>>So do people tell you that it is cheaper to buy it than to grow it and how do you respond? Yes, they do. They are not, however, always correct. I grow fresh berries far cheaper than I could possibly buy them, and I can have them when they're not available fresh at any cost (I have everbearers that produce 2 crops or sometimes even are true day-neutrals that trickle out their crops; farmers prefer single-croppers because of their harvesting overhead). Cane fruits and strawberries are, by the way, quite cheap to grow; the cost at the supermarket is due to the fact that they are difficult to mechanize their production, expensive for the farmers to harvest, and hard to ship intact. I am also cost-conscious. I always ask myself how I can keep my costs down, build my own productive infrastructure or do without, recycle, and make use of out what would otherwise be wasted. For example, I always grow some nitrogen-fixers in order to save on fertilizer costs. I try to salvage the minerals in kitchen scraps by composting them. We're going to have chickens next year to convert our scraps into valuable eggs and, um, fertilizer. I plant a high ratio of semi-permanent crops, because it gets labor-intensive to till the soil every year. My fruit trees, berries, artichokes, asparagus, perennial herbs, and rhubarb don't need annual tilling. I use the best hand-tools I can find. Cheaper to buy and operate than mechanized tools, and more effective and longer-lived than shoddy tools. My produce requires far less processing and handling than its commercial counterpart to reach my table. Pick, pick, waddle over to kitchen sink, rinse, and it's at the point where the commercial produce was after days of processing and transport. So, they are not always correct that it is cheaper to "just buy it". But savings on fresh produce is not the only objective, as many of you have already pointed out. There are crops I want but could not get fresh at any price, but can grow, there is a quality factor to consider (my produce is fresher and my fruit is fully ripe), and the garden keeps me off the streets and is cheap recreation.

"alphonse, Please explain more on your statement." Sorry for a late reply, I was out of town. You have the gist of my comments though. Bigger cylinders and heavier steel tolerate the higher system pressures or the developed pressure and racking from any misalignment between cylinder mounting and the tracking during extension. The larger the cylinder diameter (force area of the piston) the lower the system pressure, though that equates to slower flow. "I felt the bypass at 2,500 on the 3,000 psi gauge basically showed built-in protection in the hydraulic system." Yes, you need a pressure relief valve. On the splitter I built which has a 5" bore piston, the relief is set at about 60% of the cylinder rating which is plenty of force but conservative of all components. Some reliefs can be adjusted to give greater pressures but without knowing any ratings bumping pressure up can be playing with fire. "When needed I run the 1 HP motor on a 25' 12-3 (12 gauge) extension w/o feeling the extention getting warm, is that heavy enough?" Should be. The longer the cord, the greater the voltage drop which will "starve" the motor, causing overheating and possible failure. 220V gives an advantage there, the transmission wire can be smaller though consumption is unchanged. Tangential splitting and the ramp are good ideas. My splitter has a table that the ramp hooks to and allows big stuff to be repositioned without having to pick anything back up off the ground.

Dot, I ordered very early and felt fortunate to get Precious Candy, and it was only one fan. It has split into 3 and has a scape, but I doubt I will be dividing it before spring. Maybe we should wait and see, because if it puts out a baby I can probably cut it off. Roberta, if I were in your zone I am sure I would feel the same way you do. Nothing worse than a poor growing plant. Dot, I will get an email to you soon. One thing about my walls, they are almost as addictive as daylilies. If you see them you will want them. I have come close to perfected the wall sculpting and finishing since I have now done 6 rooms. I am using a very thick coarse texture with lots of high spots, and in one room I "scratched" with the corner of the tool after I applied the mud. After a gray basecoat and one light gray glaze, I then went back with a tiny brush and randomly painted in the scratches with copper, gold, and dark gray. So far, everyone has flipped over that wall the most. Bloom season has started early. Along with the Florida arrivals that put up scapes immediately, some of my regulars have started. I will get back on the computer this afternoon.

mtn -- building would be the most desirable option -- if only a good lot of land would come up for sale! Then I just have to show my inlaws a bunch of pictures of sochi's gorgeous Canadian cabin. The absolute perfect lot (locationwise) JUST came up today - but heartbreakingly, I think it's a mistake listing. I believe the realtor meant to list non-waterfront land down the street (based on the property description which is identical for both new listings). I've already pinged my realtor about it though! Just to emphasize how perfect it is, just last week I actually paid the $6 to land registry for just this exact lot to find out who the owner is. I was contemplating writing him a letter (but hadn't moved on that yet). We have tromped around some other lots (leading to saga of nail through rubber boot in the middle of the wilderness), only one of which was acceptable (not swampy), but my husband felt it was too sloped. I felt it was just fine...I think it's hard to envision the lot for the trees sometimes. (This is my favorite lake, we've been looking at a dozen or so others as well). This post was edited by robotropolis on Mon, Jan 12, 15 at 15:13