Hi Julie, Yes, Blue Hubbard is a type of winter squash. It isn't so much that it grows in the winter (certainly not here!) but that it keeps through the winter (some for longer than others). I still have a Waltham butternut and three Delicatas sitting on the basement steps. Blue Hubbard matures over a fairly long season - something like 90-110 days - and like warm weather. I guess "warm" is relative. They might not like Phoenix-type warm very well. I'm trying them for the first time here, so we'll see if they can make squash in our short, cool season. I've seen all kinds of luscious-sounding recipes that call for squash, but I'm kind of in a rut of cutting them in chunks, removing the seeds and roasting them. I use them as a side dish and for pies (like pumpkin). If I were choosing between chucking it and trying it in a large container, I'd probably try it in the container -- and the larger the better. I'd have to be better disciplined about watering than I was last year, though :) The vines can get pretty rampant, which could be a PITA for you. Oh, yes. Depending on how far along the little seedling is, it might not appreciate having its roots disturbed very much. Good luck!

The Cucurbita moshata winter squashes (butternut, cushaw squashes) have a solid stem and aren't bothered much by squash borers. I grow Seminole squash here and it is highly productive and has no insect problems. Around here, summer squash quickly gets overwelmed by borers, squash bugs, and powdery mildew and is gone by mid-July, so in the spring I also plant Cucuzzi squash (Italian edible gourd) which isn't bothered by pests and is still going strong with the first fall frost finally takes it out. Its my summer squash for the last half of summer.

I'm growing fennel but only for the black swallowtails to munch on. Don't put any pesticides on it and watch for caterpillars. You'll have a lot of butterflies around your yard if you keep it. I've had Bronze Fennel for a few years. It's more ornamental since it has purplish foliage and is perennial. This year I planted seeds for regular fennel. I assume it will be perennial too. ??? My advice is to deadhead it if you don't want volunteers next year. Ceresone - If you wish for rain, please wish for mine because I've had enough for awhile. We still haven't cut hay and I'm worried about our basement flooding again. Our 10 day forecast at Weather.com had a chance for rain on every single day. Are the rivers and lakes still full where you are even though you need rain? I pulled a bunch of my onions even though it was a little early. I though they were starting to rot. They've been completely under water a couple times with all this rain and some of them were brown around the tops. After I brought them in and washed off the mud, I could tell there was just mud down inside the skins that made them look rotten so I think they're going to be ok. I planted watermelons around mid June but a few of them got the tops munched off after they sprouted. I think I only have four or five sprouts left. I'm going to try planting a few more but it's kinda late. I planted more annual seeds this year than I ever have before. My first zinnia bloomed this week and another flower that I think is pot marigold. I'll have lots of cosmos but they're not blooming yet. Violet - If you happen to be checking in, I've been eating raspberries. They're wonderful! I had a couple packs of cucumber seeds that I never planted. Is it too late?

ttodd, your story of purposely engaging in a conversation with a stranger at the grocery and feeling good reminds me of a story that I feel compelled to tell you. One day, after receiving awful news, the kind of "I feel like rolling over and dying" kind of news, I forced myself to get on with it by using a piece of advice a wise friend gave me years before. Its always worked like magic for me. My friend is a long time counselor and I've done a fair amount of it myself. Here it is: your job is to give other people "wins". If you can think with this, you'll see that it can change *everything*, because your attention will automatically go outwards instead of inward. Thats the key. If you get the idea that wherever you go, every person that you interact with, that they should feel better for having interacted with you, you now have a job, instead of an illness. So this one day, I dragged myself out to the grocery, and just started looking around while shopping. I started to observe the other shoppers and look for the good in each person. Pretty soon I was able to ease my attention off my crushing news, a tiny bit at a time. I observed a mother and a daughter, a man pushing a cart. They all have their own story, and I imagined what that might be and decided each person had some goodness and found something I could like about them. I got a few smiles. Before I knew it, I found myself in the baking section where something happened to me that has never ever happened before. A lady there was holding a gourmet foodie mag and looking at the spices. She showed me the recipe she was looking at and started to talk about cracked pepper, and asked me for an opinion about which pepper to use. Well, we ended up next talking about baking, and I asked her for advise on a desert I was making for my mom's birthday. One thing led to another, and we ended up in a 10 minute conversation with the woman pouring out her story to me (I didn't ask for it I was just being a good listener). She told me how she is a dermatologist, but is really a foodie and how she would much prefer to be involved in food which is her passion. And part way through the conversation, she reached for my hand and gave me the warmest heartfelt handshake you would ever get from a friend, no less a stranger, and she said "Hi, I'm Nancy." I walked out of that grocery completely uplifted, and that was the beginning of the resolution of the problem/news that I had earlier gotten. I could get outside myself enough to make correct decisions and respond to others involved without wrong emotions or making anyone wrong. My very awful problem/ news began its tricky resolution at that point with that magic bullet advise. ....and what someone else said: B complex! (and D3, the sunshine vitamin). Good luck!!