Some things I've learned about having yard sales. Price things low if you really want them to go. Price them high if you want to make a little money. Be ready to bargain no matter how low the price is, because people like to feel like they got a good deal. Put prices on everything. If you have a friend who is bilingual (Spanish/English) ask him or her to help out at your sale in case you get non-English speaking customers. Your gallon jugs are worth about $5 each, but you will probably get only $1 or $2 for each of them. Put a high price on them and then be willing to haggle. Be prepared for surges of customers and have someone else there to help you, besides it's more fun to have a couple people to talk to during the long, hot day. Plants will sell as long as they are priced very reasonable, in other words, less than what someone can buy them for at the Wal-Mart, and only if they look green and healthy. Tools sell better than almost anything else, yard tools, car tools, machine tools, electric tools, hand tools, doesn't matter, people love tools. I love tools, sometimes if I see a nice one at a reasonable price, I'll buy it as a backup for the other 2-3 that I already have in case they all break. Appliances sell well, but only if they are in good working order. And you will probably have to prove they work. If they don't work, you should say so. Clothing sells well if it's clean, pressed, hanging up and looks fairly good. I even spend some time pressing t-shirts to make them look nicer. Denim jeans always sell well, and kid and baby clothes will go like hotcakes if they are clean. If you have mostly clothing and just pile a bunch of wrinkled stuff on a table, you'll see most cars slow down, look, and then take off. Linens sell very well if sheet sets are size marked and tied with string or twine so someone can open them up, check for stains or holes and then tie them up again for neatness. If sheets or pillowcases get separated from the set, then it's harder to sell them. What to watch out for: 1.Vans with three or four adults and three or four children. When they get out, they fan out around your sale tables, kids make a lot of noise and distract you for a couple minutes, then one or two of the adults start asking questions and direct your attention and block your view away from the kids. I turned my head just in time to see two 8 year olds loading my $400 mountain bikes into the back of the van, as the driver was getting in, starting the engine and calling to the others to hurry up. 2. Shoppers with large purses, bags or very large coats. I bumped into one of those purses and found that my silver-plated bowl had "fallen" into it by accident. 3. If someone wants you to let them have something for less than you are willing to sell it for and then they get beligerent or abusive, don't be too shy or embarrassed to order them off your property. Keep your cell phone with you on a belt clip in case you need to call for help. This usually won't happen if there is a man with you, but a guy will sometimes do it if it's just you and another woman, or you by yourself. My favorite way to get rid of my extra stuff is make a detailed inventory, including actual value of the item and donate it to Salvation Army and take the tax deduction. No cleaning, ironing, price marking, haggling or cleanup required. If you sell $1500 worth of houshold goods at a yard sale, it's a lot of work and a lot of fun too, and you might get $250 from your sale. If you give the same stuff to Salvation Army placing a value on it of about 50% of what you originally paid for it, or $750 and get a receipt for your donation to use for your taxes, you may get less back on your taxes than $250, but that will depend on your own tax bracket. Cheryl

Who does our yard work? Almost always my husband and I do it together! The only exception are things we can't do easily--like taking out a 50-foot dying honeylocust. We hired professionals for that. But as for the other work, some years ago we noticed that any task is a lot more fun if you make it a "social occasion." So while he does all the mowing, I'll be out there as well, mostly weeding my rose and flower beds. We've had an overly abundant crop of acorns this year. The best approach we've found so far is first, mow our long fescue pretty short, then rake the acorns into piles, then pick up those pesky nuts with a shop vacuum. He does the mowing, but I'm right behind him with a rake, and we both take turns with the shop vac. We're not retired yet, so most Saturdays we just work outside together for an hour or two, basically until we tell each other we've had "Enough joy!" I love being outside. It is indeed therapeutic. And it sure beats housework. Lol. Cheers!

I have a very tall (at least 12 feet) Podocarpus gracillior hedge on 3 sides of my yard which serves as a privacy screen from 2-story neighbors on all sides. We have a pool, and although it doesn't break up concrete and is an effective screen, it is a MAJOR maintenance chore and I wouldn't recommend it, unless you like getting up on a ladder and trimming constantly. I would love to rip it out. I also have an Australian willow (Geijera parviflora), which is an evergreen, very pretty, slighty weeping, not a lot of litter, well-behaved-roots tree. This might be a good solution for what looks like a narrow spot where the neighbor's balcony is and where your concrete starts. I've seen them grow with either a roundish canopy or taller and narrower canopy. When choosing a tree, if you want a narrower silhouette, pick a young tree that's narrower. It casts light shade and isn't a dense tree like some others, but it will certainly soften the intrusion from the neighbors and provide some relief from the kiddies. Another favorite of mine which many people may eschew, is Nichol's eucaplyptus (or Eucalyptus nicholii). I have three of them and I love them. They are tall, as tall as my 2-story house, and willowy. They grow in very narrow spots and don't break up concrete. They don't get as tall as the eucalpytus you seen along the freeways (E. citriodora). The E. citriodora (or lemon gum) is also susceptible to the psyllid which is killing many of them. (I had a lemon gum which got the pysllid and a nicholii 10 feet away from it which didn't. I had the citriodora removed and the nicholii is still just fine.) Some people however, complain that because of the toxins in the eucalyptus leaves, they can't grow anything below them. I don't have that problem, but you might want to keep that in mind. They are also very difficult to find, but there are nurseries that can order them if you really want one. I recently had a large melaleuca tree removed because it was too close to the pool and was about to bust through. We are now naked to the world (or so it seems) in that spot. Rather than plant more of the hedge-from-hell, I plan to to plant a naturalistic collection of evergreen trees and plants that will act as a hedge, but not require the constant upkeep of a hedge. I'm in Huntington Beach, BTW. Good luck!

