I took this seriously! And probably because I decided when I moved to my new husband and home 2 years ago, that if what's happy in my yard is crabgrass and Bermuda grass, then that's what I like, too. He had told me he and his former wife (deceased) had spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on hauling in dirt for the rocky lawn, and many more $$ and time seeding and re-seeding lawn grasses; there is a slight slope to this rock-based 1-plus acre of lawn and sometimes heavy rain in the spring and early summer, which seemed to always wash the seeded grass to the far corners. . . the yard is dappled shade in most parts, but in the sunny spots, everything fries. My first summer was last year, and by July, my lawn had filled in and looked beautiful--the crabgrass and Bermuda grass were going crazy. I told him that since my priorities are the vegetable and flower gardens, if we could mow and have it look good, I didn't care WHAT green stuff was in the lawn. I am a big proponent of whatever works well in the yard is what I'll try to go with--and the crabgrass and Bermuda grass love the yard.

"Maybe in a way its a good think most people dont know about cold tolerant palms. Even though it would grace the streets of our neighborhoods, it wouldnt really make growing one very special." Good point! Besides, how are people able to find me when I give directios saying--"it's the house behind the palm trees" (Trachys). I think what's interesting about the M. grandifloras is that they are an EXCELLENT indicator species for cold hardiness. What I mean, is that if they can be successfully and vigorously grown (without eleborate excessives--like dropping a greenhouse over them or anything resembling mummification), you're a solid zone 7 and should also be successful with Trachycarpus and a few other cold hardier palms (some Sabals, Needles, Mediterranean fans (especially with modifications to the soil and microclimate consideration), and perhaps Saw palmetto (Seranoa repens). I am going to be experimenting soon with these species soon as the Trachys have done well so far. I guess one thing I really like about our zone is the expance of plant species we can potentially grow here (from marginal subarctic to subtropical zones). At the cold end, I have my Canadian Hemlocks and other conifers and on the warm side I have had success growing a variety of subtropicals (M.grandifloras, camelias, Fatsia japonica, Opuntias, Podocarpus, Trachys, and even a loquat (the latter espaliated against the house). One of my favorite garden centers stopped selling the Opuntias for fear that people whould compain about their thorns. Imagine that, a cactus with thorns! As plant enthusiasts, we sometimes forget that for most people plants are just green things that grow in the dirt, period. PS. Although Needles would be cold hardy enough for Cape Cod, I'm not sure the area offers the summer heat this species requires during the growing season to thrive (probably best from NYC metro and south).

I guess this one is right up my alley. I'm mom of 4 sons though only one is still on the "payroll" though he's now off at college. Anyway there were a lot of years cooking for 6 and 5 of them were VERY hungry! I still use a plan though it's much looser and of course easier! Living 10 miles from a store and having a crowd to feed, I found doing a weekly menu saved me from living at the grocery store! I have a day that I go to the store and that day, I'll take stock of any items from the week before that I didn't use or any meals from the previous week that I never got around to cooking. Then I sit down with one or two cookbooks and start in. I jot down about 4 breakfasts and a few lunches if I think that people will be around (summer etc) but don't put a huge amount of thought into these two. I can always whip up a good breakfast with whats on hand for the most part. With kids around, plan on some nutritious snacks. For dinner, I plan out however many meals we'll need for the week. I usually figure that I'll have one meal where we either do leftovers or I defrost something from the freezer. We also usually eat out about once a week. So that leaves me with selecting 5 true menus. I do it all from veggies, salads, starch, bread and main dish. Be sure to make a note of the page in the cookbook for any new recipes. Look at your calendar for the week and be sure you have enough no brainers for the busy days. Cook extra chicken/meat and use it for a second meal turned into sandwiches, soup, or a casserole. Shopping for a week is easy and feasible. Do your meals that require the freshest produce at the beginning of your week and save the meatless/soup/pizza/sandwich meals for later in the week. Precook or freeze any meats that you'll be having at the end of the seven days. I'd usually need to pick up more milk midweek as my guys guzzled more than a gallon a day. I keep the menu paper on my island, and I feel free to substitute and change the meal or parts of the meal as needed swapping days etc. Remember nothing is written in stone!!! I think part of your "negative" slant on the menu planning may be that you don't want to be pinned down. Roll with the flow, change meals around.... it's only a guideline not military orders that you must follow to a T!!! Grace

First summer , once a week. This is all new to me . I know people said to water once a week during summer before. I imagine it is the same way now. I have been planting. I have managed to get a couple of holes using the 20" length . They were where I dumped the dirt that I cut into the hill in the building of the house. AND I had dumped the dirt from the digging of the septic where thew house ended up being built. I had clay from the Adobe soil in the front of the property where the septic was transported back to where it is Brackett (limestone/caliche) soil where the house site is. It ended up leveled out in a deep level fill so there was actual dirt above the rock. I dug the 2' x 2' x20" deep hole yesterday and planted the red Oak. I was able to sink the whole pipe in. This Rhamnus carolinians also got aa full 20 ' pipe. I t was just off the edge of the area of fill and under a area of oaks. I just peeked that one out. I was not so lucky with the red bud hole. I cut the pipe down 4" and it still sticks out , so I had to calk some holes in the pipe. I took so much rock out of that hole , I need more dirt. (they were closed today). This whole was impossible. The spot has killed 2 or three trees already. Reb buds are tough. Fingers crossed. The redbud is going in down hill from where the red Oak was planted , NO dirt here . You can see the plastic trash of my watering jugs beyond this tree. What a difference a few feet makes. The silver peso mountain laurel did not get the full pipe deep either. I calked the holes. I will remove the pipes when they are established. I finished out the day getting one of two anacho orchid trees in with a full 20" pipe under a live oak where there was soil. They are a good under story tree. No pictures yet. I have discovered that I can cut 4" off and re duck tape the bottom to shorten the pipes. So now I have a choice when things can not go any deeper.