Hmmm, I hadn't thought of leaving strips of oats for later plantings. Oats don't form heavy root systems, so it wouldn't be hard to dig into still-growing oats, and a simply close mowing would be all that's needed to stunt them to the point of death. That's actually a great idea. I could plant the whole garden with oats, till under strips for early-season crops after 6 weeks, and mow down the remaining strips a few weeks later when I put in my transplants. Thanks!

Unfortunately, lots of Sheriff Deputies have little knowledge. I dug up that plant and exhibited it at the county fair (Cincinnati). I showed a couple of people, who are law enforcement officials a leaf and they were aghast that I was growing "pot." It was the Tainug 2 variety - the Everglades 41 looks nothing at all like pot. I was surprised that during the fair, no one questioned the plant and, acting innocently, one evening said something to a deputy that it appeared someone had a pot plant on display. He said he wouldn't know a pot plant if he saw one. The next night, as the fair was closing, three deputies were headed to the area. I am the official photographer for the fair so I asked them what they were checking out - they said a pot plant. Two of them thought it was but one guy knew it wasn't - wrong cluster of the leaves. He was a cool guy - he also likes super hot peppers and I took him some. UGF, I don't have any plants except for a couple of bananas under LEDs, at least not until a few moments ago. I took the tomato that was under the CFL and put it under a 54 watt LED that, alas, has half the lights not working. My experiences with them so far, and it is limited to 14-watt red, blue and red/blue panels and the one 54-watt panel that use to work fine, is that they are great for seedlings and even mid-size plants but not powerful enough to set and develop fruit. That's why I am anxious to find out more - and hopefully get a good deal so I can afford to experiment with the 120-watt panel. Mike

Thanks for giving me some pointers, I think I will try again next spring, it is probably to late to seed them out now, right? * Posted by: Mearth z8PNW B'ham . >>Try backing off on the fertilizing, and add sand. I've found that my root crops do best with that combo. I add lots of yummy compost in the fall, then nothing until the first crop is done in the spring. Do yours put on lush top growth? Mine tend to look unimpressive until you pull them.The soil where they grow is really loose and get's good drainage, but I might try to just not fertilize them before I sow the seeds. Not sure how much foliage is lush, they seemed to have a normal amount of foliage. But maybe I just don't remember how much foliage they are supposed to have. It's been a long time since i grew Radishes last. >lol> >>Posted by: Carol_Ann Radishes like cool weather so if you're planting them after it really warms up, they won't do as well. They don't like summer heat. Also, my first thought was that you might be heavy on the nitrogen, as mentioned, but radishes are quick growers and like some fertilizer. You mentioned making your own fertilizers but didn't say what you add to the chicken manure (heavy on N) already there. If your additions are heavy on N, you might want to modify what you're doing.I don't think I planted them to late, actually the first ones I planted in late March, when I planted the peas, but they didn't sprout, so I planted again in early April. The chicken compost might be the problem. Also I got the planting soil from Lane Forest products and the more I look at their compost/soil mixes the more I think there is just too much woodpulp in it. That could cause fertility problems, right? I am using the fertilizer mix recommended by Steve Solomons Book 'Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades', I highly recommend the book for people new to the area (I am not through the book yet, but so far I think it has lot's of good info). He says that our areas soil needs lot of lime, because of the rain so he mixes 4 parts seed meal, 1/2 part lime (best to mix equal amounts of agricultural lime and dolomite), 1/2 part phosphate rock or bone meal(steamed or raw), 1/2 part kelp meal. >>You mentioned water on a timer -- think about how often that supplies water, and for how long. Once the seed has germinated, you want to really soak the bed well and then let it drain and get nearly dry before the next watering. Frequent, shallow waterings or too much water too often would hinder radish development.Because it is a new garden area I wasn't sure how much to water and how long, because it all depended how that new area draines and if the water stays in the soil or dries out quick. I am using a 1/2 gph dripper line, in the beginning, when I planted lots of seeds I set it to water for 25 min. early in the morning and another 25 min in the afternoon. Later in the year, after all seeds had sprouted I watered only once 40 min. every day. Since August I only watered every other day. Maybe that was to much water in the beginning? Anyway many thanks to the ones who responded with so many pointers. I will try again, next year. You're right eventually they come out right, I shouldn't give up so easy. What kind of Gardener gives up after just 3 years >lolgreetings Isa

My Pink Knockout rose is blooming fairly well and has tripled in size since I planted it early this spring. It gets maybe an hour of direct sunlight early in the morning, then another hour in the early afternoon. The shade is open and airy, though - there is the corner of the house abt 5' away to the west and a huge, high-canopied maple about 15' to the east. It doesn't have that classic rose shape but the color is snappy and livens up my shade garden. I plan on getting more next year.