This is an update to my 2006 list. We've added many more varities and most things are fruiting now. FRUIT & SPICE TREES Acai Palm Allspice Ambarella Apple Anna Apple Dorset Golden Atemoya Gefner Grafted Avacado Haas Avacado Fuerte Banana Bay Rum Blackberry Black Sapote Seedless Black Walnut Blueberry Blueberry Gulf Coast Blueberry Sharp Blueberry Windsor Cocao Calomondin Camellia Sinesis, Tea Cashew Apple Cercropia Cherry Black Grafted Surinam Cherry Grumichama Cherry Rio Grand Cherry Barbados Cherry Dwarf Barbados Chestnut Malibar Cinnamon Coffee Dragon Fruit Eucalyptus Eugenia Confusa Fig Brown Turkey Fig Green Isha Fig Kadota Goji Berry Grapefruit Pink Grapefruit Yellow Grapes Bunch Grapes Muscadine Guave Chattey Guava Pineaple Guava Ruby Guava Strawberry Guava Jaboticaba Joy Perfume Michelia Champaca Jujube Katok Kiwi Tomuri m&f Lemon Harvey Lemon Sambukan Lemon Varigated Pink Lime Key Lime Kaffir Lime Persian Lime Red Longan Kahola Loquat Lychee Hakip Lychee Maritius Mango Mango Carrie MANGOSTEEN Michelia Alba Michela Champaca Miracle Fruit Mombin Red Monstera Deliciosa Moringa (Horseradish Tree) Mulberry Dwarf Mulberry Shangrila Natal Plum Nectarine Sun Raycer Neem Olive Fremtoya Orange Orange Dwarf Navel Orange Red Blood Orange Ortanique Orange Tarocco Blood Papaya Passionfruit Yellow Peach Red Cylon Peach Tropic Beauty Peanut Butter Fruit Pear Pear Pineapple Persimmon Ichibe Juro Persimmon Triumph Pineapple, Golden Pistachio Plantain Plum Gulf Rose Pomegranate Dwarf Pomegranate Vietnamese Rambutan Rose Apple Spanish Lime Strawberry Strawberry Tree Sugar Cane Tamarind Tangelo Tangerine Murcott Tangerine Satsuma Wax Jambu Thai Red Sunset White Sapote Yerba Mate HERBS Allheal Alow Arnica Montana Anise hyssop Bacopa Bacopa, Lemon Basils, Greek Columnar, Lemon, Lettuce Leaf, Lime, Sweet Bay Tree Bay Rum Bergamot (Monarda) Betel Betony Borage Calendula Camelia sinesis Caper bush Cardamom Catnip Chives, Garlic & Onion Cilantro Comfrey Coriander Culantro Curry Plant Daisy Dill, Boquet & Fernleaf Echinacea Fennel, Bronze & Sweet Feverfew Fuschia Galangal True Gardenia Garlic Society Geranium, Apple, Citronella, Lemon Sculpture, Rose Ginger Ginkgo Goji Berries Gotu kola Greek mountain tea Gynura Henna Hibiscus, Edible & False Roselle Honeysuckle Horseradish Jasmine Arabian Tea & Confederate Lambs Ear Lavender Lemon balm Lemon grass Lemon verbena LionÂs tail Marjoram Marshmallow Mint, Apple, Berries & Cream, Blackberry, Chocolate, Citrus kitchen, Corsican, Costa rican Kama Sutra, Cotton candy, English, Grapefruit, Hazelnut, Italian spice, JimÂs Fruit, Lavender. Lemon sweet, Margarita, MarilynÂs Salad, Mojito, Mountain, Orange Bergamot Oregano thyme, Pennyroyal, Spearmint, Sweet pear, Wintergreen, Yerba buena Monarda Moujean tea/Bahama Berry/Pineapple Verbena Mullein Murraya koeniggi Myrtle greek Nasturtium Oregano, Cuban, Italian, Mexican Pandanus Amaryllifolius Papalo Parsley, Curled & Flat Leaf Pepper, Black Pepper Vine, Chili, Habernero, Jalapeno, Ornamental, Red Pepper Vine, Tabasco Perilla Purslane Root beer plant Rose, Bon Silene Tea, Champneys pink cluster, Climbing don juan, Double red, Moanne lombard, Red cascade, Safrano, Treasure blend hybrid Rosemary, Romero, Spice island, Victorian Sage, Common, Diviners, Grape scented, Mexican, Pineapple Savory Spice bush, Lindera Benzoin Spilanthese Spinach, Malabar & Okinawa Star anise Stevia St johns wort Sugar cane Sushini Sweet almond verbena Tarragon Tea olive Thyme, English, Lemon Tilo Tomatoes Turmeric Violet sweet Yarrow Yerba mate Zaatar Zuta levana WATER PLANTS Bacopa, lemon Cattail Celer, water Chestnut, water Mint, water I'm working on a website with photos of our property in all stages of bloom and slowly working on a book for zone 9 edible gardening. We've had luck with almost everything we've tried. I'm happy to answer any questions about growing in tropical zones. Happy growing, Kelly