Last year on July 29th, I fell and broke my leg. I was operated on next day and got a plate and 6 screws in knee. My tomatoes were just getting ripe, cucumbers and squash were going wild. I just wanted to cry. I could not put any weight on my leg for 4 mths. There was no way to get to the garden. My husband would go to garden every morning and gather everthing. I pulled my wheelchair up to table and helped him freeze the tomatoes. We gave cukes and squash away. I know how you must be feeling and it is ok to have a pity party. I hope you heal well and just try to stay positive, for this to shall pass. josieoh-05

Most of my leaves have either been raked into beds, or they've blown into the shrub borders/woods (same super windy day/night as Diggerdee). Some of the pesky leaves fall into the gutters or blow under the deck or along house foundation - cleaned the gutters and raked those out this weekend. I've collected about 15 paper bags of leaves so far from the town compost site, which I store in back and let rot to create leaf mold. And this year, I finally asked my neighbor to blow/rake his leaves into the shrub border I'm creating along our property line. He was quite amenable to that! Saves some collecting on my part. :) I also stuff a few black plastic bags with leaves to use as insulation around the pot ghetto of small plants. Emptied the leaf mold out of last years bags into the veggie area of the garden. A couple bags were in good enough shape to be re-used so I stuffed them with leaves again and tuck them behind the pots. This is the leaf mold that came out of the bags, after sitting in them for a year. It shrinks down a lot but it's great stuff!

Paula, I've never heard of it and never tried it, but why not try it and see what happens? Since the other southern peas make great jellies, I think there is a good chance the Penny Rile peas will too. Check out the comment on the recipe I've linked below where they suggest that combining several specific types of peas gives you a plum flavor. I'm sure someone figured that out by experimenting and giving it a try just to see "what if?". So, I say....what if? Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Purple Hull Jelly

Nice heap. I just moved 35 plants back outside today. The outside plants were covered by a sheet, but nobody - not even the exposed ones - got bit as temp only down to 33F. Apparently a one-time-only happening this month. The only real casualty I see is the big bearing fig behind the neighbor's house. But its day was done weeks ago. Now, especially on the St. Peter, I am seeing the frantic setting and ripening of midget pods. So cute but so pointless... Dennis