From one enthusiastic apple guy in Wisconsin to another -- welcome! And don't worry -- as you see here, I know all about being long-winded! Pruning is a great first step for getting your old trees into more manageable condition. I've heard it said that there really is no right or wrong time to prune -- you can do it this time of season if you like and the tree will have plenty of time to recover over the rest of the summer. The only questionable time to prune is very late in the growing season or immediately following growing -- say in September through November or so. Otherwise have at 'er. I've also heard it said that you shouldn't prune off more than about 1/3 of the total wood of a tree in any given year. This is a rough guideline but will minimize the shock to the tree and allow it to continue to fruit (well if not this year then next year) in addition to development of youthful vegetative growth. If on the other hand you just lopped the whole trunk off at like 5 feet high and left no branches, it will take many years for that tree to recover and resume fruiting. The tree probably wouldn't die, but it would be a major shock to the tree and send it into a major vegetative growth mode. So 1/3 is a good balancing point of "a lot, but not too much". You can continue pruning from year to year in this manner over the course of 2 or 3 years if necessary until the tree takes the shape and size that you want. Be aware that any named varieties of apples do not grow on their own roots. They are all grafted onto selected rootstocks, with weird names such as Bud 9 or MM 111. You can research rootstocks that are good for your soil quality and your needs for disease resistance, the final size of the tree that you would like, etc., and then purchase trees grafted to those rootstocks. Soil amendments are not at all a bad idea, although I'm honestly not certain how big of a deal it really is for apples, which it seems can grow well in all kinds of different soils, especially if you select a proper rootstock for your conditions. Careful evaluation and selection of good candidate apple varieties before going out shopping will also be beneficial. The more homework you do up front, the more happy you will be several years down the road when your trees finally begin fruiting in earnest. Developed in Minnesota, Honeycrisp is a fantastic option for Wisconsin's climate, and it so happens that it is as excellent for making cider as it is for eating. Very juicy and chock full of sugar. If you are very interested in making cider, you will probably also want tart varieties to blend in with the Honeycrisp, Red Delicious, and any other sweet varieties that don't have a whole lot of tartness to balance. I'm not very familiar with Wolf River but if memory serves, this might be a good tart variety? Personally I'm grafting a number of branches on my trees over to old English heritage cider apple varieties such as Foxwhelp, Kingston Black, Ashmead's Kernel, etc. These all have good tartness as well as some bitterness, or what some might call "snap" or "bite" beyond just tartness. Of these, I am having the best success so far growing the Foxwhelp, but who knows what the future holds. Of all my other trees, I am happiest so far with the Honeycrisp and the Cortland. Cortland is early bearing and is just a beautiful tree I think, although it tends very much to be tip-bearing on last year's wood so you must be very careful not to over-prune it or you'll be snipping off most of the fruiting wood! It is a delicious apple to eat and excellent for pies and sauce, and suited perfectly for Wisconsin's climate. Personally I do not care for Red Delicious, but I have heard many say that when eaten ripe right off the tree, they are indeed delicious. And I know they do grow well in Wisconsin, as my grandfather had several trees and they produced heavily at least every other year (biennial bearing). As for trees to avoid, I would look up the USDA Hardiness Zone that you live in, and stay away from any varieties that are intended for zones far warmer than your own. For example, I enjoy Braeburn and Granny Smith apples, but as far as I know, we haven't had a lot of success growing those types here in Wisconsin, as they originated from warmer climates and seem unable to adapt well here. Your trees can definitely produce fruit of superior size and quality if you take an active role in their care. Untended trees may produce many bushels of fruit, but it may be very small (i.e., mostly core, and therefore not so much to eat!), full of worms or other disease, all green rather than red or yellow due to excessive vegetation and shading, etc. If you can remove much of the vegetative growth each year leaving most of the fruiting wood, and perhaps thin out the fruits and/or fruit buds each year, your fruit will be larger (less core and more to eat!), more colorful, easier to spray, easier to reach from the ground or a short ladder, etc. No matter what you do, have fun with it. That is what it's really all about. Enjoy.

