For as long as I can take it, and usually every day. Sometimes 15 minutes, sometimes 3-4 hours total, but that would be in several spurts with breaks, maybe a meal in between. That would include everything from pulling whatever weeds I see, to watering, to grooming/deadheading, fixing stray grass coming through a border, fertilizing. All of this stuff I really think of as puttering, not working, because I like doing it. Most of my perennials are shrubs or other plants that don't need much done to them. There are the occasional heavy chores that are actual work, but they're fairly rare and well spaced. I no longer have to do the mowing, so that's made a HUGE difference in time and effort spent elsewhere. I find this has me tackling more tougher tasks more often, trying things I wouldn't have felt like I had time for before. Awesome! But, I can't go at it like I used to in my younger years. I still get asked for my ID but if you look closely, you'll see the gray hairs, bifocals, arthritic thumbs. Don't think I'll ever acclimate to the oppressive heat down here although I prefer to live here. Thank God for A/C! Going outside in summer here is like going outside in winter up north. If you stay too long, it could kill ya.

-Sararock, Lol! I'm always calling myself a slacker when it comes to weeding and doing things I don't like in the garden! But moving plants is kind of fun so I don't mind doing that ;-) Technically, fall and spring are the best times to move things around. The cooler and usually wetter conditions make it easier for the plant to recover and re-establish itself than if it were moved in the full heat of summer. But I've never been one to follow rules ;-) It was last summer that I became fully annoyed with how the garden was looking, so decided to get things moved around right then and there! Of course, it was hot out and after I moved everything they started to wilt terribly and look as if they were on the brink of croaking. I was left scrambling to keep everything hydrated and even got out a big beach umbrella to shade a few plants, lol. But it felt good to get it all accomplished and everything came back nicely this spring. CMK

I fought this for years and here is where it lead me. Using synthetics can and will produce more as well as more dependable results 100% of the time IF you know exactly what you are doing. That means if you don't hold a degree in the field,it will be hit and miss even asking questions of people who hold the degrees and know exactly what they are doing. Problem is the expert must see and touch the plant,know history of soil&run fingers through it and know precisly what has been done including but not limited to,daily weather,amts & timing of water and nutrents up to that point. Organic is the way to go for even for the most dedicated gardeners. Organic is more forgiving of neglect and mistakes eventhough the mistakes and neglect will reduce production,it's not intolerable amounts. Non-organic mistakes often result in drastic results up to and including 100% loss. An often incountered one is where fertilizer is applied then miscalculation of weather and/or moisture occurs. Another is where insectiside is used to rid a pest that is effecting a plant by eating leaves or sucking some juice but not killing it nor ruining all fruit. Benificials on neighboring plant is eradicated and a pest that was being kept in check or shows up suddenly mushrons and ruins one or more crops. Very few things you do organicly will result in such sweeping results,good or bad. The soil should always be in transition for the lack of a better term. This addresses fertilize applications. In any container or plot , I try to insure there are diverse types and stages of finished compost. That insures that as micros are consumed replacements are being produced. I believe far too much gravity is afforded N being tied up by deterioating matter. Dumping a lot of fresh material like saw dust with huge amounts of exposed surface will definitly starve plants until rate of decomposition slows. A case where there is negitive results but usualy recovers enough to produce a fair to poor crop. Turning under green cover like vetch can realy supply season long crop fuel. I just cannot stress enough how important it is to understand your plants and that will happen with experience and experience will come sooner by asking inteligent questions of those willing to help. In an effort of convincing sceptics that it is possiable to read plants,I offer some off topic evidence. Try this out if you know a rancher,not nessarly an old crusty one, a cowperson in their 20s is quite capiable. Drive him/her to a herd they have never been around and without leaving the seat of the vehicle they can tell you; very near the age,the sex,weight and breed/mixture of breed for each animal while average person is deciding what color they are. If alowed to walk near them (many cattle dislike and will run away from strangers) closly estimate stage of pregnancy while our novice wonders why the one giving birth within a week is not fat as the one who has 3 months to go. Think about human faces. Isn't it amazing that we can differinate all of them. Practice!

Here are the factors that raise the fees and much of it has to do with the physical plant of the complex itself 5 buildings built between 1838-1840 1 1860, 1 1880s, 1 highrise (8 stories) 1922. Developed as apartments in 1965 with a common boiler HVAC 2-pipe system (Heat Oct-April, AC May-Sept). Outside, inground pool added 1965. Early condo conversion 1981. So the utility fees of water, gas, sewer, heat, AC are calculated by # of cubic feet of the unit, and #of bedrooms, and split up since it is One system for 68 units in 8 buildings. This is the UTILITY fee, about 1/3 of the whole fee. There is a tremendous amount of common space with exterior windows and such, the pool has to be maintained, and we are required by law to have private garbage pickup and maintenance of public sidewalk areas (shoveling etc.) This is the COMMON FEES part of the whole fee. For a decade and a half of the condo era Most of the Units were rented out by their owners as investments and there was a very strong board of non-occupant owners who deferred maintenance, and preferred to pay out of pocket by specific assessment for repairs that came along rather than maintaining much of a Reserves Fund. The reserves fund was actually illegally underfunded. I, for example, was the FIRST owner to occupy my unit since it became an apartment. From 1965-2002 it was a rental, it was in 1965 original condition. (I am not sure it had been painted more than once in that time) Once the physical plant hit 40 much of the piping for the HVAC pipes failed all at once and we had $100K worth of replacement expenses and damages in a very short period of time. The final third of the current fee is to Fund the Reserves which were nil. So one third of it pays the utilities and part of another third pays for the pool whereas in most condos in the city except some hotel-highrise conversions everything is separate and the pool must be joined separately. Take the utility one-third out, and it's in line with a lot of buildings, take the reserves-building out and it's inline with a lot of buildings but add it all together, and its not. Plus I have heard Realtors tell lookers that the condo fee is the Common Fee and that as far as they know everything else is extra, which is false, but a lot of Realtors are not great about doing their homework, especially some of the newer ones who got licensed during the bubble, when being a Realtor here was easy, and now all the sudden they are finding it is a lot of work and one of those jobs you have to love.