Does it have an Avocado stone in the earth at the base of its stem? Even here I get Avocados popping up where I spread my homemade compost. This year one even came through our winter.

RITA: I hope when you eat one of them CHINESE CUKES you will tell us what you think of that cucumber.If it taste the same as the others, more seeds, less seeds,,etc. I have never hear od them, myself. You had me laughing about your neighbor coming after some more tomatoes.Thats kind of Nervey. but, at least you didnt have to go bring them.Whats the matter they can't grow some in a pot, too, like you do?Are they senior citizens or disabled? I have a black neighbor next door that I give my excess tomatoes to. He is so nice. a very good neighbor. he kept looking at my roof , how it had lots of pine needles on it,and told me several times I really need them off my roof as they will rot the roof, I told him I know this, but, my daughters tell me to stay off the roof, and I can not afford to find some one to pay them to do it for me, and daughters are afraid of higth anyway, and so am I really. well, he came over last fall and brought a long pole with him,and said hes going to try and get them pine needles off my roof for me.Well I had a broken rake against the house, so he took the rake and taped it to his long pole he brought,and he did get all that mess off my roof for me.Well, after that, I raked up pine needles for a couple days aand ended up with over a dozen huge sacks full.he told me to not try to get them to the curb for pickup that he will come do that.. This man is 75 yrs old and works every day with out fail down town some where, i forgot where, but hes a hard worker and a good neighbor, so I bring him tomatoes to eat when I have more then I am going to eat, and hes so happy to get them..Its good to share when you have too much for your own use, but, RITAjean

Intermingle in the vegetable garden is fine. Herbs all need different growing soils and conditions. Some like dry sandy, some like moister heavy soils. Some like lots of sun, som don't. Some like cooler shady areas, while others like heat. You would have to research the specific herbs you wish to grow and then decide on what location you think is best for them. Not everything will grow everywhere. About the only place you do NOT want to grow in is a leech field or over a septic system. I have a plastc pipe I buried in the ground next to my garden, and its inlet is nearby a faucet at the side of my house. Its below the ground level, so a mower will not harm it. The other end is about 65 feet away and comes up at a hose fitting with faucet and a 4 way splitter. I need only to plug in a 'quick disconnect' at the faucet end and then turn on the faucet. The other end goes to several pourous hoses used as drip irrigation, and my garden gets well watered as well as controlled watering due to the various outlets fitted to the outgoing faucet which is mounted on a post. I do NOT use any sprinklers as they tend to increase risk of fungal disease on the leaves of the plants. Another help is a heavy duty plasic fabric that I use for weed prevention. Its worked well for several years now and I think I can get 2 more years out of it before its finally too old to deal with. Its 6 foot wide strips that go down quite easily and fast. The nice thing is not to hav to weed all the time, and because it helps to prevent moisture losses, its great around areas like cukes and watermelons where they need a lot more water than most other items.

Regardless of where in New Zealand I have visited there was always something to remind me of how young this country is. Forestry is the fifth biggest industry today and everywhere you look there are planted production forests. The tree that covers many thousands of hectors of country side is Pinus radiata, the Monterey Pine from California. New Zealanders have determined the Monterey Pine that grows to lumbering maturity in a fast twenty years and is a hard enough wood to have an export value. What I found remarkable was how diverse most farmers are, for example a large sheep farm was more than likely to have a "retirement block". A retirement block is a section or block of land planted with Pinus radiata when the farmer is young with the expectation that the profits from the lumber will be a nice "nest egg". The pines are planted extremely close to one another and are limbed up through the years with intent of straight lumber with less prominent knots. Some pines those that were not limbed up would be farmed for paper. That said anyone who has ever tried to eek out a living from farming can probably appreciate that the best use of the land is certainly market driven. As recently as three years ago when the international apple market bottomed out the apple trees were removed and now wine grapes are going in everywhere I have never seen anything like it. I am happy to report that the few apple orchards around are still doing some exporting and everyone is a buzz about a new variety "Jazz" that should be ready for export soon. The approximate cost of planting grapes is $15,000.00 per acre and Pinot Noir seems to be the most sought after. One vine will produce three to five bottles and there are many smaller growers (under 30 acres). The central Otago wine region has a six winery coop where they all use the winery facilities but bring with them their own wine maker (or not) and then all have one distribution center. The explanation I received as to why I can rarely find New Zealand wine in the US but Australian wine is filling the shelves was to be reminded how small NZ is and it is just a numbers game, I was told that rather than trying to compete in volume they are focusing on quality. Pine and Grapes Thanks for the nice comments I am back in New England now while we were traveling I had "Robbie" my laptop with me and wrote these journal entries while traveling from one location to another. We were in NZ looking for land as well as general touring so we hired Robert who arranged the garden tours for me, fly fishing for Joe, meetings with Realtors and solicitors, all the while travelling the south island and experiencing the amazing beauty.