Update on this post: The seedling flat I recommended proved to be to shallow in depth (I had a feeling this might happen, however I could not find a deeper flat - all the ones made are pretty much the uniform size). The seed tray I described above should really only be used for starting seeds if you're going to be using the accompanying humidity dome. If it's not that dry out where you live, i.e. not Chicago in the winter time, or any other very arid climate, then the humidity dome is unnecessary and the seedling flat is unnecessary, too. The main reason I used the seedling flat was that the dome was made to fit directly on top of it. Looking back I could've just used the dome and sewed the seeds in deeper containers and placed them under it. Problems that I encountered with the seedling flat were that after about two or two 1/2 months of growth growth slowed down significantly, as a result of the roots not having any more space to grow down, probably also because the deeper the roots grew, the closer they got to the heat mat and the hotter they got. If the flat had been deeper, I could've kept the heat mat on without worrying about it potentially harming the seedling roots. The seedling flat is just not deep enough. It's only about two or three inches deep. All I did to remedy this was move the seedlings. I mixed a bag of mycorrhizal root dip gel in a kitchen bowl, then removed the entire clump of soil that the seedlings were growing in by pushing up from the bottom of the seedling flat, placed the soil clump in the root dip gel, then gently separated the inter-twining roots and potted up each seedling separately. Next year I'm simply going to start the seeds in a deeper medium, maybe some sort of self-made flat but with a deeper bottom. Everything else worked great, the only bad decision on was using such a shallow seedling tray. Ah well, learning requires experience, after all.

My rainfall last year was 48.65 inches and I still had a very dry summer. This year our rainfall has been much less than normal (11.51 so far), but my garden has never dried out. This is because of the leaf cover that I put on it last fall. I don't mean just a couple of inches, I really piled them on. When I am ready to plant, I rake back the leaves and plant into the damp soil. After the crop is up a few inches, I push the leaves back over the ground again as mulch. The top of the leaf cover looks dry, but as I dig down, it is very damp, and the soil below is damp and filled with earth worms. The leaves were chopped, but didn't break down over winter. The lower portion that was near the soil appears to have broken down quite a lot, but the top portion did not break down much, but they did pack down. Most of my garden didn't even get tilled. I just dug a hole and planted. I also added compost in the Spring to some beds and to each tomato hole as I planted. Our county offers mulch, but the one load that I got was horrible. I think your best bet is from the tree trimmers if you can get them to leave it for you. They were cutting trees in my yard, and I asked for the mulch, but they didn't leave it. In my area they are private companies who have contracts with the electric providers. In the film, Paul says that it is important to have a mixture that was made from both leaves and wood. That makes sense to me. I use leaves every year because they are readily available, but this is the first year I have used them in this quantity. I think I have 14 trees so I have always used my leaves and sometimes a few from my close neighbors, but this year, my neighbors about a block away brought me theirs and said they would keep me in leaves every year. I don't have a years experience to see what the plants will do, but they seem to be doing great at this stage.

There was always a way to rebel when one was at that age. I think though, that it's getting harder when there's so much more "anything goes" these days. It seems every time the rebels go to extremes, the extremes become more mainstream or at least familiar enough to no longer be shocking. Back when I was growing up, a rebel only needed to grow his hair long...the longer, the more rebellious. I recall what a todo was created when the "mop head" Beatles first came on the scene. I mean their hair was actually quite short and they wore suits and ties for goodness sake! I'm not sure what kids will do next to rebel...I mean tats are common, pants can't go any lower...they even make suspenders to keep the pants from falling completely down, skirts and shorts have already been shorter than short, make-up has already gone totally goth with black eyes and lips, hair has already been every color of the rainbow and gelled to the sky, earlobes have been stretched, tongues have been split, genitalia have been pierced and ringed. I honestly don't know what's next. I remember back in the hippy days, my FIL, a prof, who was very matter of fact with his students, would comment on their long hair and baggy bell bottoms and say, "You know, if you want to get attention, you don't have to go through all that effort....you could just walk around with your fly open." (Please don't misinterpret...I'm not suggesting all tats are a statement of rebellion.)

You have some cool retro stuff, that's for sure. And I totally get trying to make it all work, that used to be me trying to cram a room and a half worth of furniture "finds" into one not-big-enough space. I'm still not quite over it, but I'm a work in progress! A comment and a suggestion... First, the suggestion. Have Mr. Muscle move out one piece, either the hutch or the hoosier. Outside, another room, or whatever. Clear your room of junk or plastic bins or whatever other clutter you wouldn't have out if you were trying to show your house. See what you think. Sometimes, you really have to come to a parting of the ways with furniture. And no matter how cool or how nicely refinished or how rare, a piece that doesn't work for you and ADD something to your home needs to find another home. I had this in my dining room: It was a Santa Barbara California ebay find for $99 maybe 5 years ago. It never fit my style. It stored my dishes but not nearly as well as the prior buffet I sold to make room for this. And it always bothered me on some level to have something that didn't work with anything else in the room. Last month, I put it on Craigslist and sold it the first day for much more money than I paid for it. My dishes that were inside are sitting in a rubbermaid tub on the floor. Don't care. Glad it's gone. Now, the comment.... While sometimes people came for dinner and exclaimed over my antique buffet, the room just didn't work with that piece. No one said, "What a pretty dining room you have!" When you have too much furniture crammed into a small space, even the good pieces or the nice antiques, actually detract from the home. Better to let a cool piece go to a new home where it can add something good. Red