In my opinion, if you are only planting 2 or 3 tomato plants, there is no reason to stagger them. I am in zone 7 North Carolina, so my growing season is likely different than yours, however, my tomatoes grew and produced all summer long and into the fall some, not just 1 month. Plus the tomatoes you are planning to grow are 3 different types used for 3 different purposes (roma, slicing, cherry) so it is ok to have some of all at the same time. Do check to make sure if the tomato varieties you are growing are determinate or indeterminate. Indeterminate tomatoes can easily be trellised 1 per square foot by keeping the suckers pruned as it grows upwards. Tomatoes do not grow onto a trellis by themselves like beans do - as they grow, you weave them in and out up the trellis. I have left about a little over a foot of room behind my trellis that I can walk behind it and tend to my trellised plants from the back side. In fact, my garden interior dimensions are approx 18 feet x 2.75 feet (31-32 inches). I have that 32 inches divided into 3 squares - 12 inches, 12 inches, and 7-8 inches deep for the back square where my trellis is. My trellis sits about 3-4 inches in from the back garden edge over the middle of my 8 inch square. This was plenty of space for my tomatoes planted one plant per 8" deep x 12" wide square last year. I did keep them pruned to one main vine only. I have read that sugar baby watermelon can easily be trellised. I have those seeds myself and will be trellising them this year. I will also note that I have a very strong trellis. I will be growing the following on my trellis ... peas, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew (if I can ever find any seeds!), cucumber, blackeye peas (cowpeas). Peas and beans are planted on the trellis in 2 rows of 4, one row on each side of the trellis, all in one square foot, which will give you 8 bean plants per square foot. Cucumber is planted 2 per square foot in one row along the trellis. Unless you are pickling cukes, I think 1 or 2 plants is plenty. If you do 2 squares of beans, 1 square of cukes, and 3 squares of tomato, that is your 6 feet of trellis. However, here is an idea ... you were going to originally have 2 beds of 4x4, I am assuming they were side by side ? If so, could you do one bed of 3x8 ? There is no such thing as too much trellis in my opinion ! With 8 feet of trellis, you could also trellis your sugar babies. If you do not trellis the watermelon, I think you should plan on putting it elsewhere, as they take up a lot of room on the ground. Or possibly plant it in a corner of the bed and sprawl it outside of the bed. Assuming 3x6, with your 6 squares of trellis planned for, that leaves 12 squares ... I recommend the following ... plant your 2 pepper plants in the middle row next to the tomatoes on your trellis. The 10 remaining squares can all be broccoli and carrots and the watermelon. Staggered planting for those would be good. I have read online to plan for 5 to 10 broccoli plants per person and 20 to 40 carrots per person. Obviously, you will not have room for all that, so do what you can. Mel recommends 16 carrots per square. My carrot packages call for 2-3" spacing between carrots which would be 36 carrots per square on 2" spacing (6 rows of 6) or 16 carrots per square on 3" spacing. Last year, I think anniesgranny planted on 1.5" spacing at 64 carrots per square !! She harvested some of them as baby carrots though and reported great results. Watermelon will likely yield 1-2 melons per plant. This is also my first year for broccoli. I have read that once you cut the first head, more little ones will sprout from the cut area. Broccoli & carrots are spring/fall veggies, while all of your others are summer veggies. In the south, we have a definite spring season and a very hot summer season which does not work for broccoli & carrots thru the summer. My broccoli will be done by about June 1, at which point I will put something else in that space (bush beans) and then in the fall I will plant the cool weather crops again. You grow girl website has a seed planting chart based on last frost date that is easy to use ... http://www.yougrowgirl.com/grow/, click on The Lazy Gardener's Seed Starting Chart. For companion planting, this website has a long descriptive list http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html. If you do end up using cinder blocks, a lot of people use the holes in the blocks to plant other things like herbs, flowers, onions, etc. Be sure to calculate the width of the blocks in your plan to account for what the interior dimensions of your garden will be. My bed is built with 4x4's of treated lumber and 2x8's of untreated lumber. I do not have an answer on the slugs question, as I luckily did not have a problem with them. I have just started my first compost bin this year as well, so am not speaking from authority, but I think there is no problem with compost being in the shade from what I have read. Mine is, so I really hope it is fine ! You can build a free compost bin by using shipping pallets (find for free on craiglist) and tie them together with wire coat hangers. It also looks pretty nice in my opinion with the boards oriented vertically. Do a google search for compost bins made from pallets. Finally, check out the square foot gardening forum on gardenweb and also read the FAQ's for that forum. Sorry this reply is sooooooo long ! : )

