What do you wish you knew when you first started gardening?
Carly S. San Diego, CA - 24 / 10b
7 years ago
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kittymoonbeam
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoCarly S. San Diego, CA - 24 / 10b thanked kittymoonbeamRelated Discussions
What do you wish you knew before you started a Greenhouse?
Comments (25)We built our small commercial greenhouse 2 years ago... I wish I knew about self-sufficient greenhouse - accumulating greenhouse heat through the day and use it through the night. Initial investment a bit costly, but it would pay off in couple a years. I would definitely do it second time around. I wish I knew better to install solid concrete floor. Fine rock or gravel is paradise for greenhouse pest like aphids, thrips to overwinter. I wish I installed overhead watering hoses (not sprinkler, actual hoses). Them "snakes" on the ground are frustrating... Stuck on something, kinked, tangled, knocked plants on the floor, not mentioning tripping in loops. I wish I had my benches narrower and shorter that would give me more flexibility to play around and create nice displays. I wish we installed overhead propane heater in different spot then above a bench. When heater runs it blows hot air to my bench creating "dead zone". Hot air burns all seedlings in its way. I have 10' X 3' unusable bench space due to that. I hope it was helpful! Enjoy!...See MoreOne thing you wish you knew before you got married?
Comments (14)Thanks! Good words of advice. halfdecaf - I love that you repeat your vows on your anniversary. That sounds like a very worthwhile tradition and one I might copy for us. I know the "good cop/bad cop" role is pretty tricky. It's not really how we intended it, but it's how I feel usually. My BF's own father abandoned the family when BF was at a very young age and his mother essentially detached from the family as a result of her husband leaving. As such, BF had no healthy parenting images to look up to so he leans toward parenting out of guilt or giving in too much to his own son. I come from a fairly strict, but caring, family so I've tried to share my own parenting examples with them. The result is that BF's son now has a normal bedtime (when we met he would let his son stay up until midnight! And he was 5!), he cleans up his own plate after dinner, he's not allowed to throw things or act physically in anger, he's not allowed to hit his dad or be disrespectful to us without consequences, etc. So I feel like the "bad cop" because I implement/encourage a lot of the discipline and a lot of the rules about what's acceptable and what's not. The only reason it's working is b/c BF currently backs me up on the decisions and is actually a little grateful that I know a little more than he does about general parenting, while he knows more than I do about his son's specific needs. So I think we make a good team. Of course, if either one of us ever stops supporting the other, I can see how that might cause some mutiny... We are also considering premarital couseling. One of my biggest challenges is learning to bite my tongue and not constantly tell him what to do. I was single for too long and have lots of rules in my own head about the way things "should" be done. On the flip side, he was single too long with a young son - essentially living the bachelor life with a kid tagging along (have you seen the Adam Sandler movie, Big Daddy - something along those lines, but not as extreme). So figuring out when my comments cross over into "nagging" seems to be a fine line. I never want to be the "nagging" wife....See MoreWhat do you wish you'd known when you started?
Comments (60)I agree that research is essential. Everyone has been seduced by glossy pictures at garden nurseries or has overlook good roses based on pics. For example, if I didn't read glowing reviews on Julia Child on this forum, it wouldn't be a rose I would had bought had I seen it at the nurseries. At glance, it looks just like any yellow rose that is available. But fellow rosarians can't be wrong, especially from so many people from different climates and countries. It is definitely one of my favourite rose so far. In my experience it is better to spend a bit more money on strong plant than to buy cheaper weaker ones. This may not always be the case but a strong plant with strong canes is essential in my opinion, especially for those of us who live in colder climates. After so many years growing roses, disease resistant varieties and vigor is on top of my list. I would be willing to forego most roses no matter how beautiful they are especially if they are famously prone to diseases and are not vigorous. Of course, I have made exceptions but there is no point in wasting time to nurse unhealthy plants that takes a lot of your time and energy and space for that matter. Last but not least, do not stress yourself out with rose problems such as Japanese beetles and blackspot. I admit that I have been beaten down last year by Japanese beetles. However, I am trying to find other ways to deal with them. I may experiment with the traps as a few gardeners I know has found to be very effective for them. I started to buy more bs resistant roses and I found it really helps. I still get bs at the end of summer but they are more minimal. The last advice I have is don't subject yourself to a heart attack if your rose died. It happens like everything else in life. There are so many roses to grow and take the opportunity to grow a new one....See MoreModular- What you wish you knew...
