Thanks Ruth ann Both my very large brugs still have lots of flowers yet to bloom and the next in size as well. The two big one are planted in very large containers. I am afraid if I cut them down to that size will they still grow large next year. I'm a little worried. Glad

Thank you so much for the info, I just was struck by the pinciples between both methods. I wonder if this is because Pop was born in 1906 to a farming (as in farm hands) family with a small tied cottage but good sized garden (by UK standards) he was the last of 11 children, so I suppose it was a matter of survival, and when he lived with us our garden provided most of our food and that of our two elderly neighbours Mrs Breeze and Mrs Chapman! amazing what you remember from 6!, which in the recession hit 70's in the UK was a good thing, bread and gas rationing ect was brought in, we also had a drought in 1976 and the garden kept going cos of Pop's system, I now after your comments feel even more proud of him if thats possible! he was an amazing man and I would be interested in the info and again thank you, Gardeners rock! by the way if your wondering we have all been late starters in getting a family, he was 29 his wife 35 (her parents where 42!) my dad 35, and me 34 my boys are 4 now, so when the press where trying to make me feel bad about having a family late, I can be smug in the fact that for 4 genertions I was the youngest to have my babies Yay! okay I massaged the figures but thats allowed...isn't it? nd it is first children. btw tied cottage belonged to your employer and depending on how nice they where or wheren't when you became ill, too infirm or died, your family was chucked out and homeless, that said many enployers where good as was my GGdads.

Ddr Hazy hit it on the head. Everything is so secretive (and everyone you talk to so thorny and ornery) only so you can't find out how hard you're getting screwed. Some contractors are making $4-6k-plus PER DAY labor for installs before paying one helper (maybe $20/hr). You might get charged $8k for new condenser and coil (1-day job) that's not much over $1k in parts. Or $5k for a 3-hour new furnace that's barely $1k for the actual furnace. Then there's the blatant 10x-plus markup on refrigerant. With installs they could work 10 days per year and make the median US salary or better. Even when you find online companies that sell parts direct, the contractors are paying way less than that. If you try to buy any parts or equipment yourself, the contractor will get on a high horse and refuse to install it (because you are partially exposing his labor rate, and cutting into his additional profit on equipment mark-up). The suppliers will not quote you any prices, and won't sell you so much as a length of drain line. The manufacturers themselves refuse to even talk to you unless you are HVAC certified, and no I'm not exaggerating; many literally will not speak to you and will hang up . Even the state governments are involved (probably pressured by lobby groups); in NJ it takes 5 years experience to even get a license and that's after years of trade school - that huge bar to entry keeps competition relatively low. I'd say HVAC puts plumbers' rates to shame. If you want to avoid getting hosed, I recommend finding an employee for a larger company or a retired technician and offering him a very healthy hourly rate (like $60-80/hr) to do jobs on the side and order parts through his license #. It's still a lot but you'll save 50 to 75%-plus parts and labor versus a company. That or buy parts online, find a handy guy (e.g. plumber/electrician) to do most of the install, and then have an agreeable HVAC guy (if can find one) spend one hour and wrap the job up for a couple hundred bucks. For some people though, the few thousand $ extra paid every few years isn't worth that hassle.

I have a vinyl pergola and it has vines on it all summer. When I take down the vines, I simply spray it down with 409. I let the 409 sit for a few minutes, then run a very soft brissel brush all over it. Then I hose it down. It is rare that I have to pay any special attention to a given area. I clean the outside vinyl on all of my windows the same way, about twice a year. I've been in my house for 32 years and that vinyl is looks new.