Basically, it's always been year 1 for me. Just a few adjustments over the past 5 years. This is year 6 for me. In my zone 5, where frosts can still kill of tender annuals until the end of May, snow flakes can fall in mid may during college graduations, we have been known to have a 2 foot snowstorm on May 9th and 10th, and the very last patch of snow, still sitting in the shade in the back yard will be gone during the first week in June.!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've learned these few things. Whether I sow perennials on the solstice, in January or up until mid February, they all still germinate within the same time frame of a week at the earliest, first to second week in April. Biennials can go out until mid to end of March and then the germination isn't quite as good as it would be. Annuals and tender annuals are safe to sow from second week in April on, but be sure to hold back some, just in case mother nature has some other ideas that year. Annual herbs and veggies go out then too. Morning gory seeds germinate far better for me if I soak them for 24 hours first and then sow them the 3rd or 4th week in April. A couple of times I've covered my well growing annual seedlings in May from the cold, and last year would have been a good idea too, but didn't and lost a few containers of zinnias, dahlias and cosmos, but I had plenty more to sow and just put them out. Beyond that, no fuss. I'm careful with the labels, sowing one kind of seed at a time and doing the tags for the containers at that time. My records are simple, really simple and kept in a cheapo spiral notebook. Date of sowing, then list of seeds and number of containers of each seed. mark whether trade, or commercial seed. If comm. seed, list the company. As containers germinate, I record the date of germination beside the seeds that are already listed in my notebook. It goes outside with me all the time and is handy to get. Somewhere along the line, before plant out time, I list the height of the plant as well Except for MG, sunflowers and cosmos, all of my plants can go in full or partial sun, so I never worry about that problem. My veggies all go in the back in full sun and the herbs get mostly sun Eventually the entire list is on the computer set up in word, no fancy record keeping there either. I guess I look at it like this. WS is supposed to be easy, fun, cheap and produce lots of seedlings that grow into plants. Don't like to complicate the process and that, to me, includes the record keeping too. Fran

Hi Iris, I have a dozen Better Boys going and just one Big Boy. The Big Boy is certainly the biggest plant, over 8' and probably still growing. One Better Boy is close in mass but still a foot shorter, the rest are all stout six foot plants. Yet every Better Boy has been delivering tomatoes regularly for a month (some going on two months of production) and I have harvested just one Big Boy. I was trying to keep records, but the oppressive heat and disappointing fruit quality curbed my enthusiasm. Still, every Better Boy has produced at least dozen 8 to 12 oz fruits that I think taste a little better than the one Big Boy I picked. Big Boy just isn't setting fruit in my climate (like many others). No doubt these are both vigorous hybrids that have held up better than most, but I think next year I try Big Beef, which almost always gets better reviews, and Supersteak, because I have a hundred seeds.

When you installed the trap and drain, it was cemented together, right? What are you using to seal the drain? Meaning, is it effectively sealed? The 1/8" water loss could be from a few things. When you pour water on Kerdi, the fleece can hold air bubbles on the fleece surface. As those air bubbles escape, and as the thinset absorbs some of the water, the water level will drop. A small effect. Around the drain. If you think you have a bad seal between the kerdi and the flange, run a bead of Kerdi Fix right at the seam where the Kerdi meets the flange. Clean the surface, run a bead, and smear it so it lays flat. That'll seal it. Now the corner piece that you said had a bubble behind it, and air/water leaked out? That's the only place I'd say really needs a closer look. I'm not sure how "flappy" that corner piece is, but you can either seal it in place with more Kerdi Fix, or you can slice the bubble, inject a little thinset behind it, set it flat, let the thinset cure, then cover the repaired area with another piece of Kerdi with 2" overlap extending past the sliced area and on to the "good" kerdi. Give those repairs time to cure, then try another water test. You can partially fill the pan to make sure you're not leaking at the drain of the drain flange. If successful, then you can do a full-depth water test. Let the water test run longer, too. You may get that 1/8" drop, then no more drop. That usually signifies the drop was due to entrained air coming out or water being absorbed by the exposed thinset. Mongo

Well, I'm back and what a blast it was today! After the show we went out to one of the other volunteer's house and it was just so much fun :D. The verdict on the cake and lemonade: They LOVED it! I do have few slices left, anybody want one? ;) Annie, I'd be happy to bake a cake for you or any of you folks here on the forum ;). pink warm mama 1, aww thank you! lol I was joking about them liking me even more. Anytime I spend with them, I feel like I'm with family :). lpinkmountain, these strawberries came from Wal-Mart, but oh my gosh are they ever good! Oh and the lemonade recipe I have down to an exact science. For a gallon, it's three lemons and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Brad AKA Moonwolf