Ginny, I'm sure that he does have a good microclimate; he is in a residential neighborhood so there are nearby houses plus a large commercial building behind him; there are also lots of trees and shrubs around his yard and in the neighboring yards that probably help block the wind. On top of that he benefits from being close to the river and the urban heat island of Arlington (and, to a lesser extend, DC). I've seen several good-sized windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) around the Washington, DC area but all are growing in very sheltered locations.

Oh thank goodness, I was obsessing over that second box. You see, that homemade jar of red salsa is the last jar I had. I had Jessica do a bit of "spying" to make sure it would be acceptable since you keep kosher. The peach is a fresh batch, I made it just for you. I'll be frank, the juice was a litle lame, but I couldn't think of one darned thing "south of the border" for the kids, I got a complete block somehow. I liked the pie bird so well that I bought myself one, I thought he was very unique. I'm so glad that finally got there. Whew. You would have had to have waited until after Canning Camp to get more salsa if that had been misdirected. Annie Psst, Karen. That platter was a "find" at Marshall's. I don't know what it was really supposed to be, but it seemed perfect for tortillas.

Thank you, suzannesl and cloud swift. We don't have a "GC" per se... As inexperienced as we are we didn't know that kitchen removation needed a GC or what GC does and what our cabinet installer does and does not do... We just planned to get the cabinet changed with a new one along with the granite countertop. We are doing an Ikea kitchen installed by someone. And again as inexperienced as we were, we - or I just picked the granite color and got quotes from different fabricators and picked the stone store... (picked one of recommended by the stone whole seller that provides Ikea with stones - Marbles and Granite in MA) So a long story short, not knowing the whole process of "just change the cabinets" turned to be this horrific way more demanding to find out what's going on and what has to be done mess.... So it's our fault - since we decided to do this for this old house we bought - we have to figure out all these. :( I have been feeling like crying everyday and now templating is done I have to figure out what we shoud do. I don't think our fabricator does laminating. He did not mention anything about it... I am just sooo glad that I have found this forum to ask around thing s and find out that "using white silicone to fill the gap" is NOT done. I have shown cloud swift's picture with plates embedded and asked my cabinet guys if he can do it and he said yes. But he is not sure if Ikea cabinets with those plastic legs will be able to support all the plywood+steel plates + granite. I ws thinking "if it's designed to withstand a slab of granite, won't they be strong enough for additional plywood +steel plates?" But then it's me. Another suggestion they had was to make a frame of steel plates all around the cabinet with supports sticking our sort of welded together by the steel fabricator. My thinking is... won't THAT be heavier that a few steel plates + plywood? Any thoughts? THank you again for your help.

Thank you. Unfortunately, I'm a little dense. You got my little hamster head working. I first need to say I've had a trauma that occasionally interrupts my cognitive writing skills. I am having one of those times, so I might ramble or make no sense, but I think what i wrote is clearish In my bad example, I can see what you mean about all the holes not helping with surface tension. I am assuming making the holes jagged and varying in size makes no difference, since using both smooth or jagged rocks at the bottom of pots does not break the tension. Is that because the soil filling the gaps, even outs the tension. Two more questions; (I am not saying these have either have a practical use) What if you seed the layer of rock with the same organic matter used in the medium? or slowly go from solid rock layer to solid layer of potting medium. I am only thinking about water, not plants in the medium. This would inhibit good root growth, since most of the water and nutrients would be on top. The roots would have not reason to search deeper. Which would making watering more difficult. I can see it being more practical in reverse, but again it would make it hard to know when to water. How could you use a wick to aid in moving water out of a pot? Thank you.