I don't know how to find threads that have gone past the # pages here on the tomato forum. As stated above I have tomatoes and peppers in 5-6 gallon pots. Some of my friends and neighbors have done the same because of our short growing season. Though I fertilize 2-3 times a month with 1/2 strength box fertilizer and 2-3 times with fish or seaweed fertilizer and compost tea. We all have under nourished plants though we have all tried different approaches to keep them healthy. We have all added more potting soil as well as soil from our compost piles.I have also added worm compost as my girlfriend has a 'worm ranch'. I'd found a thread back in June after my first surgery that had a fertilizing plan for Tomatoes in 5-10 gallon pots. I thought I had bookmarked it to my gardening folder but I guess I didn't (could have been the strong pills they had me on back then). I have read almost every page here at the tomato forum looking for it in case it was an answer to a question. (GRRRRR! Pulls more hair from balding head.) HELP! James

I'm happy to give you prices of my recent build - but according to the forum I am in a really cheap area and you are likely at the other end of the spectrum. Here are a couple examples - 1) 520 sq ft Diamond Brite plaster spa and pool, including 6 drain covers, 7 returns, 6 jets, 4 ft bench, 3 barstools and cleaning - total $2240. 2) Excavation - $2900 (125 ft dirt walk, no rocks, etc.) 3) Steel - $3200 - including raised spa, and a 43' long one foot high raised bond beam. 4) Plumbing - $8900 - about 150' gas run, 80 foot run to spa, minimum 2.5 in pipe, 1 water feature pump with about 60 foot run, 2 skimmers, 1 circulation pump, separate spa pump, separate blower, heater, salt cell, filter, included all Jandy valves. Price included the skimmers and drains, etc, known as "white goods." 5) $2500 for material for travertine coping, I did the labor myself. $10 for pain pills after doing the labor myself! 6) $2300 for tile labor - smart enough to hire it done after doing coping myself! (I had a lot of tile, including 1" mosaic in the footwell of the spa, and he tiled the whole raised wall (3 rows of tile at 43') - he also grouted all the coping. Tile material was about $1500, including 2 large dolphin mosaics) Took 3 guys 3 whole days. 7) About $4800 for 800 feet of concrete deck including 6 drains, 3 downspout tie ins, around 80 feet of drain pipe, foam backer between concrete and coping, various expansion joints, and a couple of 4'x2'x2' pads to hold water feature. 8) $2400 for spray deck, including building and spraying a 22'long 16" high seating wall out of cinder block. 9) Right around $5k for equipment all Hayward - two 1 1/2 hp pumps, one 2 hp pump, 400k btu heater, 48 sq ft de filter, with valve, Pentair salt cell, 2 hp blower for spa, 2 standard 500w pool lights, one spa light, Intermatic timer. About $3750 for electrical - hooked up everything, including 3 outlets along the back of the property, plus one at the outdoor kitchen. Also ran 4 switches to the inside of the house, and added an extra outlet to a room in the house. We had a separate 200w sub panel added, plus an outdoor motion light at the equip pad. This guy was a little expensive but VERY good. About $7000 for gunite - I think...3.5 to 6.5' deep, 43' raised wall one foot high, raised spa - 7' round and raised 6", 3 barstools, corner bench, 3 steps at 12 feet wide, and a 3'x12' pad for equipment with rebar and about 4" to 8" thick due to sloping yard. Again, this is in Katy, TX outside Houston. I started on Halloween 2008. Most was completed in about 3 weeks, although I waited until this past week to do spray deck. Hope this helps.

Lyfia, all great points you brought up, it really helps me plan and think. Honestly we have no set time frame for having this project done, since we have an up and running kitchen in the other part of the house and we are working on the new kitchen as time allows. I spent part of this week filling every little brad hole with putty and sanding everything. This weekend we should get a primer on and if dry time allows the walls and ceilings painted. I think we are at the point we are going to put in the cabinet order too. We still have the floor to put down, sand and seal. Tile the whole range wall, put up shelves. The wiring is done, we still need to run plumbing .. which means going under the house in the Summer .. YIKES! We live in copperhead country, not a fun prospect. Last year my DH got bit, we were very fortunate it was a 'dry bite' though! Valinsv, thanks for the help and suggestions, they are very helpful! Les, I love those 50's dinette chairs and if I was going to do a booth, I'd be all over them. I honestly don't think with a very rustic table I'd be happy with them ... even though they look super cushy to sit on. :) If I do go with these chairs I'd have seat pads made for them. I still haven't put my chair order in, I was all ready to go, now I'm hemming and hawing over details again. Part of me wants to go this way, part can really see everyone sacked out in a comfy booth and chairs playing board games and drinking coco. I know that everyone brought up very valid reasons to stay away from a booth, like people being inconvenienced by having to move to let the inside people out, etc. The thing is though we don't have those types of sit down and eat parties where I see it being a problem. When we entertain adults it's normally in a relaxed, casual setting outside on the deck or around the pool area, where we have large tables in each area. When it's just the five of us here, there would be plenty of seating that we could all spread out. I'm lucky that my girls really do get along, there is not alot of she's looking at me, touching me, breathing my air problems. *LOL* I grew up with 3 siblings, I know how that goes, we spent a lot of time bickering. ;) When it's the kids and their friends having snacks, I don't see it being a problem where the kids would feel inconvenienced. So in short I'm still stuck, I think! *LOL* Sometimes I can see right away the path I want to follow, sometimes I start second guessing myself. *sigh* Normally my Husband will chime in with his feeling on the matter and we'll work it out in a way that we are both relatively happy .. this time he really doesn't seem to care, well other than wanting me to make a plan so we know how to finish the room. ;)

Kraftymom, thank you and you are so right about painting, it is about fun and expressing yourself. You know I never notice imperfections in other people's work just my own. It's true we are our own worst critics. Why is it we have the need to point out the mistakes (most people would never notice if we didn't)? Our teacher has a "rule" in our class...even though she has to keep reminding us of it a lot...."You are not allowed to criticize your own work". Now who in the heck would criticize someone else's??? But really if you don't quite like how something is working on your piece she will try to let you know what you can do to correct it and it usually works :). Using too little paint and too small of a brush is usually my BIG problem :) Luthien Thank you for your nice comments. I too would love to get lost in a nice peaceful place like that, every time I paint one I think I'd just love to jump right in. I'm a little silly right there with ya. Happy Painting, Diane