Oh, you mean that twisted looking rebar is actually a plant??I thought it was rusty metal!! I didn't know you where from the stone age either. You must have seen a lot of changes over the years(LOL)Your face has weathered & wrinkled some, since you probably don't use sun screen, someone should roll you over into a nice shady spot!! Don't want you to wither away as we quite like your creations!! Jan

I can't really relax until the end of October because that month is when we usually have wildfires, although this year we seem to have had them somewhere or other since May, with the horrific Yosemite fire still burning as we speak. October can be cooler or it can still be hot, so my daily hand watering may or may not turn into watering every second day. What I crave most is rain, so that I won't have to water at all for a week or two, and the danger of fires will be over. That's also the time when the roses will recover from the summer doldrums. I don't think I've ever seen so many rose bushes where the majority of leaves range from somewhat dry and unsightly to totally desiccated and truly ugly. I'm more than ready for all that to go away, and look forward to a moist and green fall and winter, should I be so lucky. Ingrid

My mom loves lasagna gardening, but I don't think it will work for me. The clay soil is so CLAY that the grass has roots at least 8" - 10" deep. When we take out the grass, we have sunken gardens we have to fill in with cartloads (like 20-30 each) of soil. Thank goodness, we can cheat and take it out of what was the pasture. Originally, the potager was going to be on a slight slope...not anymore LOL. The good thing is, this soil, mixed with the clay is going to make great garden beds. Old hay, aged manure and lots of clay...did I mention I have the "nephews" out helping every weekend haul dirt? They've been great, but I'm still running out of time to finish one big bed before I pick up my roses this weekend! Once the beds are in, planting is easy. I've got the bed in front of the porch done and the one under two small fruit trees. The two beds against the house for the fairy garden are done and just hauling dirt in the front bed. The two bigger beds in the fairy garden is all that's left to pull out grass...I'm so glad there's no grass in the future potager, or it would have to wait for next year. Once I finish "stealing" the dirt, it's a quick rototill and ready to layout beds :)

Got a little bit more time, tonight to respond to the nice comments and the time some of you took, like 'idiothe'! You're SO RIGHT, I know, about the work that is ahead for me, in the not-so-distant future, but I just love the closeness of a sea of hosta! I'd rather have the instant gratification and then have to figure out what to do later, I guess. I can't wait till I'm begging people to take some divisions! I have several who have asked me "do you ever divide your hosta?" and I feel really *small* saying, "not yet"!! Not that I haven't shared, but some of my hosta are relatively new to my area, since I've only been about gathering them the past 5 summers, and I love the huge clumps they can eventually be! Phil--now that you've kidded me about 'showing off' I kinda feel like it probably does look like I am. And, I suppose I am, because I am so pleased at what all the work I've done has turned out to be, in a relatively short time!! I thought it would take me many more years to have it come together as it has, and I want you all, who are just starting out, to know you will be so thrilled with the outcome in less than 3-5 years, in my experience!!! So keep up the hard work and just know it WILL be worth it!!!! Paul--look into my eyes----you want more and more and more hosta, along with a wonderful variety of companion plantings!!! Is it working? hahaha Alexis--thank you again for your generous praise---and be careful of what you ask for! I'm easy!!! 'Threedogsmom', the only amending I do is on the surface with compost that is mixed with aged cow manure, and sometimes some alfalfa pellets sprinkled around the plants. And, I try to water them at least once a week, but don't always, especially if it rains, of course! Rain is always better for plants, over ground water and I love it when by the time I've made the rounds, the first hosta watered are already standing much taller! I have to also tell, you '3dogs' that every year that I use that composted stuff the soil is so much more improved!! I've always ground up my Fall leaves and put them on the beds, and the clay areas I've done that are nice and very black, with the clay seeming to recede down about 6" or more. With the composted stuff now being applied--just one year made a huge difference in an area out front that last year I could not get a shovel to take a bite, with me jumping on it! This year, it is now very workable!!! Amazing stuff!!! Going for more of it this week! Oh, and Dan--(one of my 'inspirational gardeners'), my pots usually do fine over the winter, but in '07 with the weird pre-mature Spring we had, I lost over 35 hosta, and many of those were in the whiskey barrels, too! Most of the others were in pots I hadn't planted yet, but I did have them tipped, to no avail that year!!! What I do, do, is plant them in pine-bark mulch that I've sent through our wood-chipper, since I can't buy pine fines or 'soil conditioner' in my area. I do add about 1/3 compost to the mix and usually I have no problems with them--AND, (a big 'AND') I've discovered that any barrel or pot will have a better chance of hosta-survival if it is in direct contact with the ground, not sitting on anything to level them or support them. In fact, I have 'planted' all my large pots, and barrels at least 2" deep (in-ground), and more deeply with the pots--up to 1/3 of the pot deep!! I think they stay more consistent a temp that way!!! I use to have my barrels on a triangle we made of treated lumber to prevent them from deteriating but find that probably is why I lost what I did in '07! Oh, and make sure to drill 1/4" (at least) holes around the sides of the barrels, every 8" or more about 6" from the bottoms and make sure there's drainage in the bottoms!I now cover the big hole in the bottom with 1/4" screening to deter voles!!! Again--thank you, all I've not addressed, so far--Lisa, Melissa, msjo, Mary, ptilda, sassy, Queenie, Starina, Carol, (Oh, I know I'm going to leave someone out--I'm sorry if I do!)--thank you ALL, for your enthusiastic comments, making me feel really good about my efforts!!! Okay--this time, I'm done!!