Hi How do you tell one type of "moss" from another?? Since "moss" is by far the oldest terrestrial plant the have evolved into countless species If you think orchids have a lot of species check out moss sometime .Some can't even make up their mind if they are a moss or a fern or just plain mildew lol. For fun google "Lichen" some time Give you a 100 bucks to positively identify onelol When I went to Costa Rica and saw my first "wild "Cattleyas the first thing that hit me was the number of different kinds of plants living either touching,sprouting vining what have you nearby . I climbed a tree and counted 30 different kinds of plants that were NOT part of the Catt. Not a one of which I could identify as a species particularly the "mosses" lol The one thing I did not see is a Catt growing alone in fact was always the minor part of the group. Did note that "green "plants nearby the Catt seemed healthier while brown and gray plants suggested the Catt was stressed if not downright unhealthy.. Not a single one of the orchids that I saw were growing anything like I grow them. Maybe mother nature made a mistake?? lol gary

The word of the day is "Let the buyer beware" . How many here would call someone and say "I want a new car. Get me one and I will pay you what you want"? Why do we do that with soil? So often we see here someone bought some soil and it was not what they wanted, or expected, because they relied on the seller to give them what they wanted and that happens seldom. Someone wanting to purchase soil needs to determine what they want and go and look for it., same as buying that car. Do not rely on someone's description of soil as "topsoil" (a meaningless term), or "garden soil" (also meaningless), but go and look at what is being sold. Look at the soil, smell the soil, feel the soil, ask for a one cup sample of the soil for testing as described in "Soil test for organic matter" above. A good soil mix for a garden is one with about 45 percent sand, 25 percent silt, 25 percent clay and 5 percent organic matter, soil some maintain is improbable to get. If we all demand that mix it will become available if those selling soil want to stay in business. If we, as buyers, demand quality we will get it. kimmq is kimmsr

Kim, The tomato plants are declining already? I'm not horribly surprised because your location is so much like mine, but probably hotter and drier, neither of which is good. And then I kept reading and saw your next post. When one door (or garden gate) closes, God opens another one. I know you will end up where you're meant to be at this stage in your life's journey, but I still am sorry you're going through this. Megan, You've certainly got a lot going on, but I know you can handle it all. I will keep your friend in my thoughts and prayers. Unexpected deaths can rock a family's world, and I do not think you were being insensitive---your family is affected by this loss as well. It is hard when established routines fall apart and you must instantly regroup and form a new routine. I am LOLing at your crazy voice. I have one as well and use it so seldom that it freaks out my family. That crazy voice is power, woman, pure power. If it is any consolation, Tim had iliotibial band issues when he was running marathons, and after he cut back drastically on his mileage and rested his knee quite a bit the IT band issues went away. Your Indian blanket might be stretching to get more light, but I've noticed the ones in our front pasture (from a seed mix from Wildseed Farms that I used to overseed the pasture a few years back) are stretching and getting tall too and they do not have a shade issue. I suspect it is the heat making them act that way, but that is based only on intuition...and, also, I guess, on observation and comparing those observations in any given year to plant behavior that occurred that year. Hailey, I'm sorry about the tomato plant. Are the ants actually doing anything? Or, are they just around? Usually ants (except for fire ants) are beneficial in a garden, and even serve as pollinators in some cases, so I leave the ants alone. Of course, sometimes they farm aphids, but I've found that knocking the aphids off the plants with a sharp stream of water every day for a few days takes care of the aphid problem and then the ants that were farming them go find something or someone else. Jennifer, Your wish is my command..... Nancy, Keep whatever plants give you the most joy and move the others. This year I'm mostly growing for joy, not high yield. When there is in internal struggle within me over/between planting what I want to plant (mostly flowers) and worrying about where to put the veggies I should grow if I plant all those flowers, I tell myself to "choose joy" and I plant the flowers. I'm not really sorry about that either. For so many years, I've grown for yield so I'd have tons of food to put up. This year is not one of those years. I'm trying to make it be exactly the opposite, in fact. Choose joy. For years I mostly avoided the perennial/annual issue by promising myself I'd plant the perennials when the soil finally got to the right point. Well, the soil is there now, but I am finding it hard to give up the masses of annual flowers that bloom over a prolonged period in exchange for perennials that bloom for a shorter period. I think it is possible to have both of them together but it makes more sense to go heavier with perennials. I just cannot give up my favorite annuals., though I do add a few more perennials each year. Having said that I cannot give up all the annuals, I am always so stunned by how quickly perennials grow and start blooming and start looking gorgeous that I know I ought to plant a lot fewer annuals and a lot more perennials. I guess if I just keep planting a handful of perennials each year, then sooner or later, there's going to be a lot less available space for annuals. Bruce, It already is too hot, but maybe you'll catch a break and have some cooler weather next week. Amy, I'm waving back at your and hope the Sisterhood of the Traveling Plants had a great lunch. I spent about 10 minutes in my garden today, mostly just checking on things and watering plants in flats. Everything looks so pitifully hot and dry, but certainly the cool season plants. We are too hot, too dry and too windy for mid-May. Too many spider mites. Too many grasshoppers. Too much of it all. I think it is going to be a rough summer. We spent the day with the granddaughters. I'll spare you a long recitation of what we did, but here are the key words: Fort Worth Zoo, the African Savannah, flamingos, lions, tigers, literally thousands of people, and eating at lunch The Crocodile Cafe where you can watch the crocs underwater/floating on the surface of the water outside your window while you eat. I confess that as we ate, the crocs also were watching us and I was wondering if they'd think we'd be a good lunch....for them. And, my favorite part of the day, hearing the three year old say "Thank you PaPa". It was worth every minute I did not spend in the garden. Oh, and I did take great joy is looking at the zoo landscaping and playing 'name that plant' with myself. A cougar attacked two bicyclists in Washington state and killed one, while injuring the other. No words. For those of you who don't know, I had two cougar encounters near my garden in a drought summer about a decade ago. I'll never get over it, but I try not to overthink it or to worry endlessly about it happening again. Reading this news story brought it all back to me. If I could block this memory from my brain, I would. Hard garden decisions await tomorrow. That's a topic for another day. Dawn

"When our contractor called us last week to let us know he has pneumonia he told us that we could terminate the contract with him. We let our contractor know that we would like to keep the contract with him and have him complete the work." WHY? WHY WHY WHY??? This is a guy who has no clue how to schedule. At the point he was behind, he SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE YOUR DEMO. He should have given you the opt out, in FEBRUARY before the rip of the kitchen, and told YOU to delay your flooring, which could have been done after the kitchen with a simple shimming up of lower cabinetry install. Check your local area for good referrals, get your money back , and move on. In the meantime, a good contractor can give you a temporary counter space with a sink, you put the fridge somewhere with a microwave, and you have to find someone to finish the entire job.