I live at 5A NY and I often feel that getting fruit can be futile due to late frost. In the last 15 years it seems very common that we have a warm April that encourages bloom followed by a colder May that kills blossoms with hard frosts. It's frustrating. The Adirondacks might be cold enough to avoid this weather phenomena. I also get the feeling that zone ratings on the trees don't tell the whole story. The trees might be able to survive typical winters for their rated zone, but the fruit buds are usually not as hardy as the tree. Then there are unusually cold winters, like last winter, that threaten to kill any trees that are on the borderline of survivability. Were I live is mostly heavy clay and shale rock. It's best to plant on slopes and design drainage to prevent water-logging the clay. I don't know what Adirondacks will be like. I assume more rock mixed with clay, which might help with drainage. The ice age glaciers scraped away all the good soil. They stopped around the NY-PA border. The problem is compounded by water erosion in hilly areas. People living on the hills pay big money to have "topsoil" trucked in from the river bed areas so they can garden. The clay here gets brick hard when it dries out. I have family that lives in central PA and I am always jealous of their success. The soil quality and the weather are so much better that it seems like whole different world... and they are only a 1.5 hour drive away! With that said, I think some of stone fruits might be ambitious. Unfortunately, it is usually a process of learning through loss. You don't really know what will work until you try. The specifics of the exact area have a big impact on success and failure. Some varieties are significantly hardier than others, which can make all the difference if you are living on the edge.

Lilo, we do want to know how you are doing. I am happy for you that your healing process is on track. It's probably been helped by your strong constitution. I'm impressed by all you're doing; I think I'm a few years younger than you, and know I don't do 3/4 of what you manange to accomplish. Making earrings from the pins that will be removed from your hip sounds like a neat idea, both as a reminder and a souvenir.

I don't see any reason why you can't take a plant out of the pot and put it in the ground. After seeing what a plant does after a few months in the ground, the roots actually loosen up, I think you are much better getting it in the ground as is. If you feel it necessary go back in September or March and give the plant a shake, tease the roots and you are set. You'll see that all the weak, fine, compressed roots die off. At this time its easier to idenfity the flare or girdling roots too so you can adjust the height. Snip the minor girdlers now and the others next year. Its SO MUCH easier than trying to bareroot a plant while its dormant straight out of the pot, tearing through the roots and all. I've had adbsolutely terrible, terrible results doing this and will not recommend this ever to anyone planting conifers specifically. Its maybe fine for plants 1 gallon or less but thats it. I've had much better results with the former so that is how I'm going to roll for now.

On one hand I don't even want to respond to this thread, but really I have to. Where all all of the enviorment friendly posters? Is it OK for an individual to waste refrigerant, and dump it to the atmosphere year after year? People who are not completely trained and equipped to do AC (refrigeration) service should NOT be trying to do it. We had to reduce the useage of R12 because of this exact kind of problem, and the EPA restricted purchase to only those trained and equipped to properlly service the systems. They should have done the same thing with R134. It's a greenhouse gas, that will contribute to global warming just like carbon dioxide will. First and foremost, your AC system has a leak. You need to find and repair that leak. The coolant fan operation is controlled by a switch (sensor/transduecer) on the high side, and is pressure(temperature) related. With gages hooked up, and the correct scan tool to monitor the inputs to the PCM, (or AC control head depending on the exact system in your car) a technician can easily determine why the fans are not cycling, or if they in fact should not be depending on conditions. In fact, many of the systems have two speed fans, and the operation of the different fan speeds will vary because of ambient temperatures and system heat loads.