None of the pictures seem to be showing up for me so I can't see anything that you are talking about. One thing you mentioned was blossom end rot. Just so you know, this isn't a disease. Blossom end rot happens when something keeps calcium from getting to the developing fruit fast enough. It is a calcium deficiency but don't let it trick you into thinking that your soil is deficient. It seems more common on earily fruit and plants often grow out of it. It is sometimes due to irratic moisture or letting the roots get dried out which impairs their ability to take up the calcium that is in the soil. There are some sprays out there that can help keep developing fruits from suffering the problem though once a fruit has the rotted blossom end, there is no cure for that particular fruit, you might as well pull it. You noted that this is your first year trying organic gardening. Hang in there, most people seem to think it takes 3 years to really get the soil improved. You also mentioned that you think it isn't just your yard. The weather will play a huge roll in certain maladies. In some areas this year it was powdery mildew (dry weather mold which I had back in the dry spring.) Wet humid weather will bring on a whole different set of problems, (as it starts pour down rain here as I type.) Don't be too quick to blame your troubles on organic gardening when the weather is at fault. Especially if this is your first season. It does take a while to transition from chemicals to organic methods. Some of our tomato plants look a bit strange. The ones we grew back in the spring did too. They still produced some good tomatoes but probably not as many as they could have. What the tomato looks like is not so important as long as they taste good, unless you are into competitions or selling them. Have you had soil tests done? Your local extension office should be able to tell you more about soil testing, it doesn't cost very much. It is possible that you could be adding something that is throwing things out of whack. You mentioned using vinegar, if your soil is already on the acidic side, the vinegar could be causing the pH to get out of the ideal range for many of your plants. On the other hand, many people add lime just because it seems to be the thing to do. Problem is, pH greatly affects what nutrients are available from the soil. Also, an over abundance of some nutrients may make other nutrients unavailable to the plants. Getting the right balance for your soil, climate, situation, and plants can take a while. Building up a micro-herd of soil microbes takes time. Composting takes time. Even adding tons of soil enhancements to your dirt will take time before they produce the desired results. I am new to organic gardening too. I used to use lots of Miracle Grow. This first season my soil is still basically sand. Most of my veggies are growing in "raised" beds (my few layers version of lasagna gardening.) My verson for most of them this season was a layer or two of cardboard with a mound of mushroom compost on top with a thick layer of wood chip mulch over it all. This is working well for squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and pumpkins so far. The tomatoes were planted into the ground where the sand had mushroom compost mixed into it. I've also planted into cardboard boxes filled with the free compost from our county. This makes a quick raised bed that will last a season, when it's done just pull the sides of the cardboard box away, spread the compost around and hoe out any weeds. I've had pretty good (not perfect) luck with these methods for my first couple seasons. It takes a very large amount of organic matter to properly amend sandy soil in hot humid climates since the microbes break the stuff down very quickly and much of the nutrients will leach away fast through the sand. Sorry I'm not of much help on your specific problems but I wish you luck and I hope you will hang with it for a couple more seasons before you say it doesn't work.

Too funny! Well, I guess I am not obsessed with the names, if they are nice looking, I want them regardless. Plus, you guys are very good at coming up with close IDs (if not spot on) which I very much appreciate (if I haven't said that already). Many come with tags, which I am skeptical of, and when I bring them home, sure enough, it was the wrong tag. Frustrating...sometimes it is not too far off, right genus, wrong species, but gall dangit, can't they find a better way to tag these critters so they will stay with the plant during their journies??? You are right, by the way...on all counts!! Plus, I will bring them home out of pity...isn't that pathetic! lol! It's gonna' die unless I bring it home and give it a chance... :o) I did like the "swirl" pattern on the first one...hadn't seen one like that...my first thought was Aeonium...will have to search around and see if I can find something similar. Thanks!

Julia, our electric fencing is what I call ugly, but cheap. I will take a photo tomorrow, hopefully get it on PhotoBucket and post it so you can see how it looks. If we had a lot of money to spend, there might have been prettier options, but we haven't won the lottery yet. LOL. Since we want the daylilies, roses, and a number of other plants, we decided to have the fence versus no plants. I can tell you that I have actually seen a 10 foot chain link fence with an extra couple of feet on an angle leaning inward--does this make sense to you--to make sure the deer don't get over. I can only imagine what this would cost, but evidently it was worth it to the people who wanted a protected garden. Several years ago, I was at Jack Carpenter's LILY FARM and they told us they had put up electric fencing all around the property because of the deer. I seem to recall their fencing looked like what we have, metal T-posts and with stand-out brackets for the wires. I guess like us, they probably have a battery and extension cord set-up to the electrical outlets; of course, it's much bigger than ours. I will try to get this info posted as soon as I can. I will talk to my husband since he did all of this and see if he thinks of more I might need to tell you. Avedon

Jo, when I opened you post and saw your picture it took my breath away. My very first thought is it looked much like the Northern Exposure I'd just planted 4 weeks ago. Chris and Ken, I ALWAYS love when you dive into ID'ing a hosta. Your knowledge and logic is refreshing. As I am sure you have noticed from my other posts I tend to treat hostas as an exact science, and it is not. VC used to be a must for me, but how many hostas have 7-9 vp! Note that is a statement, not a ? No one answered your ? about what veins count Jo. You count all paired veins: full, incomplete and the ones that begin at the base as one and divide into two (can't recall what they are called at the moment) are counted as two. I have found they are usually much more easily counted if you look at the underside, as your pictures show. While knowing which hosta is which is still fun, it is just adding to my love of them. My little, apparently stable and therefore rare variegated seedling will never have a formal name, except what is in my heart. I hope you have success with your gift. Theresa This post was edited by gogirlterri on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 9:06