Construction grade plastic (used to cover your windows?) is not designed for prolonged use outdoors under strong UV light. It will break down very quickly and need replacing very quickly whether you inflate or not. Greenhouse grade poly has UV protection in it to prevent it from breaking down so quickly. My poly is 6 mil which is plenty thick and sturdy. Farmtek sells a greenhouse film, with UV inhibitors that is comparable to what I use. The 5.2 oz sample you tried is not appropriate for greenhouse covering. It is for roll up curtains. Do yourself a favor and use poly designed for greenhouses and for growing plants, no matter what other techniques or methods you eventually decide to go with. There are other advantages, in addition to those already mentioned -They diffuse the light which gets it to the bottom leaves of plants more effectively and filters out UV which reduces the chance of scorching leaves inside the gh. Also, greenhouse poly doesn't tear as easily as construction grade plastics. It can be easily repaired if it happens to get punctured for whatever reason with patching tape made specifically for gh poly. Patching is also easier when the sheet is nice and taught, as it would be if inflated. The method you are describing, hanging one layer below the rafters was addressed and commented on in a post about a year ago. To do this requires a lot more labor than the traditional method of inflating two layers. In the inflation method, both layers of poly are laid on top of the structure and only fastened around the edges. Then air is pumped in between, creating a pillow of air with all the advantages described above-with no need for mesh. Every time you puncture the plastic, you create a weak point. Nailing though lath, which is how I understand you plant to attach the poly, will create lots of weak points along the rafters underneath. The lath will also be tricky to remove and reuse in subsequent reskins. BTW- When securing the poly with lath along the edges, roll the poly around the lath twice. This will help transfer the holding power from the nails to the entire edge of the lath and make it much more secure. It will also help create a more air tight seal for inflating : ). For a future upgrade from lath, I recommend the "wiggle" or "zig zag" wire system. Once the base extrusion is installed, it is very easy to attach and remove the poly. You can easily retrofit this system anytime you reskin. For small jobs and for quick installation, I still use 1/2" staples and batten tape to fasten poly to wood. Considering that you may even be able to get 5 to 10 years of life out of good poly, you may not even need to change to glass or plexi. Both of those have considerable disadvantages to inflated poly IMHO. The upgrade to make would be to polycarbonate as mentioned by tsmith earlier. I did some quick math: at 18" spacing a 2x 4 on edge (1.5 inches) will create up to 9% shade if you include the end rafters in the calculation. That is significant shade right off the bat! The effect would only be amplified during the winter when shadows might be wider/longer and the sun is not nearly as strong nor the days nearly as long as the summer. The movement of the sun will not have much if any effect on the overall shadow/shade effect. Nearly every plant will experience close to 100% shade for a short period of time, several times a day (for each rafter shadow). Also the wire mesh: I calculated that 14 gauge welded wire mesh with 2 inch openings would add another 5% or so shade. F. DeBaggio

Outsmarting the tree rats (squirrels) around my house is a full time job. This past spring I hit on a new idea. When I plant a container I invert an empty wire hanging basket over the container and the plant gets sun and can be watered but the squirrels can't dig in it. Another idea: I bring in a lot of plants to "over winter" under lights in my garage. I have so many that it is hard to reach my hand under the lights (4 shop lights) to the middle for watering. So I bought a pump sprayer with a long wand and it works great! In late winter I add a little liquid Dawn detergent, few drops, to each gallon of water and not only does the soil get wet easier but the worms that are waiting to hatch into distructive pets just don't hatch. Don't know what it costs me to run those four shop lights all winter but I don't care. It is a small price to pay to be able to "garden" every weekend in the garage. Many people have mentioned that they mark their outdoor plants with a "permanent Sharpie". In my experience there isn't a "permanent Sharpie", they all fade and quickly too. A grease pencil/china marker or expensive "no fade" garden center marker are the only markers I have found that won't disappoint you by fading. Eight years ago I decided to learn about gardening so I tapped into my local library. I checked out nearly every book they had on gardening and learned so much. The Gardenweb forums are also a wealth of information and entertainment. There is always something new to learn and I appreciate all of you who take the time to write in your ideas. One last idea from me...I keep a small notebook on my computer table and jot down any idea I find that's new and I will want to try. Little pieces of paper get lost but I always know where my notebook is and also use it when I order "on line" so I will remember the name of the company and the order date. Tina or Trowelgal

@strawchicago z5 Straw, I will get some pictures later today of my Jubilee's. We had torrential rains all yesterday and last night, so all of my plants are a little heavy right now including all the rose flowers that are blooming ;( Once they dry off and perk up from being so close to the ground I'll try to get some pictures, The 2 I have are looking really beautiful though with big fluffy magenta flowers. I took time to smell them all this morning for you. I'm not the best with scent descriptions, but I wanted to try for you- Olivia Austin rose- not very strong scent....can't comment Imogen - typical rose scent (to me) Carding Mill - Beautiful scent, fruity, almost tropical but not too fruity like my Westerlands. Jubilee Celebration - I really like this smell now that I got up close to them to sniff the flowers. It is fruity like Carding Mill, but with a strong kind of lemon zest scent to it. Lemon zest might not sound good, but this is my favorite smell of all the Austin's so far I think. If someone told me a flower smelled strongly like lemon zest, I probably wouldn't love the idea. So maybe that's not the best description of it but I'll try it again later and see if I can come up with a better description. I'm going to order some more of the rose though, I really like it :)

I may have to get rid of the lounger. It's 30+ years old and I could never replace it for what I paid for it, and I like it, hence I keep hanging on to it. I could replace it with any number of seating options that wouldn't need cushions or would look good cushions-optional, but I mostly try to keep using what I have if I can . . . but I'm downsizing. I do like having it where I have it. Maybe I should just sacrifice the cushions to the gods this summer . . . but I priced replacements, they are not cheap, particularly ones made from good materials. So that's not going to work, I don't have the money to buy cheap ones every year or so. I've ruined a couple of cheap pillows by trying to wash them. I don't have the skills to replace the cushioning material. That would be one option, having ones with stuffing and covers that could be washed. I have a few pillows on our screened in porch that work out great that way, the cushions wash up great, the stuffing doesn't come apart. I can use bleach for the mold. But they don't get constant sun and rain exposure, they are under a roof. Just a little dampness over the summer.