Do you mind a NH gardener joining this discussion? Megmaine, very impressive successes in your garden. I don't usually use eggplant but your description makes me want to try one from the farmers market to see if I should include next year. I love growing nasturtiums and calendula just for pretty even though I know they are good plants in the garden. Also like marigolds esp lemon gems which have such nice foliage and lemon scent. Is anyone having trouble with plants bolting? Daikon radish is bolting on me. Some pretty young bok choy is also going to seed. Lettuce seems to be doing nicely. Second crop of sugar snap peas (tall variety this time) are coming in but they aren't as tall as I expected. Beans starting. No trouble with zucchini and summer squashes. Last year we also had a lot of rain and a neighbor was shocked that my zukes did well. It was first year in a lasagna style garden. Had first zuke last night. The sneaky curcubit almost got too large. My husband was waiting for me when I got home because he doesn't dare touch anything without my ok. He said it was time to pick squash and he needed more lettuce for his lunches. Cherry tomatos are planted around our kitchen porch but without the extra organic matter that the lasagna beds have. Soil looks too compacted. The peppers are lined up along south wall of our white house. Last year peppers seemed to come in early and turn red early. Right now have some about 2" long - a variety of heirlooms. I can see where black top driveway heat would be a help. Had to re-seed pots of basil. Looked like some damping off problems. Some varieties are doing super but not all. Also, they are already putting up flower stems (holy basil and thai basil). Golden beets planted a month ago looked good. April planting of beets was dismal, maybe one or two plants germinated. Same with chard. (short rows) I think this was the year of re-planting. Confection winter squash looks like it is doing well. Some small squash started. We were very happy with this variety last year once we let it sit a month or so after harvest. It was extremely dry at first but then became the perfect squash. We had a few mold but basically they did well in a box under a basement workbench and we had squash in April. I think I save one for May first just to say it lasted that long.

This debate pops up from time to time. On our land, we would have had to bring in enormous amounts of fill to build on a slab, or a crawl space would have been 6' tall, so a basement (walk-out) was the obvious choice. I like the advantages of a basement, and after living in slab homes for 30 years, I prefer the 'give' of a suspended floor. If I lived in a area where tornadoes were a possibility, I'd want a basement. Our basement and main floor are ICF. The basement is very usable, as we have windows and insulation. I went to a lot of trouble to properly waterproof and otherwise control surface water, so the basement is dry. Due to the ICF construction and our relatively mild SC climate, our basement ranges from 60 F. in the winter to 73 F. in the summer with no HVAC at all. Thanks to modern building science (assuming your builder actually follows the guidelines) you can have your choice in most instances. I'm a big advocate of designing a house to suit the lot it is going on. If our property were flat, we would have built on a conditioned crawlspace.

Looselay vinyl flooring has been around for a few years. It is great for basements that are prone to water. Pros: It can be pulled up an reinstalled, can be used with or w/o adhesive, easy maintenance . Cons: surface prep, floor has to be very uniform, flat as vinyl is not very forgiving, it is not cheap.

Came in with a good 4/10ths of an inch of thunder/rain this morning. I had just watered all the trees in the last day or two so it was very helpful. I figured out the formula for diameter of my mulch circles, and how high a gallon of water will fill that circle. 10 gallons on a 4 ft mulch circle is the equates to approx. 1.3" deep of water. So by using my 2 gal. watering cans, or 5 gallon pails, I can know exactly how many gallons I put on each tree and how many 'inches of rain' it's equivalent to. I think that makes my watering more efficient so I don't waste water and I know exactly how much each tree is getting. We need about an inch of rain here weekly to keep plants happy. Some trees like a little more. Even though 4/10th won't last long, at least I can keep track of what gets the right amount of water and how often.