I can only guess, but I think the first place has a staff, the second place was a two man show. Funny, one of the gardeners is a t.v. personality here and as he walked toward me, I thought, "hmm...I know him from somewhere..." and I almost asked him how we knew each other. Luckily I figured it out before I embarassed myself. He's a news anchor. The wisteria was very neat and tidy. It wrapped around the side of the house held away from the shingles by about a foot. Saucy

Generally ones in the flats look a bit "leggy" that can be caused by too much heat for the available light during the day and too warm at night. Notice the seedlings on the lower shelf, (in the jiffy things) how they are skinny and leaning... Also I see drops of water on the tomato plants, try bottom watering. I see you have a rubbermaid container in there. The lids are great for bottom watering. Pinch off the dead and dying leaves from the tomatoes, when you transplant them plant them so deep that the dirt is just below the good leaves. The stem grows roots that way, gives you a really good tomato plant. Try putting an oscilating fan on the shelf below your cordless drill. Seedlings grow with thicker, stronger stems if they are wind blown.

Definitely a learning experience, birdhope, and a very enjoyable one. Weatherstripping - I applied it to the side panels this week, planned to caulk the roof panels, but really like the way the w.s. went on and works! Insulation - found 1" foil-faced foam insulation at HD and installed on north wall and rear 1/3 of side walls (don't want to block morning or afternoon sun). Solar pool cover question - It finally arrived and is (mostly) installed. It's large enough to "gift-wrap" the gh, so I have a question ... how does one vent the structure? Obviously, the roof vent won't open without slitting the pool cover, but that must cut down significantly on the effectiveness of the cover. Heater question - still debating whether to get a forced hot air, convection or oil-filled radiator type. Somehow I'd expect the latter two to provide a more consistent and gentle heat, and be less drying than the first. Any comments? In the meantime, we've found a carefully-placed 500-watt worklight keeps the frost at bay. 30* outside last night and the inside temp was 41, with incomplete weatherstripping/caulking and no pool cover yet. Benches - took a backseat to "winterizing" efforts, but one is partially complete and looks great. A local fence mfr. sells their seconds of 3x8 white cedar picket fencing for $12 apiece. Cutting the pickets back flush with the crosspieces yields a 22"x8' shelf. Thermal mass - still painting the accumulated 2-liter soda bottles and 1-gallon milk jugs. (This is the one area in which my two younger children have been most helpful, being more than willing to empty as many soda bottles as I'd like.) I read somewhere that dark blue or red will absorb almost as much heat as black, but still reflect some useful light back to the plants ... will try some of each out of curiousity. Noticed also difference in soil temps in green pots vs. white pots (no big surprise, actually, just never thought about it). Except for the impeded view due to the pool cover, it was delightful in there today. Diane

Hmmmm. Can't remember now if it's Plimouth or Sturbridge. Either way, I think one of those would be fun. We aren't "museum" people, but we like seeing how people used to live. I'd love to have spent more time in Salem on my first whiz-by trip. I think we ate lunch there, and that was all. I recall a very quaint downtown area with brick streets (?). Lot of witch museums there, and we stopped at a junk store. :-) I'll have to get out the journal my niece kept on that trip. We stopped somewhere in a very quaint place along a river and ate lunch. WOW - that narrows it down, huh? LOL! As much as I'd like to have unlimited time, one day in DC and one in NYC was enough for me the first time. It was very much a "been there, saw that" type of trip. We had a hoot! Plymoth Rock was my only disappointment...I somehow thought it would be a huge rock out in the water. *rolling eyes*