An Update: Handy Folks! A Good Morning To Up-Grade My No End 24/7 Fireplace Grate Matters. The challenge is I have burned many Grates due to 24/7 burning since 1978. After years of building/burning standard grates. I went to 2 Stainless 2” Dia pipes just above the floor (as “Dog Irons”) opened to the opposite side of the Once Double sided Fireplace (with a steel back to one side now). The new challenge is to hold coal overnight but remove ash for the New Day. Taking some of the mixture and leaving some worked but I felt I could do better. Better was the idea of a grate that would let the ash fall lower than the coals and pivot the grate up to shovel out the ash. That worked but my non-stainless expanded metal was giving me 1-2 years. I went to Cat-Walk Material allowing less coal to fall. The steel vs stainless Grate was still about a two yr cycle. Today I designed the grate with the Cat-Walk to be bolted vs welding to the main structure. The center is basically what burns to be replaced. Last, I added ears to pivot the Grate up holding coals while I shovel ash from below the grate and coals. The rear pivot ears can be adjusted and fires just showed to be lowered 2-3”above the floor (vs my original mistake of straight ears as the front. Lowering the Grate between the bottom/top Stainless tubes will support coals and 10” dia wood. What’s Next For This Good Heat Fun Project!!! No Blowers, “Again”, heat in basic sized living areas will find you on moderate days (cold nights/mornings/days vs freezing). Good fun and exercise if you have a good source of wood!

Palmmandan -- Nice windwill. I hope it comes through the winter OK for you, given the types of temperatures we're having this year. I hope you don't go into sticker shock when you get your next DTE electric bill, though. Just so you know, you don't have to keep it THAT warm inside the structure -- as long as you keep the temps above about 20 degrees F, you won't have anything to worry about. Between 10 and 20, you would probably have some frond damage, but quick recovery in the spring and summer. Also, be really carefull to avoid overheating in late winter, if the weather breaks. The sun gets much more intense in March, and on a 50 degree day outside, a structure can hit 100 plus degrees in the afternoon, although probably less likely since the outer layer of yours at this point is foamboard -- I had that problem with some plants covered with dark-colored tarps and plastic, though. I glad the Subdivision Nazis didn't win. I hate busybodies that think everyone else's business is their business. I personally don't like some of the things neighbors do in their yards (one collects junk vehicles and has about 8 to 10 at any one time), and I'm sure they don't like things I do in mine, but it's none of my business what goes on in their yard, and vice versa. That being said, though, from your experiences, my suggestion for next year is to just cosmetically "gild the lily" on your structure -- pretty it up somehow, maybe with some siding or outdoor paneling/plywood painted a neutral color, lattice, etc., then maybe decorate it with some holiday greenery and lights, that sort of thing. Just to shut them up a bit, because the problem with these types of people, I've found, is that once they get a bug under their skin, they keep looking for things to pick on. And, the extra layer of paneling/plywood, etc. would add extra protection for the palm tree. One other bit of unsolicited advice. I USED to have some nice windwills that I overwintered outdoors in a structure very similar (but smaller, since they were younger trees then) to yours, but I had to give up on that due to persistent voles which would get in there every winter, no matter HOW MUCH poison mouse bait I put in there, and chew the plants quite badly. I actually had a really beautiful European Fan Palm which overwintered nicely a couple of years. The final straw was when I opened up the structure for the spring a couple of years ago and found just a collection of E. Fan palm fronds -- the voles had completely eaten the trunk from ground level up. I found it very frustrating to know that I could protect the plants against the climate, but I couldn't keep them safe from rodents. I lost several other plants to the same problem, some nice figs, a persimmon, a pomegranite, and even a large bottlebrush, which really surprised me since it is an "aromatic" wood that smells lemony. All of that being said, I have a REALLY bad vole problem, and have had for years. Hopefully voles aren't so bad in Roseville, but I know from the news that rats are an issue there, so just throw some poison rodent bait in the structure periodically, and keep an eye out for rodent problems. I dug my windmill palms up, repotted them, and now overwinter them in my garage. Problem is, they're getting awfully big now, hard to move in and out, and they need more root room, but if I bump them up to bigger pots, I really won't be able to move them at all, since they're already in enormous tubs. I may HAVE to resort to some structure type solution and take my chances again with the rodents. Good luck with things, Dan. Keep us posted how it goes with the palm, the wife, and the neighbors. Dennis Oakland County

A short reply from Chicago -- visiting family! Your Castilleja is a parasite, Jennifier. When you plant the seeds plant them next to a native grass or something like that. Or they seem to like Artemisia too. That'll help improve your chances that they'll make it. With the perennials, I cut my ratty looking ones all the way down to the ground. Anything that's finished blooming, like the mums, or anything that just doesn't look good anymore, I cut down to about an inch above the ground. You saw how far I was cutting the shasta daisy down. It's grown lots of nice new foliage again now that should look good most of the winter. If you cut your mums down all the way, they'll start to form new foliage at the base, if they haven't already. IÂd cut the catmint all the way down too. Anything thatÂs naturally evergreen, like your geraniums, you shouldnÂt need to do anything at all to. And since you should probably have snow cover most of the winter, you really shouldnÂt need to mulch anything. Snow is one of the best mulches there is! My garden is pretty much closed down for the year. The tomatoes are cut and hung in the garage. The squash, cukes, and "hot" eggplants are cut down and cleaned up. The only thing left is the beets, carrots, and parsnips that are waiting for their winter covering of maple leaves---as soon as my neighbor rakes their's up and I get them! And my leeks are still out in the ground too. How long can you leave leeks outside? This is the first year I've grown them. I covered them when I left on my last trip--just in case, and I'll be back home again by Tuesday, so I can cover them again or dig them if I need to this time. When you dig them, they need to be stored in the fridge, donÂt they? My perennials I'll cut down slowly over the winter, on nice days, unless we get another blizzard winter like we did a couple years ago. That year they didn't get cut down till spring--when I could actually see them again! The things that finished blooming earlier in the year were cut down then and are mostly looking pretty nice again for winter. My roses will get cut down to a little over a foot, but they're still blooming like mad. It looks like we're gonna get a hard freeze this week, so I'll cut them whenever I get around to it after that. Oh! I dug my sweet potato vine to bring in to try to keep over winter again this year. Have 2 in pots and got a couple nice big tubers that I'm gonna dust with sulfur and try keeping in the garage this year. How do you store all your dahlia tubers over winter, Digit? And I managed to get a little chunk chopped off of my purple fountain grass and have it in a pot to save me having to buy more of that expensive stuff next spring too. And I have Perilla magilla (sp) cuttings rooting in water to stick in pots for some starts for next spring too. Sure wish I had more sunny windows to keep stuff it! My short reply got long! WhatÂs new! Gotta...

Turn on your Houzz messaging: Up on the upper right, click on "Your Houzz" , then click on the white Edit Profile box, next go to advanced settings (list on the left) and scroll way, way down to where it says "who can messge me" and change it to say "allow anyone to message me". Hope that helps.