Comments (13)Before you do anything else, make sure you understand the distinction between modular homes and manufactured homes. Huge difference! Some of the recommendations above seem to apply to manufactured homes. Modular homes are considered the same as "stick" build homes after they're on site. Often, you can't even tell they're modular. They're simply a different way of assembling a home than creating it on site. There are huge advantages to doing modular vs. stick, not least that the home doesn't get wet while being built, so moisture issues are reduced. There are some gigantic modular buildings out there: this building method is not just for homes. A HUGE advantage of modular is that the lot can get prepared at the SAME time as the build. This shortens construction time by ALOT. I have a brand new modular. It's netZero, 100% solar, hyper efficient. My home and lot cost me substantially less per month than an equivalent-size apartment. The home is all electric: bills are said (by other owners) to be $150 per year. In northern New England, where it gets 20 below. One of the best days of my life was the day they "delivered" the house. Habitat for Humanity is having homes built like this, so they are by no means expensive to build! Also, my home is built on helical piers. They're used for lighthouses and bridges; nice solution for our global warming situation with unpredictable storms. We don't have a history of earthquakes here, but helical piers are said to perform well in earthquake zones. You can let me know on here what questions you'd like answering. Otherwise, I have no way to know where to begin. There is pretty much nothing I wished I knew ahead of time. However, I had plenty of time to learn and make decisions. By the time I found a suitable lot, organized the design, had site visits (the builder came to the site maybe 15 times...), organized the financing (lots of options here), went through appraisal rigamorole, dealt with rude lot sellers....over a year went by. Then I signed the contract. Then the lender had to approve it. Then the build! I'm thinking construction took 10 weeks from start to complete installation. (But they build 5 homes at once in that shop, so not all that time was allocated to mine.) On site finish-up took less than a week; this included the solar panel installation, steps for front and back, lender-required skirting, internet and cable, town inspections etc.. My build has some custom features (e.g. ADA elements and layout), and some based on other homes constructed by the builder. Almost everything is modularized (contrary to the statement of the builder above). The home cost WAY less than stick built. However, my builder also builds very upscale designs. My builder and his team LOVED this project, by the way. They were showing it to 3 different sets of customers the day it got delivered. And I get random passersby dropping by to have a look! The biggest surprises were stuff like how much my Town wanted to charge for sewer hookup fees. I thought I knew these ahead of time, but evidently not. Another big surprise? I had it in me to participate in the design process. Who knew I could design a house??????? I had to learn massive amounts of stuff, but I have extreme ownership of the whole enterprise. I even got to participate in marking out the foundation corners on the lot. Yep, running around with the measuring tape with the builder barking orders! I chose the exact orientation in the moment. The process: www.mylittlehouselife.com ....This blog is still under construction. Let me know what you'd like info on...I can talk about this stuff ALL DAY. I'm that excited about it. ********* This is my builder. Also photos. https://vermodhomes.com https://www.facebook.com/vermodhomes/...See MoreNil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)
7 years agoCarly S. San Diego, CA - 24 / 10b thanked Nil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoCarly S. San Diego, CA - 24 / 10b thanked stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay areawcgypsy
7 years agoCarly S. San Diego, CA - 24 / 10b
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7 years agoCarly S. San Diego, CA - 24 / 10b
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7 years agoCarly S. San Diego, CA - 24 / 10b
7 years agostanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
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7 years agoNil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)
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7 years agoCarly S. San Diego, CA - 24 / 10b thanked JXBrown (Sunset 24, N San Diego County)Sigrid
7 years ago
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