"The temperature description matches my local climate exactly. The snow pack here from lake effect snow isn't quite as much as described above but is pretty close and consistent from year to year. The summer dry spell is the only difference as we get sporadic summer rains keeping things moist and happy" One other significant difference is summer humidity, and consequent night temperatures. Low humidity and high altitude in the Sierra Nevada means summer nights are chilly, probably only rarely over 10�C, not easy growing conditions for fungi. Conversely, high summer humidity where you are traps heat at night (I'd guess you often have nights that don't drop below 20�C?). These conditions are much better for fungal diseases; that's a major reason why so many western N American trees perform poorly in the east of the continent. Resin

You are so very very right about never letting any vegetable get pot bound, and it is even worse for head-producing veggies. That would absolutely destroy them and is probably the most important thing for all veggies. I may have kept peppers in a smaller container too long last year, and one plant must have had just one blossom that I did not see as I planted it. Because of that accident, that plant only grew 1/3 as big, and produced less than half as many fruit all year. It finally had lots of blooms in the fall - when it was too late. I uppot as much as 4 times. You do not have to cover big healthy brassicas if frost. Only if it gets down to 25F. If you are planting smaller seedlings, it may be different. I improve soil temp by heat cables, black plastic, walls a water, and jugs of water around the walls. (By the way, Parks has had Kozy Koats on sale for 3/10.50. Best price I ever saw. No tax from Parks to Ohio and free ship over $49.) Based on the wonderful advice in this column, and trying to minimize postage rates, I will order Blue Wind and Goliath. It is almost time for me to plant them. Thank you so much!

Sorry for the small image! I will attach one with larger font below: Thank you Ken and Lane for the advice. To Lane -- I will reconsider my choice of blue spruce based on the humidity in our region. I do plan to cut down a lot of the hybrid poplar and willow stuff as it grows and as the more sturdy evergreen trees grow taller. To Ken -- I love oak trees, but I don't want more trees that are close to the house, and I mostly want to stick with evergreens as I love year round color and not dealing with leaves. I would consider planting them further from the house though. As for the soil, there is definitely a lot of clay (we are actually near Westerville) but I'm hoping that all the excavation will loosen some of the top soil. Also, I am fine with the planting ending up being a bunch of tall trees -- in fact, that's what I prefer. Basically, in 20 years (we hope for this to be our forever home) I would love to look out our front door and practically see a forest of mostly evergreen trees separating us from the road. I just want to make sure that I do it in a way that ends up crowded in a good way as quickly as possible without hurting the trees. I too worry about the lifespan and strength of "fast growing" trees, but I do prefer to have at least part of this planting growing as quickly as possible. So my thinking was to mix in 3 different species of these fast growing trees so that I don't have to worry about losing them all at once to disease, and surround them with better long-term trees so that as they die/loose limbs, I'll still be left with a little mini forest of evergreen trees. I hope this helps give a little more detail into what I am looking to do. I am definitely open to different species than the ones listed above, and I am fine with planting further apart if I can still achieve a dense, forest-like area in the future.

big city location would help .. as z6 is about half the US and rather divergent ... with that darn sidewalk.. [i hate buliders and architects for the lack of imagination in dealing with this] .... if you want any kind of shrubs or conifers.. or small trees... work out into the useless lawn ... with that couple feet of garden bed.. you really dont have space for anything but annuals and perennials inside the walkway .. unless you want to be out there shearing twice a year .. ergo.. you would have to kill me.. before i ever planted box in there ... and if those two shrubs are still by the garage.. get rid of them also ... really.. one of them is square.. whats that all about .. lol ... and im thinking it might be an invasive burning bush ... but that is just a gut reaction... but i just had taco bell.. so take that for what its worth .. lol... maybe my gut is lying to me ...lol .. also.. while its barren .... work that soil off the lattice under the deck ... avoid future problems ... either dirty plastic.. or rooting wood ... and be honest.. is the lawn used for anything other than complaining someone has to mow the lawn every few days ... if not.. start with some nice trees out on the lawn ... make you landscape 3 dimensional.. instead of focusing on a few feet right on the foundation ... never forget..... foundation plants are to hide the foundation.. not to BE PLANTED on the foundation.. thats the root problem with your square shrub ... its a giant plant.. planted when it was a babe.. on the foundation. with no real idea of its future potential ... lets not do that again ... and as part of the 5 year plan.. i would hide the foundation on the extreme right.. and no one wants to look at the basement walls ... do you have two front doors .. reminds me of the old doctors houses in my rural town ... kinda cool ... anyway.. plan and plant your backbones.. trees ... in teh proper planting season ... plan out future shrub locations not in the foundation ... and for this year.. just plant some pretty flowers in teh beds you now have... and if it takes 3 to 5 years.. so be it ... it will be stunning ... if you want the instant gratification.. as embo noted.. just go to big box.. and buy whatever strikes your fancy ... but search out future potential.. before you plant that babe which will end up a 10 foot problem ... ken