Hey Kiddy - Is the lavender still with leaves? If so, I'd say it'll come back. If space is limited then basically anything w/ holes can be a pot, so get fresh soil, put some holes in the bottom and layer it with coffee filters or something that will let water through. It should (1) be bigger (wider and deeper) than your current cup and (2) ideally something you intend to keep it in for a year or more (especially given your affinity, or lack thereof, for repotting, obviously, haha). So if you're talking about a Dannon yogurt cup size, then consider a large sour cream tub, or even one of Cool Whip -- you get the idea. 1. Fill the new tub w/ fresh potting soil. The filter should keep the soil in the cup without drifting out. 2. Move the soil to the sides of the new pot to create a hole in which to place your lavender. 3. Water the lavender enough to soften it, and then squeeze the yogurt cup all around to loosen it. Then turn it over and loosely guide the plant out of the cup. It should slide out with little effort; do not pull at the plant or stress it out. 4. I would guess that this thing is root bound -- meaning it will have roots all the way around the soil with little to no soil left. Take a knife and slice off the bottom 30-40% of the roots and then take your fingers and break apart the roots -- much like you would break apart braids in your hair after it's been braided all day. Do it gently but definitely break apart the roots leaving the top 20-30% of the root ball intact. (You don't want to damage the plant.) 5. Now that you have uncurled as much as you're going to, take scissors and give it a trim to just make it uniform without long roots dangling. Snip, snip, snip. 6. Place what you have left into the new hole of the new pot and ensure it fits nicely. If your makeshift hole in the soil is too deep, take it back out and let more soil drop into it and if it's too low, fill it up with more soil; the idea is that when you place your plant down in its trimmed state and fill in the remainder of your pot, you will have room to water without overflowing the soil and won't have to push down or tug up your plant to make flush with the soil. 7. Take extra potting soil and fill in the new pot to make your plant completely snug and LIGHTLY tap down the soil. You want to leave air and room to breathe in there, but do tap down a bit to remove big gaps. 8. OPTIONAL: Trim the top 20-25% of the stems and leaves with scissors. I always prune a bit when I repot, but some might say not to do so. 9. Water thoroughly ensuring that water drips out of the holes in the bottom of the tub. Let it completely drain in a sink or cup - and when it stops dripping, place back in the window. Wherever you have had it is best given that even with serious lack of attention, the thing is still there and alive! As far as your rosemary goes -- if you see green, then it's not completely dead. If you rooted it last summer and it's still green, I promise you it has rooted; I've found rosemary that will root, will do so under a month at most. :-) What is curious is that it hasn't grown at all, according to your description. Dead rosemary plants look -- quite dead, as you can see. (Not mine, but I've been there when one pot got lost behind many, many others.) I'd repeat the same exact steps as above and repot it into something a tad larger but do check the roots; I would doubt it is root bound given the lack of growth. In any case, put it in a new home with new soil and see how it fares. While you are raising this particular cutting indoors -- if it didn't die on you, one would think you'd have some growth on it. And however you have been watering it and caring for it apparently kept these plants alive all of this time, so I'd recommend keeping to that schedule! :-)

I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to load the pics. That may be a problem on my end. Anyways, 25 years is a pretty good life span for most wood decks, especially if they are not kept up. That said, sanding, which can be a lot of work, will eliminate the other steps. Put a straight edge on the deck and see how much material you will have to take off, to get the deck flat. If it is too much, use a small orbital sander to get into the areas that the larger sander will not get. If you can pull loose nails, and replace them with screws, that would be a good thing. That will also give you a idea of the condition of the floor joists. If the screws will not hold, that probably means the joists are rotten on the top. Make sure that you use large exterior deck screws. Size needs to be a little larger then the nails, they are replacing Mark

You can cut into the wood as long as there is still foliage growth that emerges from that area. It is cutting back below any green or foliar growth that can be a problem. IME, overly rich soils can easily cause this problem. So often planting areas that have been amended to accommodate the needs of other, fussier plants are just too rich for the likes of lavender, which really prefers a "tough love" sort of situation :-)