Agree with both of the somewhat contradictory statements above. Let's use a very clear case to elaborate-the pine plantation. So, in my area, there are numerous plantations of especially red pine. These are installed initially at a rate of somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 trees per acre. Then in time, it is common practice to do a thinning cut, and the result is precisely what your friend states-the remaining stems are able to take advantage of the increased light and resources, and do show a bump in both height and girth increment. So that's the most obvious case. Right off the bat, your situation is at least somewhat more complex, in that you have more than just the one species. Because we don't really know the exact composition, age class(es), site index (How good a given tree species is able to grow on a given site), and myriad other factors, I would say only very generally that what your friend says has some truth to it, but that you should avail yourself of a good consulting forester, explain what you'd like to see happen with the stand, and then let him or her draw up a plan. There are lots of moving parts in such forestry. Rhizo mentions the very mature forest case, and indeed, some special considerations often exist in such cases. BTW, off-topic a bit, but I can't resist: It seems that trees not only compete with one another in the forest, but also help each other, and in surprising ways. Studies have proven, for example, that a large, mature "mother tree" can shunt resources to young, struggling offspring via the mycorrhizal fungal network that apparently connects all or nearly all trees within any given forest stand. We always stress the competition, but that's just a part of the story, and maybe not even the biggest piece! This is interesting stuff to geeks like me. Please keep us apprised of where you go with this. +oM

I love making soil. I love it even more when someone else is doing most of the work for me. I'm itching to start some spring planting in my tiny garden, but it's technically still a bit early (our last frost date is supposed to be around the 18th or so, but these days who even knows) and I'm impatiently waiting for the contractors to show up and replace my rotted fence before I can do any planting in the back half where the pile of rock mulch over weed cloth used to be. The fence would have rotted anyway, but the bottom of it was completely eaten away where the rock mulch was piled against it. I have already put down a tiny new tree (Amelanchier x "Autumn Brilliance") which arrived bare root and needed to go in the ground ASAP, but it's not next to the fence, so it should be fine as long as the fence guys don't step on the 18 inch high forked stick which, seen with my eye of faith, is already a handsome small patio tree. The tree went in the spot where the old, scrawny, unhealthy cherry plum used to be, where I have been piling vermicompost and leaves ever since last summer. I didn't amend the planting hole at all - just dug and filled in. Enough leaf mold and vermicompost just fell into the hole to make me feel fine about the start my new tree's roots are getting. Anyway, the "someone else" who is working for me outside is a healthy passel of earthworms, which I can see out there every time I pull back last autumn's leaf mulch, which I diligently collected from the sidewalk in front of my row house and brought out back. Even if I can't set to work yet, I like knowing that they're hard at it. I've seen some of my red wigglers who rode out from my indoor worm bin, and at least three separate species of native earthworms: slow gray short guys, some really huge red nightcrawler types, and a longer, thinner, super-active wiggly worm that's new to me. I've also scattered out some seeds and grains for the sparrows and squirrels, inspired by some videos of composting chickens I've watched on Youtube: so there's been lots of pecking and scratching and digging going on in the layer of leaves, which is both fun to watch and will serve to further shred down the leaves for incorporation in the soil. When I do get to the planting along the back fence, I'll try to remember to post a soil pic as a "before and after" to the one at the start of this topic.

I have an image of you disconnecting two burners on a common electric stovetop and placing a sheet metal platform over that space and putting a cord and plug connected appliance on that platform. If that is what you have in mind then you will have to consider that the exterior of the toaster oven, the trim and the power cord will probably not stand up to the radiant heat produced when the stove is used.

Get low-iron glass (Starphire) for your shower enclosure. It is less green than the standard glass and won't give your white tile a green tint. It is a bit more expensive than the standard glass, but well worth it when you have spent all that money on white/light colored tile.