One good tip I learned (from trial & error, then much research) is to plant and harvest things at the proper time for your growing zone- even in places like california where people might tell you "oh you can grow anything there all year round"... not true! some plants are warm season, some are cool season, some like to overwinter, some are annual, some are perennial, some are biennial, etc. Research each plant, and also don't assume plants that seem similar will have the same needs, for example peas and beans both come in bush and vining varieties and grow in pods, but peas like cool weather while beans like it hot- except for a few certain beans that actually do prefer it cool... Also, potatoes can tolerate cool weather while sweet potatoes don't. Kale & lettuces grow best in cool weather while chard seems to do fine in hot or cool. You get the idea. If you plant things at the wrong time you'll be wasting your time and the seeds- I tried lettuce when it was too late to be planting it and in the heat of summer it went straight to bolt. I've planted zucchini and tomatoes when it was too cold for them and they grew poorly and didn't produce fruit. Harvest times are just as important as planting times- I planted radishes once and they didn't seem to get big enough by harvesting time so I thought I could just let them keep growing for a while longer- but found out that if you leave them in the ground too long they get tough and too spicy and shrivel up instead of getting bigger! Also it may be tempting to let a zucchini get huge, thinking it will just provide more food when you let a fruit get 2 feet long... No! Harvest them young & tender and about the size they sell them in the grocery store (or smaller), any larger and you get a hard shell, lots of seeds, and very little (and quite tasteless) flesh. Moral of these stories is to research each fruit or veggie you want to grow & follow the "directions", it will mean the difference between success & failure! Also- healthy soil is #1 important thing for plants - no chemical fertilizer! Compost is your best friend. Mulch is your other best friend- use what is available & free- leaves & pine needles are what I use. Good luck!!!

Hey Katob, I looked at Wal-Mart and they only have the Burgundy and Pink and green Cordylines and I decided to only get a fully green one that would be Cordyline Australis. I have seen that they are the hardiest Cordy. I think the others are 40-50 F at the lowest, and, I am not sure about heating my greenhouse. I am thinking of using a small shelter in the greenhouse and adding heat with lights or a small heater, BUT, I don't want to get anything too tender/tropical also. At least with the Windmill palm baby that I have IF I can keep it in a zone 7b to 8a, it should be fine, and the desert plants are all hardy to zone 5-6. I've got a Cholla tree, Yucca Rostrata, Agaves Parryi and an Agave Neomexicana X ??? I forget the hybrid that is mixed with the Neomexicana Agave. I've had my last Rostrata get too much rain last growing season, so, I have them staying in the greenhouse. I have a Yucca Recurvifolia and another Yucca with the big more fleshy leaves growing in a raised bed with mostly a gritty mix, they are fine despite too much rain. I may need to eventually move my Cholla tree to an in-ground bed, possibly the same bed with the Yucca's I see on the plant tag that it gets about 5 ft wide and even taller. For now, it will be in a medium sized pot. I am kinda wondering about how much to water my Yucca Rostrata. The soil is well draining, BUT, I wonder how moist to keep it. I guess dryish. I used mostly "palm and cactus" soil The Miricle grow stuff. My other stuff is grit, perlite and the bagged Palm and Cactus soil. The Wm that had the Burgundy Cordyline also had one that was green, but, not a normal average green, it was NOT Australis, though. I want another Australis, I may go to Ebay and look. Our Big box stores don't have much to pick from now.

I've no idea whether has to do with tipping, just my subjective spontaneous thoughts I was cleaning houses too in my youth(interesting how all these random jobs enrich one's experience), I know what a hard labor it is, and I forgive my cleaning lady driving me nuts with coming whenever she pleases, etc, because she's a nice person and a good cleaning lady and we grew attached. And of course I give her/her helpers Christmas gift and Easter gift yet a great stylist-it's a level or artistry there. it's rarer. I embarrassed myself once by kissing a hand of my previous hair stylist in NYC(the one who recommended the current salon)...I don't know what I was thinking, I was just so happy and grateful to him I took his hand and kissed it. He looked very touched but very overwhelmed. The public was slightly puzzled)) I like my cleaning lady but I'm not kissing her hand when overcame by emotion)) Her hands have less of this magic power of transformation. I had several great stylists in my life-I lost them only when either they moved or I moved away, and life taught me to ask for their reference on the next stylist wherever I go, in within their powers of course to give me that info. In NYC I had to take a train and then subway to get to my stylist Here, it's an hour drive without traffic and minimum two hours with. It's very tiresome to even to go there, to that salon of theirs. Yet I go(much rarer than I should, because far away, and to save money), and I tip, and as you already know- I sometimes do silly things like kissing a stylist's hand in public)) It's not like I'm crazy to tip, of course, it's a lot of money. And they're much more affluent folks, these salon owners, than I could ever be. Like, they don't need this tip to survive. At all. Not on this top of the mountain they were able to get to. But they're special kind of artists. That's how it is. Great stylist-whole different level. It's a very hard and often ungrateful job that takes years and passion to master and there's huge talent involved, in their case, a talent I was lucky to meet and am not about to loose until it depends on me It's customarily to tip here-okay then I'll tip It's not customarily to kiss one's hand)) especially-not for a woman to kiss a man's hand. In public. lol. I'm just chanelling my appreciation in a culture-appropriate way)))

@socks, thanks for posting this, I was thinking of doing so. To be effective, there should be a tight fit between the mask and face. If your breath is escaping above, below, or out the sides, it is not providing optimal protection. Using the nose wire is important to form the mask to the face. Interesting adding a layer of nylon hose was found the be quite effective in improving face mask seal and protection. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/22/840146830/adding-a-nylon-stocking-layer-could-boost-protection-from-cloth-masks-study-find To all who are masking, thank you!