Cindy, I really feel for all of you in the northern states who have the long cold dreary season to endure...but then I see the lupines and the other cool weather plants I can't grow, and see the other side of the coin as it were. The warm weather is going to do its usual freeze and kill of tender vegetation that is in too much of a hurry...the tulip tree is all covered with tight purple buds that will freeze before they open. Blueberries are forming, and the bridal wreath spirea is trying to get in too much of a hurry too. The daffs and the earliest tulips are brightening the place, but the daylily foliage has been bitten with more than one freeze. No Round up in the flower beds, Jean. It would be too likely to kill something I very much wanted to live instead of the weeds. I am trying to pull the little ones as they re-sprout. It keeps me out of trouble. At least I have only half of the winding bed in back to finish weeding, and it did get weeded in the fall, so that helps a bit. I have pulled out at least three hundred little oak saplings. the longest ones had roots over 18 inches long. Without all of this rain, I could never have pulled them out of the dirt. We are flirting with a record for rain in February, after years of drought. I am happy for every drop of rain that falls. kay

I use a machete or hatchet on a tree stump or old wooden cutting board to reduce vines and tough stalks to pieces I can turn with a pitch fork or broadfork. A sharp spade works too, on ground you dont mind chopping up. I also find its easier to chop as I go, snipping vines with the nippers as they go into the bucket rather than piling vines and having a tangle of them. The nippers get sharpened more often but sharpening is easier work than turning the compost or chopping. Salad bite sized leaves and twigs will break down very quickly. I like one hot compost near the kitchen yard for kitchen scraps and weed seeds. Its worth the chopping. Even in the larger compost, large leaves and stalks can block air and water and slow the process. Its pretty hard on the mower to use it as a chopper.

I spread them out in a single layer in a shallow cardboard box with a thick layer of newspaper underneath them. They are kept inside (60-70 degrees) and NOT put in the sun. Most ripen well over several weeks. There are usually a few that rot, often very small ones or ones with some damage initially. Check for bad ones a couple times a week...the newspaper helps absorb the mess if you miss one. If I have a lot and want to delay ripening, some will go in the garage where temps are cooler, 40-55 degrees. I bring them in when I want to speed up ripening. Putting a few in a paper bag with a banana or apple can speed ripening, too, though I seldom do this. I have some inside now that were picked in mid October and are now ripe. We have eaten many others that already ripened and thrown out some rotters. There are a few green ones in the garage yet that will come inside soon. In my rather short summer area I have greenies at the end of every season. When they ripen off the vine later they do not have the great taste of ones from the summer garden, but they are as good as most store bought tomatoes. They are okay for fresh eating and make a great pot of chili!

Minda: That is a common problem with many plants. If you look at the top there are several (I counted 4) branches coming out of approximately the same point and couple of them are thick and vigorous. This situation causes the "reverse taper" as all those branches are fattening up the trunk area close to it. There is no easy way to correct it. May be post a few more pictures from a couple of other angles so that we can see if there are other possibilities. There are few possibilities: One is to cut of the top part of the trunk to a lower branch to make it a new leader. You can this also root the cutting and you will have another candidate for a bonsai. The other option is to reduce the vigor of the top and hope a lower branch grows rapidly to fatten up the trunk. Cut off the two fat branches at the top. Actually I would probably just leave only one thin branch there. The rest can be grown as cuttings. When the cuttings take, you can plant them very close to the mother plant. You can do that next summer. Have two or so cuttings butted tightly against the base of the plant (and tied) together. In an year or two they will fuse together and you will have good fat trunk. Ficus do that quite readily. So there are those ideas to play with.