i have no problem deferring on z6 planting times .... but that was not my real point .... i am picturing this tree.. smaller than a pencil ... and how you protect them in 8 separate locations around the garden .... my point was .. all grouped together.. protection is easy .... and then there is the winter dryness ... if applicable... can you keep these SIX INCH BABES properly watered all winter long???? ... or would they be better protected otherwise .... are you z6'ers ... suggesting that a 6 month old.. 6 inch tree.. is equivalent to a pot grown or ball and burlap.. tree of say 3 to 5 years old .... 3 to 5 feet tall ... ???? though i usually lecture peeps that plants are not their babies ... in this case.. THESE ARE LITERALLY BABIES ... and i will stick to protecting them .. this winter ... if you plant .. get rid of any media.. bare root and plant in native soil .... do you have snow cover all winter????? good luck ken ps: best solution.. experiment .... plant 4 .. store 4 .... see what happens ....

We have a lot of clay here too, it's really a pain when you go through a drought followed by heavy rains because it can move a lot under those conditions. If the decking is demo'd they can indeed drill dowels into the pool walls, it won't affect the plaster because they're drilling into the back side of the walls. Unless they use a bit that is too long and it goes all the way through! Here are some pics so you can see what I'm describing, in this first picture they've set the steel and about every 36" they left a rod extending vertically. They will later be bent down and will be cast into the decking. In this picture you can see that they've bent the bars down and then placed additional reinforcing for the deck over them. This was after it had rained and the bars were partially into the sand, but before the decking was poured the bars were placed on chairs to raise them above the sand. Ideally the reinforcing should be centered in the decking slab. You can also see in this picture where they installed dowels into the existing sidewalk in the bottom of the picture. They drilled into the sidewalk and installed dowels about every 36". This is similar to what they should have done on your flatwork. This is a finished pic, mainly to show the mastic joints. There should be a mastic joint between the flatwork and pool coping, and also between the new decking and existing decking or sidewalks (if there are any). In our case you can see (barely) a mastic joint on the backside of the coping and also where the decking meets the existing sidewalk (existing sidewalk is to the right, it's a slightly darker color).

aries61 - have you ordered your cabinets yet, or are you still in the planning stages? akchicago's point was very good and you may want to start another thread to solicit input into the size of your sump/capture area. Here's what we did for our wood hood with Conestoga panels. DH built a plywood box and secured it to the joists (I forget how). The cutouts are simply to reduce weight. Here you can see the stainless steel surround we added to the inside: This shot shows the sides of the hood. I'm including this as an example of a 'custom' wood hood and would welcome feedback on what's 'wrong' with ours. (I continue to think something is off with the design but LOVE the functionality - large capture area).

Agartta, ha ha you crack me up. I was going to say “it’s not how big it is.............. Maria Elena, No, I had no issues with growth last year. The larger plant with the seed pod in the photo above was one of our own seeds we grew through our Winter and even with the cold, those seedlings still grew well. Our growing season this year started with heatwave conditions from the get go. The tiny seedling and the 4 varieties planted at the same time, (Rinoa’s seed) grew very slow from the beginning. (All four different varieties behaved the same.) Our babies had to adapt quickly to the heat, but I believe this is what slowed them from the beginning. As for fertiliser - we don’t fertilise our babies regularly, they usually get enough nutrients from the soil mix. But, as these grew slower, we did supplement them occasionally with a little fertiliser, (one with a slightly higher nitrogen content). Fertiliser did not seem to help with growth. We do also, feed all our babies with seaweed solution (seasol) while they are small. As for whether it harms the baby flowering early, I don’t know, but I will let you know if I notice anything different with this one. I agree that it takes a lot of energy from the plant to flower, as it also does for growing seed pods. But, I am sooo curious to see if this little one can flower....so fingers crossed. :) Here’s a photo of the seed/variety this little one is from. (Rinoa’s photo)