Thank you so much docmom for basically holding my hand so far! lol i watered the seed trays in the greenhouse today :) there was condensation and some seemed dried out a little...and omg, i bought like 3 or 4 books on seed saving and seed planting different seeds. the one contains info on planting alot of different varieties and care on each plant and i keep it close with me when new seeds arrive!! I also can not wait to attempt to save more varieties this year and have much more to offer in fall if all goes right!! I've also informed several family members, if this all goes good, i might have extras to give away. also might do some flemarket or yarden sales in the future...I really love gardening and I'm so glad I am taking time to do a hobby that I love so much again! I would love to find a job in gardening in the future or just to sell a few plants at fleamarkets and stuff. The garden is fun but it's also more enjoyable when you have people ooo and ahhhh over your plants and are asking you questions or ideas. :) : ) :) Thank you so much! ~michael P.S. Even without sprouts, I am thoroughly enjoying this new project and experience!

Project : New Estate development in Ross, Marin CA. We are the masonry subcontractor for a portion of the job that came under the generals contract to rebuild a stone wall and columns that were demo'ed at the start of project in order to bring large earthmoving equipt. onto site. The remainding portion of our scope of work comes under a separate contract directly with homeowner whereas we then become the general contractor. In the beginning there were two sets of plans drafted up by the Architect and the Site Engineer . In one set of plans the stone columns are inline with the stone wall and in the alternate set of plans the stone columns are offset of the stonewall by 3 feet . My office was given the set of plans that had the columns Offset . We bid to rebuild 3 new sets of columns. We submitted a bid of $6000.00 to rebuild a set of 3 columns. The General Contractor enclosed a $ 800 credit to the clients to rebuild the columns , ( this was at the start of job prior to him putting together his full team of subs) Big discreptency. Major hold-up of final payment ( $$$) to GC, lots of not so happy people. While at the P + B department on Friday reviewing city codes compliance and resubmitting for changes in the project I see the original set of plans submitted & immediately notice the Columns in Question shown in a different location than the set of plans that we were given to bid off of. A series of phone calls were made by me to : Architect, Site Engineer, General Contractor, Planning Dept. and Clients and upon inspection of the old wall + duel sets of conflicting plans I was able to figure out a way that the General Contractor could have the columns rebuilt for far less than $ 6000. and in a very timely manner. In the mean time in a previously phone call earlier on that week when the sh*t hit the fan I broke down the bid into line items and also resourced the materials that were no longer being quarried thus easily and cheaply available. Yeah, its a long story that has lots of twists and turns but that is the nature of being a Project Manager even when you are not fully overseeing the complete project from the beginning of the job. In the instance above I was more of a Facilitator during the last two thirds of the job and then full Project management kicked in as the terms of the contracts turned tables. In the end, we have a great working relationship with the clients and an excellent relationship with the General Contractor. The GC and the Clients still have some beefs with one another but as far as our standing goes, we are in good shape in all of the camps. Cliff notes of this project- General Contractor just saved himself 5000 out of pocket , had several hours of resource information handed to him gratis and will be signed off the job as soon as the columns are rebuilt. Facilitation is a beautiful thing.

In my humble opinion, the homeowner assumes the role of GC by hiring the designer separately from the installer, and is ultimately responsible for the results. He/She assumed responsibility for the landscape plan compliance. The designer should point out the pitfalls of taking on this role and should attempt to sell the owner on paying him/her to supervise. If successful in selling this additional service (perhaps for a percentage of the bulk), then if the contractor insists on installing a plant that is not on the plan, it IS the designer's fault for allowing it to happen, and he/she is financially responsible for the remedy--in my humble opinion. I am not a lawyer; I am an MBA with 22 years experience dealing with engineers, contracts/specs and crews, as well as a garden design hobbyist.

She can be mean and difficult to get along with at times. I'm not sure what to do. Family members and others know her all too well to get mixed up in a project with her. This is one of those cases in which you need to be realistic about how much you can "fix" the world for her. She doesn't help much, being a crab. So to some degree, she will reap what she has sown. And we all deserve to, for the most part. Those of us who are communicative and reasonable and even nice will find others who will help us when we need it. Those of us who are crabs, etc., will not. Do the best you can, and simply know that you will not be able to find a perfect solution for this, and that it's NOT YOUR fault. Get as good a GC as you can, ask him to check w/ you weekly, and let her cope w/ the worries she has. (My next-door neighbor was a crab when she was younger, apparently. Plus, she became estranged from her sister, never reconciled, so she doesn't know any nieces or nephews. And she and her DH never had kids. And now that she's frail and not so quick mentally, she's alone--she has aides who stay with her, a stranger manages her finances, only a few neighbors--the ones she was mostly pleasant to--stop in due to basically wanting to do the right thing. But she's alone. If she'd been willing to be pleasant to her sister, she might have a niece of nephew who'd help her now, or care about her. She doesn't even know where they LIVE. She is reaping what she has sown. I keep thinking how sad it is, and wishing I could fix it, but the person who could have fixed that was her, not me. And the time to have fixed it was long ago, not now.)