Outsmarting the tree rats (squirrels) around my house is a full time job. This past spring I hit on a new idea. When I plant a container I invert an empty wire hanging basket over the container and the plant gets sun and can be watered but the squirrels can't dig in it. Another idea: I bring in a lot of plants to "over winter" under lights in my garage. I have so many that it is hard to reach my hand under the lights (4 shop lights) to the middle for watering. So I bought a pump sprayer with a long wand and it works great! In late winter I add a little liquid Dawn detergent, few drops, to each gallon of water and not only does the soil get wet easier but the worms that are waiting to hatch into distructive pets just don't hatch. Don't know what it costs me to run those four shop lights all winter but I don't care. It is a small price to pay to be able to "garden" every weekend in the garage. Many people have mentioned that they mark their outdoor plants with a "permanent Sharpie". In my experience there isn't a "permanent Sharpie", they all fade and quickly too. A grease pencil/china marker or expensive "no fade" garden center marker are the only markers I have found that won't disappoint you by fading. Eight years ago I decided to learn about gardening so I tapped into my local library. I checked out nearly every book they had on gardening and learned so much. The Gardenweb forums are also a wealth of information and entertainment. There is always something new to learn and I appreciate all of you who take the time to write in your ideas. One last idea from me...I keep a small notebook on my computer table and jot down any idea I find that's new and I will want to try. Little pieces of paper get lost but I always know where my notebook is and also use it when I order "on line" so I will remember the name of the company and the order date. Tina or Trowelgal

1) Better search. The current search is not only limited, but buggy (it doesn't return all matching results, even if the posts are recent, for example). 2) Ability to search multiple areas at the same time without searching the entire forum (for example, just Home Decorating and Paint, or Bathrooms and Plumbing, or Building a Home and Remodeling, or Appliances and Laundry Room, etc.) 3) If you're on That Home Site, search should default to THS, not to GardenWeb (this should be a trivial fix). 4) Additional subject areas for topics that always get a lot of questions (Fences and Walls, Roofing, Contractor Disputes, etc.). 5) GW should host its own photos so they don't disappear later -- it's so frustrating to read a thread and not be able to see the photos that go with it, or to have to create yet another account to log into a separate photo site. 6) A simpler way to add a link to a post 7) The ability to add multiple links to a post 8) The ability to designate certain posters as favorites so you could easily see their recent posts (your favorites list should be private, though). 9) A dashboard where you could see your recent activity (threads that you've started, threads in which you've recently posted messages, your watched threads, postings by your favorites, your clippings, etc.) so that you don't have to use search or go to your profile to find this information each time you log in The ability to set up rules for alerts. For example, you could set a rule that sends you an alert whenever mythreedogs (one of the Home Decorating rock stars) posts a photo. No limit on saved clippings Very often, posts aren't very helpful because the reader doesn't know where the poster is located. (This is also true on THS, not just on GardenWeb.) To solve this problem, GW should require all members to provide their zip code, which members could keep hidden if they choose. No matter whether a member's zip code is hidden or visible, GW should ALWAYS display that member's hardiness zone on their profile and posts, as well as a GENERAL description of their location. Members should be able to control just how specific the geographical description is (Greater Boston, Massachusetts, or New England, for example). Ability to edit your own posts and to delete posts that no one has clipped Please recruit forum moderators who would have to the power to delete inappropriate posts and to edit other people's posts (for example, to correct misspelled words in the subject line that would prevent readers from finding that thread The ability to tag threads as helpful or inappropriate The ability to select a font. The ability to control how GW appears on mobile devices

I agree, but Houzz would have had to have a separate server to retain all those posts. I guess it set a time limit and space limit on retained posts, so we lost a ton, but every now and then, I see some older posts pop up from someone's search. I think they did away with all the 90s and only kept those from the 2000s, because I've seen a few pop up from 2003 and 2005. Sadly, the early days were the best, when there were so many more members and so much great information.

This has been interesting! I used to love surfing around on Gardenweb! I’m not very techy at all but I could do it. Houzz has been confusing a bit and sometimes I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. It’s exciting to see some of these names from way back! Definitely remember My3dogs, Palimpset, and Magnaverde for sure! Why do they mess with success? I’m not even sure what my user name was back then. Maybe Deborah 1950? A funny story. Several years ago I was at Home Depot researching ranges. I told the guy my 40” Kenmore Elite electric range story about how the oven hadn’t worked for a few years and I’d been told no parts available. (Everyone is now so tired of this story, including me). Anywa, he was on his computer and says, “Here’s somebody else with the same problem!”