Hey Nila, thanks! That weird looking tomato is a Blush, kinda like a roma, really tasty and made for eating right off the vine. I don't really cook with tomatoes, just eat them straight. Definitely going to try those veggies for winter! Terrene, seems like whenever i look at tomato seeds or advice about toms it's always 8 hours or more. The white poly film I have up really helps, makes the grow area feel more like a greenhouse. If bright sunlight is between 30,000 and 100,000 lumens, I'm guessing I'm getting 5,000-15,000 of indirect light for most of the day, which is comparable with indoor grow lights. The grow bags are reusable and look like they'll last a number of years. The Root Pouch ones are much thicker than the Smart Pots and have better handles. I get them locally for $4.50 for a 5 gal. I'd like to have a raised bed but there's just no way to do it. My entire space is 4x10 feet with a little walkway in the middle. Total I have 4-6 pots on each side. And I reuse the soil, mix it in with some mulch and water it when I'm not using it to keep the organic bacteria alive. Here's today's harvest from 3 plants. Not huge, but this would probably go for $4 at a grocery store:

What a shame you have to give up 15 feet, but nice way you've decided to use it! First of all, to me that image looks like it's been cut-and-pasted together. I don't know where it is, but here in my zone 7, some of those things just wouldn't be blooming at the same time. And you certainly cannot expect to have perennials blooming all season long ... even a short one ... as they tend to bloom for only 4-6 weeks before going into a resting phase. You could do something like that with annuals, since they bloom all season long, but, of course, you'd have to replant every spring. When I was a child, our neighbor had an annual garden like that - snapadragons, zinnias, sunflowers, celosia, alyssum, and I can't remember what else, rioting along the back wall of their home. It was glorious. So that it doesn't look forlorn in the "off" seasons, you might consider a mixed shrub and perennial border, with some bulbs thrown in for good measure. Choose some great shrubs for the "bones" to give structure and interest to the border year 'round. Then start adding perennials and hardy bulbs, selecting them to give a succession of bloom from early spring through late fall. Be sure to consider leaf color and texture, as these will give interest to your garden even when not in flower, and can complement and highlight the ones that are in flower. Having lived in zone 7 all my life, I hesitate to make any suggestions for your zone, but would suggest there are numerous books and websites that can help, and the most helpful might be a visit to a local public garden to see what performs well and plays well together. Of course, taller plants in back, shorter ones toward the front, but try for lines that undulate in height and from front to back to avoid a stair-step look. FWIW, one of my borders, in half sun, has blooms from February through November with snowdrops (galanthus), daffodils, grape hyacinth, tulips, creeping phlox, perennial candytuft (ibiris sempervirens), tradescantia (which is wearing out its welcome with its spreading habit), peonies, irises, baptisia, roses, hardy geranium, cultivated daylilies (not hemerocallis fulva, the invasive orange "ditch lily"), false aster (kalimeris) 'Genghis Khan', garden phlox ('Davidii' and 'Franz Schubert', fairly resistant to powdery mildew), threadleaf coreopsis (either 'Zagreb' or 'Moonbeam' ... can't remember), nepeta, bee balm (monarda), obediant plant (physostegia) 'Miss Manners' (she reseeds less prolifically), New England aster 'Raydon's Favorite', Montauk daisy. There's a blue rug juniper for winter interest, two different flowering weigelas ('Wine & Roses' and 'Rubidor'), and at one end a mature redbud (cercis canadensis), at the other a passionflower vine (native passiflora incarnata) climbing the lamp post. Probably have left someone out ... sorry, guys. I will confess to also having a variegated euonymus (alien invasive ... days are numbered), just removed a Japanese spirea (another A.I., and it's neighbors responded with wonderful growth this spring), and a few years ago removed a red-leaf Japanese barberry (another A.I.). Where it wraps around into shade, the bed transitions into to shade plants ... but that's not what you need. That border did not happen all at once; it evolved over the years and, as you can tell, is still evolving ... Well, that's the whole point of gardening, isn't it? After all, I've heard it's been called the slowest of the performing arts.

there's this thing called water. It's considered to be relatively important to life as we know it. I say this, because if you have a water source handy, I can set up a drip system for about 100 bucks, with a programmable timer. Having water available changes your ability to plant considerably. As is, you have to search for plants that like dry shade...and that's a short list. I'm willing to bet your "poor soil" is lack of water. You'll still be somewhat limited with plants...I have a location that gets irrigated, and in some places, ferns to great. A few feet away, the same ferns die out over a couple of years. Epimedium, variegated Solomon's seal, most hosta, uvularia, helleborus, these have done well. Better where there's water.

Cynthia I actually saved the post in a document for future reference. For some strange reason it won't let me post the pics though. per Nippstress zone 5 Nebraska "Jen, I have yews in the front of our house that were there when we moved in that I use as backdrop for that bed of roses. Mine faces north so these have to be the very cold hardy and shade tolerant roses in my case. I like the look of the trimmed yews contrasting the dark green behind the roses, and during the summer/fall you don't notice the yews much at all. In winter and early spring, the yews make a much-needed green foundation for the picture window and at that point, you don't notice the roses at all. I also have a cottage-style garden, so during rose/perennial season it's the usual color chaos in front of the yews to calm down during the quiet seasons with just the yews. Here's a huge Jack's Wish rose in front of two of the bushes during prime time: Explorer roses, at least in my case, and quite a few Austins and Meilland roses are doing fine in those locations too. They're both also part shade locations, particularly the east side, so they might not bloom as much as elsewhere. So, since I have my location list open here, I'll list what's on the north side of my house, some of which you can see in the yew photos. This also happens to be one of the few beds I try to limit the colors, so there's an emphasis on white, apricot and burgundy (go figure - the latter two colors of course are harder to find in hardy roses): Easy Elegance (many of these are planted in multiples): All the Rage, Calypso, Coral Cove, Snowdrift, Sweet Fragrance - these are totally reliable bloomers in this spot all summer Kordes: Coco, Floral Fairy Tale, LavaGlut, Mandarin Ice, Mango Veranda, Queen of Hearts Freelander, Summer Memories,- also all very reliable bloomers except maybe Coco who's only occasional Austins: Carding Mill, Lady of Shalott, Queen Nefertiti, Susan Williams-Ellis, Tamora Meilland: Abbaye de Cluny, Alba Meidiland, Bolero, Coral Drift, Coral Meidiland, Passionate Kisses, Peach Drift, Canadians/Explorers: Campfire, Quadra (a lot more Explorers on the East side) - trouble free and easy bloomers all season both Other shrubs: Carefree Celebration (Radler), Elizabeth Stuart (Massad), Gentle Persuasion (Buck), Imagine (Clements), Lady Elsie May (Noack), Marylene (Interplant), Milwaukee's Calatrava (Tadler), OSO Easy Mango Salsa (Warner), Paloma Blanca (Buck), Prairie Sunrise (Buck) - except for GP, MC and OSO Easy all of these have been in this spot for 6-8 years and are reliable round the season Other: Jack's Wish (a Kirkham HT rose that's in my top 10 roses of all time - Long Ago roses is propagating from my cuttings - you NEED this rose), Peach Delight (miniflora, only OK here), Pink Abundance (Harkness - by far the weakest in this location), White Gold (Cocker floribunda that does rather nicely) Hope that helps. Cynthia" sharon