Jodik says: The coir might look dry on top, but down in the center of the pot, it could be quite moisture-laden! I have found it helpful to insert little wooden skewers carefully into the soil to about root level, and leave them there... I take them out and press them against my cheek to test for dampness... if they feel at all damp, I wait to water... but if the skewer comes out dry, it's time to water. My coir is 4" deep in a closed pot. I put the skewer to the bottom of the pot. When I take it out how many inches of bone dry top "soil" should there be before it's time to water again? Is it 1", 2" or 4"? I just went 10 days without water and only 1" of the top was dry so am I supposed to water this direct sun pot once every two weeks or so to avoid over watering, really? And how much water for my 6" closed pot? I had been watering 1 1/2 cup or so once a week and my plant was fine but I'm now worried that was too much so I'm re-evaluating. I know what conventional wisdom says (water deep, not shallow) but that advice doesn't seem to apply to my situation. Also how long should it be before I see new leaf growth in the summer time (first season outside)? My 18 month old Red Lion so far has only grown new leaves once a year. At potting and at dormancy end.

no garden for me now :( = just a balcony. do a google search on 'french drain system' and also 'soakaway' - yep, that's the technical term :). and look at images - there are a lot of schematics that you can learn from and get ideas just at a glance. in clay soils it is best to plant trees elevated - not sunk in. so that the crown of the tree is 6"-12" above the ground - that is to prevent flooding of the crown. also it is actually not recommended to dig large pits - what happens is all water runs into them from the surface and it creates a pond/well! so your tree will be sitting in a wet pit. elevation is more effective. raised beds/terraces/slopes. they do put down gravel /rocks in the bottom of the dug pit to help drainage though. and also when planting smaller plants - it's good to create a mound with rock/gravel high in the center, low on sides and then fill up with soil - this is better then just a pit with rocks on the bottom. shallow french drain sloping away from the tree is prolly even better if you flood a lot. it could be shallow 12" V shaped laid in a grid. they make 'aquacells' now - sort of hard plastic crates that link up that you can sink into trenches for hard-surface stability. a la shipping plastic milk-crates, turned upside down. the deep holes on the drip line is a very good idea for clay actually when it is hard-dry - filled with gravel they are stable and you can water in water/fertilizer directly into holes for deep watering that is very beneficial and there's little water waste. however if you have heavy floods - the wells directly under the tree will hold the water for a very long time, especially if your water table is high. i guess it also depends on how thirsty the trees are and how much water they can consume. it would be good to know where your storm drain is too and whether you can drain the water thru a drain pipe someplace - either storm sewer or pond/ditch etc.

Yes, the vanities are in the corners in both (the one in our guest bathroom is as well). We basically stayed with the same layout(s) as the original(s) in each bathroom. Even though some pipes/fixtures were moved, it was still less involved than moving them to the opposite side of the room for example. It's working out fine for us. The med cab doors can't open flat in the hall bath or MB because we chose to have them swing open towards the side wall (because of planned towel bar placement in the MB and planned wall hangings over the toilets in each bathroom, and we didn't want to hit them with the mirrored doors). Not terribly inconvenient by any means, though I sometimes wish we had just a little more space so I could open the door fully--it's mirrored on the inside, too). The tops are the Sonia sinktops. We'd gotten the larger version for our guest bathroom, because we had a wider version of the vanity made for that room (we originally chose that vanity/sinktop because the f to b depth is narrow, and the guest bathroom is long and narrow). The sinks are actually bolted to the wall, and then there are bolts that also hold the sink in place on the vanities. While we could have gone with deeper (f to b) vanities/sinktops for the hall and MB's, we liked the sinktop and vanity design a lot, so decided to stick with those for these bathrooms as well. FYI, the sinks are shallow, but it hasn't been a problem for us. The vanities are on legs (with plastic feet/caps nailed to the bottoms so the wood doesn't sit directly on the floor). I'll have to look to see what the guy charged us, it was a long drawn-out process with him because of personal issues (on his part, not ours). I think we ended up giving him extra $ when all was said and done, but I know what we paid was about 1/2 the cost (or less) than the Sonia vanities. Also, we were able to customize the height (Sonia vanities were only 31.5" H or so, ours with the sinktops measure about 36" H), which allowed us to have deep enough drawers to store towels in the guest bathroom (we lost the closet in that bathroom when we put in a shower stall). The vanity in the guest bathroom is walnut with an espresso stain, hall bathroom is cherry with a bordeaux stain, and MB is cherry with an ebony stain.

you have a quality filter. electrostatic filters won't remove as much particulate matter as media filter. air sealing return & ductwork is a long term improvement. you want to stop 'stuff' from entering duct system & bypassing filter to collect on coil. Mastic is the best product for the long term seal. I like paint on mastics & Hardcast brand 1402 mastic tape. electrostatic filters & uv lights make lots of claims. but if ducts/returns are sealed... both are not necessary. you'll find that folks who sell & have bought these items think they are wonderful. having been in the unbiased field of work I'm in...the investment in mastic sealing & media filter is what really works. $40 per media filter twice a year...worth it to me. best of luck.