I didn't do it last year, but I"m going to do it this year, that is plant more squash. I actually got a later start this year, and it just might be to my advantage (FINALLY, my tardiness is a positive). I have been checking daily for SVB eggs, and hand picking squash bugs off. So far (knock on wood) NO SVB, and I've picked my first baby squishes, 6 so far...woo hoo. I'm going to start these seeds tomorrow I think, it will be a few weeks before they can go out and that will be about perfect. end of June plantings. This year also for the first time, I planted peanuts!! I started them in my greenhouse in a starter tray and I put out just one tray (36) plants. It will be fun to see what comes from them too. I think they are a heat loving plant? I think I may start more of them too, these I will direct sow into the garden :) Basil seems to do fine with the hot of summer here, and they are great bee magnets!!

Yes, Rubber Plants can tolerate as much sun as you can give them. They just need time to adapt. At one point, I let mine stay outdoors for the summer and I let it grow in full hot southern sun. It loved it and grew quickly with the warmth, sun, and humidity. Nowadays I don't put my plants outside anymore. The rubber plant now gets a southern window. I water it when the soil completely dries out. It's pretty easy to care for.

Nothing bad is going to happen to them in the ground. Dahlias are native to Mexico ( Mexico´s national flower ), more specifically, they are native to the Altiplano ( the platteau that forms the central portion of the country between the Sierra Madre Occidental ( part of the Rocky Mountains ) and the Sierra Madre Oriental ( along the Gulf of Mexico ) ), I live in central Mexico so I´m in the exact geographic area origin of dahlias, I leave mine in the ground year long plant or no plant, I even plant other things on top of the tubers to cover the bed with color, so not even regular watering for the other plants has had a negative effect on the tubers resting dormant in the flowerbed.

Carol, I bet it did grow well there in spite of the short growing season. I'm assuming they started their transplants indoors to get them large enough to plant out once the temps were in the appropriate range. And it is the exposure to sunlight that made the celery so green. Most commercially-raised celery is that whitish-green because the celery is blanched. I think the blanching is intended to keep the stalks tender as too much sunlight/heat gives you tougher stalks. Seedmama, Here's how Jeff Cox grows celery: GROWING CELERY: Several years ago I purchased a book by Jeff Cox called "Jeff Cox's 100 Greatest Garden Ideas". It is a terific book and I love it. One of his ideas is a way to grow celery even if you can't give it the marshy conditions it prefers. If I ever tried to grow celery here, I'd try Jeff's method. To start his seeds, he sows them 10 weeks before his last frost. He soaks his seed overnight before sowing them in peat pots and setting them on top of the fridge so the heat can help them sprout, which can take 2 weeks or longer. He digs a below-grade trench about a foot wide and 14" deep although he says you can do the same process with a raised bed if you'd rather build up than dig down. If growing in a raised bed, he recommends a minimum height of 6" and cautions anything raised any higher may get too hot for the celery. You still need 14" of depth, but with the 6" tall raised bed, you only have to dig down 8" instead of the whole 14". You remove the soil to a depth of 14" for the trench or 8" beneath the eventual raised bed and remove all the soil. Add compost and other organic amendments to create an enriched growing mix that will hold lots of moisure and refill the trench or, for the raised bed, refill the dug-out area and build the 6" tall raised bed above it. By the way, he recommends six celery plants per person. If you want, you can add tin cans with the tops and bottoms both removed or pieces of PVC pipe inserted vertically into the ground about to the same depth that your celery is planted, or a couple of inches deeper than that. To water, fill each can or piece of pipe with water and let the pipe carry the water down to the root level of the celery plants. In the illustration in the book, he has one vertical can or PVC pipe in between two celery plants in a sort of checkerboard pattern. (Texas tomato plant growers use this method to water tomatoes, only they use large flower pots or huge, instituitional-sized cans, to water the tomato plants...it is called the Texas Pot method.) After you harden off your seedlings, transplant them into the enriched soil which you've pre-moistened so it it nice and damp. He waters his transplants with an organic fertilizer consisting of 1 T. fish emulsion and 2 T. seaweed extract per one gallon of water. Mulch the top of the bed with leaves. As the plans grow keep adding leaves so the stalks are blanched. Blanching celery stalks (but not their topgrowth leaves which need sunlight to grow) helps improve their flavor and keep them tender. This is especially important in a hotter climate where heat stress can cause the stalks to get woody and tough. He recommends feeding monthly and watering as often as needed to keep the bed moist and damp but not soaking wet. His recommendation is that you harvest the plants roots and all before frost arrives in the fall. Store them in a box in a cool basement or similar area. If the storage area stays cool enough, celery will store for months. You also could store them in an extra fridge in your garage or laundry room or whatever. If you ever run across Jeff's book, it is a wonderful book with projects grouped by the season. Dawn