I've thought about this same thing, imagining that some day I'll get to build a house on a nice piece of land. I think it's definitely worth a try. Here's what I'd do: Pick the spots where the trees will be planted, and this spring build small raised beds, maybe 4 feet square, (one for each tree) out of 2X6 boards. Dig in some compost and fill the beds with compost or some other organic matter. By the fall, the soil will be really nice for several inches deep....rich in organic matter which will help with water retention as well as drainage, and loose and crumbly...ideal for root growth. Of course, if the soil there is already ideal, this isn't really necessary :) Order bare root trees for delivery this spring and pot them up in the biggest pots you can handle and transport. Maybe use rootmakers or smartpots to maximize root branching. In the late summer, plant the trees in the previously prepared beds. This way you will be transplanting essentially container grown plants, (which should minimize transplant shock) into loose soil that has good water storage capacity. Give them a good layer of mulch, like straw or wood chips. The trees will have the fall, winter, and spring to grow their roots before they have to face the rigors of a hot summer. With a good root system well on its way to establishment in good soil, they should be able to survive quite a bit of neglect. Good luck! Alex

Thanks, Bernergrrl! It was so bittersweet releasing them especially my little miss "bad boy". I got to provide the instructional link for "downed chrysalis" you gave me to another forum poster who had a BST whose girdle broke and was hanging by his little tush attachment. "Pay It Forward" is a nice way to go through life. I've still got the last chrysalis (brown) hanging in enclosure and I sure hope he doesn't go into diapause and overwinter. I'll be worried all winter about him out in the garage but I read it's better not to bring them in the house because higher temps could lead them to eclose when you've got nowhere to release them since it's winter in the NE! You've been a doll just like your little one and I thank you. Mechelle, it seems like the gulf coast and CA have bumper crops of butterflies of so many varieties. My father keeps telling me the same thing MCronin reminded us of this week...we think there are less butterflies at this time because we forget most activity in some parts of US takes place toward Fall. I hope so because I haven't seen a single Monarch yet this year. For me, except for one male Eastern Swallowtail, the BSTs are the only ones I've seen so far this year not counting the dozens of Cabbage Whites nectaring like there's no tomorrow. Once I spot a butterfly I follow him/her around the yard just to watch. Love it. I used to travel to Texas a few times a year for business when I worked for a company that supplied industrial heat exchangers...don't ask...LOL. Annually attended Petro-Chem and Oil shows at AstroDome as booth vendor...what a pain. It was the 70s and a female in that world wasn't exactly run of the mill except standing on a rotating stage showing off some huge piece of equipment...and I don't have the "equipment" to stand on a rotating stage...LOL. I'll never forget my first time coming out the door of the plane onto the tarmac at the Houston airport and immediately being drenched in perspiration from the heat and humidity. Then you go inside an over airconditioned building and get chills. Once spent a "charming" day climbing all around machinery and hoses at bleach factory along ship channel. Not thinking before I went out there with sales rep I didn't wear (or have with me) older shoes so my heels were ruined by bleach leaking all over the place...LOL. It was a rough and tumble business back them but I learned a lot about those industries and there's not much I'm not curious about and happy to learn more. Is it warm enough in your part of Texas for butterflies to eclose most/all year round? If not will your new BSTs go into diapause like they do up here in NE? I learned about 15 years ago from a person raised in Amarillo that it gets very cold and snows up in that part of the state. Well, you'll be a busy mama for a while with all those little ones. Think I'll go check the parsley again...ya never know...LOL. Thanks for your kind comments. This is a warm forum and it's so nice to find a place in this world where people are welcoming, encouraging, supportive and have sense of wonder & lots of humor. Guess if you care about these little guys who turn into beautiful creatures of nature and take the trouble to raise them then that caring carries over into other parts of life for many people. Makes me glad and appreciative. Butterflies take the naturally occurring "gloomy" out of a lot of pockets of people's lives. Trust me...if I find anymore cats there'll be more long missives of my experiences. I just got to find me at least ONE Monarch egg or cat! I already have all the rearing supplies and plenty of Milkweed. :)

Hello Everyone... Hello Andrea.... Dont worry about your cutting ..it will be alright... Let it dry out in the sunshine...giving it alittle extra water..wont do any damage to it..only if you keep doing it before it drys out...no worries.. As far as the mushrooms...it natural...again no worries...just means that your soil conditions are really good right now!!! I would carefully pull them out and toss! What type of pot did you put it in? Make sure it gets all of the heat it can...they love it especially this time of the year...once my temps get into the 100's i have to protect the containers...but now they really enjoy all they can get.. Dont worry...you new Hawaiian baby will be fine... Once Again welcome... Take care everyone.. Captjack1...Congratulations on the blooms last year...hopefully they will continue to push new inflos for you this year...the season is still early..so you may still see some...dont forget to fertilize and you will see flowers again hopefully!!! Remember eaery tree has its own personality..sometimes they take years to bloom... SOmetimes cuttings will already have a n inflo started..this has occured already before the cut...so sometimes they do push while rooting...we here on the forum watch to make sure the energy is focused on the rooting and the leaves not only on just the inflo itself...if this happens you may want to cut the inflo to send the energy elsewhere...if you have leaves and the inflo at the same time..i would leave it on and enjoy the beauty of you bloom..its a wait and see kind of struggle... Hope this helps a little... Hopfully someone with more experience will chime in and give you some more advice... Post some pics if you can..we love pics here on the forum!!! Welcome Captjack!!!! Laura in VB