Thanks to hostarookie for keeping the count & doing the Excel spreadsheet! Posts through 9:45 am on 4/29/11 are included here, others will be included next time. Please post any corrections & we will work on them! Zone Wars Total: 17,910 Please post here with your current TOTAL count. Happy sowing! Zone 4 = 1129 Zone 5 = 6568 Zone 6 = 4402 Zone 7 = 4740 Zone 8 = 1071 Please click on the link to view the Zone Wars Spreadsheet Game on! Zone 6 = 4402 Zone 7 = 4740 It has been previously announced that containers sown on Winter Solstice Dec 21 - May 1 count for Zone Wars. You can celebrate May Day & sow containers! You have until midnight of Sunday, May 1, your local time, to sow containers that will count for Zone Wars. Any containers sown on May 2 do not count. Please post ASAP. You have until midnight on Wednesday, May 4, to post your final total count. Winners will be announced shortly thereafter! Gardenweb uses Eastern Time for the time stamp - sorry West Coasters! Midnight May 4 should be GMT -4. Any post dated May 5 on will not count, as we will need to wrap this up & move on to our seedlings! Happy Sowing! We've enjoyed being your counters! Signed Hostarookie & River

I wintersowed 25 containers today with a class of 1st graders. They had a blast. We experimented with several different containers. The kids were very excited. By the way our outside temps were - 8 degrees this morning ...zone 5 . My total count is 103. I just got a huge seed order so I will be sowing like crazy in the next week.

Hi no-green-thumb!~You really do have a lot of hidden potential. It has been a long winter; I am in IL, so I know how different winter and spring can look! Still waiting for plants to "pop" here, although a little green is finally peeking through. I did a paver installation in my landscape construction class. They need a gravel base, and proper grading. Their installation makes them more impervious to water than flagstone, which will heave slightly, so IMO flagstone is not the best choice for a patio right next to the house. They tend to be somewhat expensive. BUT the cost of installation of your existing patio included the flagstone itself, which you still have and can re-use, so don't despair! We have a flagstone patio in the far corner of my backyard, and I think that could look lovely with your forest backdrop. It is really not expensive to do, just labor intensive. Many nurseries have staff that might be able to do the job or recommend someone, so if DIY is not an option, you should get several bids before proceeding. Or, this is what I would do if it was MY yard... I think it would be best if you had a deck installed; one without steps, just a walkout that extended from the corner all the way to the purple fence to the left of your ac unit. Replace that panel with six foot cedar fence panels, to hide the AC from view. To add interest, stagger the fence heights. The deck would have an octagonal cut-out for the tree, and low wide steps to the flagstone path connecting it to the cement patio. The flagstone path would be wider at the steps and narrower towards the patio, but it would be at least three feet wide, four feet would be better. I wouldn't touch the stone edged bed of hostas and ferns, except to maybe trench the edge slightly, so that the stones "sink" and are no longer a problem when you mow. I really dig (no pun intended) the natural stone and flagstone combination. However, the wooden deck and cement patio are both more practical surfaces for grilling and eating, more sure-footed. I agree that the cement patio is one logical place for your existing grill. Since that was also expensive to install, why not re-use it? Have you seen these type of gazebos, they're a great way to define the eating area from the lounging/bar area closer to the house? They are designed to be taken down and stored in the winter. Here is a link that might be useful: Gazebos

Our current house has a very small footprint for a fridge so I have a 21cuft French door because a whole-width door would block the entire hallway. The builders of the house, which was built in 1982 and 20 miles from a grocery store, shoulda known better than to have a tiny space that couldn't be modified grrr. So in the laundry I have a very old upright freezer (Gibson) for mostly meats, a small beverage fridge in the dining room, and a dorm/beer fridge in the garage (used to be in my tack room for horse meds). If there was a way to freeze lettuce, I would've done it to avoid having to go to town so often (and sorry, I have a black thumb so when I tried growing lettuce inside, several types of lettuce died in vain). My "new" house, built in 1970 so even older, has a HUGE space for a fridge and is only a mile away from the nearest grocery store, go figure. But it has half the total sqft for the house so I now have only one do-it-all fridge. A 36" 28cuft French door for only 2 people was my knee-jerk "I NEED a big fridge" reaction to the formerly miserly fridge space. It has a separate drawer for beverages, a door-in-door so DH can quickly get at his stuff that otherwise he pokes around forever to get out, and outside water and ice dispenser since it's Phoenix. The fridge shelves fold so I can stand up an open bottle of wine; I tried some caps that are supposed to allow laying down but I don't think they're meant to work with wine sloshing back and forth as the drawer is opened DAMHIK! Well, I don't know how many will read this far but thanks for letting me vent to other TKO's who understand these things lol!