I've grown large numbers of peppers, both sweet and hot for years both indoors, in a greenhouse, and outside. Hot peppers are a passion, so I am continually starting new seedlings, and removing older plants. I've never used pesticides in any of my plantings, but have been tempted to on occasion. Generally once or twice a year I get a very heavy bloom of aphids on the peppers and several other plants I grow (especially the roses). For about a week the plants look terrible, covered with the aphids, some leaves falling, and honeydew dripping on the soil. Then the beneficial insects I introduced just one time come up to speed, and control the aphids. It is really amazing to see how quickly they cut the number of aphids, and what a thorough job they do. I have introduced parasitic wasps, green lacewings, and ladybugs. While all seem to maintain some presence in the plantings, it is the parasitic wasps that seem to do almost all the work. I plant a few plants to feed the beneficial insects some pollen, and provide shelter. My best plantings for this purpose are fennel, dill, alyssum, and cilantro. Since I can eat most of these plantings as well, they are not too much of a problem to maintain. Since it is the flowers that provide the most benefit, I allow all to flower freely; they all readily reseed in pots. I introduced the beneficial insects mostly about 16 years ago. Some other beneficial insects have joined the group over the years, particularly syrphid flies, some true bugs, and some predatory beetles. Together, these critters control all my bug issues. I have rarely lost a plant, and I grow quite a few hundred a year. It takes very few extra plants to keep the beneficials happy and fed. By the way, I find that the beneficials mostly stay where there is food, with the exception of ladybugs which will wander, even in the house. Renais

Michael - Well, it was, kind of. But all my roses are very young, so perhaps it would have looked less disastrous if Cecile had been a full-grown plant. I kept thinking that the experiment (of waiting for predators) was worth holding on for, because when Cecile IS a full-grown bush, there would be very little I could do to help - pesticides of any kind are not an option for me, not is spraying with a garden hose (my garden is on a balcony, and there is no hose). That rose was the aphids' primary target last year, as well as this year, and it was very nearly as devastated - but a single hoverfly larva just vacuumed the aphids all up. Unfortunately, the first so-called flush was over by that time, as it was this year. Afterwards, though, the rose did a lot better. It seems as though that first onslaught is the worst one. Thanks for the info about the tiny wasps - I THINK I'VE SEEN THEM!! They looked like tiny mosquitoes to me, but I wasn't sure if they were helping in the War of the Aphids or if they were possibly helping themselves to a little munch on what the aphids had left. Hurrah for our side!!! Laura

Thanks Robin I had Marigolds and garlic last year and saw lots of Bees. I was thinking about lady bugs and lacewings I`m thinking about buying some this year. I didn`t see any last year so I`ll have to import some this year. GOOD GARDENING and GOD BLESS BILL

Susan, I love your light stand and always will love it. I realize it was the best solution for you, but if I told Tim I wanted to buy one of those, he'd hand me a hammer and tell me to build my own....which is why I have the one that I have. : ) Mine is hidden away out of sight in a room where guests rarely venture, although anyone who knows me and who knows I raise my own seedlings always asks to go upstairs and see it in the spring. So much for putting it out of sight....I just should have set it up in the dining room or breakfast room or something.... I am sure you'll be deliriously happy with it and will have many wonder seed-starting adventures and I look forward to hearing all about them. I think you got a great deal considering it was Gardener's Supply. I never buy anything of theirs for full price. They have sales often enough (and especially in November when, I think, some of us gardeners are shopping for ourselves) that a person can be patient and get a good price during their periodic sales. I've noticed that prices often are not as good in December when gardeners' spouses or family members are doing what I call "panic Christmas buying" and cannot afford, time-wise, to wait for a sale. I don't think you were repetitive at all. The more we all share about what we do, how we do it and why we do it (as well as pointing out what didn't work for us!), the better for all of us to learn from one another's experiences! Carol, Our weather is just like yours. Our high was 70 degrees yesterday and it was so gorgeous outside I could hardly stand it. I wanted to jump up and down and scream "Spring Is Here!". That was exacerbated by the smell of the orange blossoms on my little orange tree. However, I controlled myself because I knew it was a false spring and that winter was returning today. It was 56 degrees around 7 a.m. here at our house and now it is 36 degrees and we have had very, very light rain but lots of thunder. Phooey on winter! I think you showed those folks at the co-op that one benefit of being a gardener is that it keeps your muscles and joints strong, healthy and fit. I'd rather "work out" in the garden any day, than walk on the treadmill or work out on the weight machine. Who wouldn't? Trees, Nope, sorry, I just haven't gotten to it. I am trying. Watch for it in a couple of hours or in the morning. I'm about to start typing mow after I close up the chicken coops, put out the deer corn for my favorite deer, refill the bird feeders (those little birdies are eating nonstop today trying to stay warm), etc. I'm kind of dreading going out into the cold wind but I need to do it now before it gets dark. I have to warn you that I don't use the same planting schemes every year because I don't want to get stuck in a rut, but I'll try to mention some of the planting schemes in my usual rotation. Dawn