snipping issue: Here is my understanding and view point. Everything has a cost. In tomatoes, plant direct a lot of energy to fruits production(seeds). That is the ultimate goal and mission of the fruits bearing plants: PRODUCE SEEDS TO GUARANTEE THE SURVIVAL OF ITS GENE, as much as possible. Where does the energy come from to grow from flower to fruits? It is part of the limited resource of the plant. So it is logical that if new flowers are snipped the plant will spend its energy somewhere else, like the existing fruits. What do we do with BER affected fruits ? We pitch them as soon as we find them, because we do not want the plant spend/waste any energy on them. It is also widely believed that unpruned plants may grow more fruits (in terms of numbers) but generally they will be mostly on the smaller size side. So then by preventing any new fruit development, more energy should be directed towards the existing fruits. This, in my view, is a PAT OF the concept called "pro Active Gardening"