Congrats on the new garden. My main offering is not to obsess too much over the amendments, preparation, etc. You are highly unlikely to 'screw up' your soil except by adding too much stuff to it.(Except compost, of course). Remember, your forebears used the earth they had and somehow managed to feed themselves. Do what you can, try stuff out and don't get put off by all the talk of what you MUST do. Get some seeds in and get started. Above all don't worry. That defeats one of the main purposes of gardening! My only other advice would be to keep on top of the weeds. Weeding is a constant process, not a once and for all thing. Hoe off seedlings regularly and pull anything larger BEFORE they get to be a problem. Weed continuously. Every time you go near the garden pull any weeds you see. Sounds like hard work but believe me it is a lot easier than trying to get rid of a weed forest later. After a while the seed bank will be depleted and you will find yourself searching for weeds to pull. All the weeds except perennial roots like bindweed can go onto your new compost heap. Which you will be starting immediately won't you? ;-) And by all means have a look at the compost forum but don't be scared off by the compost pros. They are well meaning but a bit fixated. A pile of garden and kitchen junk will turn into compost whatever you do to it. Enjoy your garden - relax - don't let it become a chore.

If you are looking for things other than TB Iris, I have pink lily of the valley, white lily of the valley and ostrich ferns which all like shade but can take some sun. I also have dwarf iris "Boo", "Little Dream", "Tantara", "Lavender Spot" and white siberian iris that I could trade. I also have yellow flag iris which likes wet soil. Let me know. Deb

I recently purchased a large quantity of cleaned, Coccoloba uvifera-"SEA GRAPE" seed. I carefully cracked a few open and found that the three-sided kernel was dried out and not at all fleshy. The seeds looked dry, and if I were to guess, I would say that the seeds were not harvested recently, but stored. How long....who knows? This is just a guess on my part. I do not know what a fresh seed looks like when cracked open, but I expected to see something like the fleshy, moist, kernel of a Ginkgo nut, or an acorn, but instead, the kernels had the texture like a Almond, and easily crumbled. The thin shells could be cracked very easily and I was able to remove all the little 1/4" kernels intact. I then soaked them in warm water for 24 hours, and they swelled up to twice the original size. I plan on sowing them in damp coconut coir, with some bottom heat. I've read all the information I could find for growing these seeds, but no sources ever mention what the fresh seeds look like when the thin shells are cracked open, and none mention cracking the thin shells to expose the inside kernels to moisture. They say to "scarify" the seeds, and sow. Scarification just gets moisture to the seed kernels quicker. I bypassed this step by removing the seed kernels first. I guess the germinated seeds would just push open the outer capsule, and strike roots. My concern is that I have seeds that are no longer viable because they were dried out. If this is the case, all my efforts were for nothing, because the seeds were delivered dead. Has anyone had extensive experiences growing this plant from seed? I know they grow all over Florida, and the seeds spring up where they drop. But that's in Florida, and that's fresh seed. I live in NYC, and must rely on mail order for tropical seeds, so my sowing/growing conditions are a bit different from the native habitat...to say the least. If anyone can give me their opinions, suggestions, I would greatly appreciate the help. Thanks. BronxFigs

My husband and I were just talking about this the other day. He was asking what was wrong with a greenhouse tomato, they look so good! lol It's only my opinion, but greenhouse tomatoes I've eaten are in the supermarket in the winter and have no taste, regardless of how good they might look. My husband wanted to know why and I had to think about that. Part of my answer, was the soil. I assume that in a greenhouse, you might be growing in containers and in potting soil mixes, rather than in actual garden soil and I thought that makes all the difference in the world. You don't have everything in potting soil that you have in the ground, and growers always try to make up for that with synthetic fertilizers, which is why they look so good, but something is still missing that accounts for the lack of taste, I would think. And I for one am happy that scientists have not been able to figure it out and we all still need to garden in the backyard to get a tasty tomato. [g] All my own theory of course. Thanks for that link, Oldngrowing, interesting subject.