Most all the minor spring bulbs will grow under deciduous trees and they will be much easier to plant if there are a lot of roots under the Maple tree. These bulbs get enough sunlight before the trees leaf out to be happy. Using minor bulbs will also increase the length of your bulb season as many of them bloom before a lot of daffodils and tulips. I have Scilla Siberica, Anemone Blanda, Chionodoxa, Fritillaria meleagris, & Ipheions (along with a nice collection of various miniature daffodils (regular daffs already suggested by Daisy will work too) growing under the very dense shade of a low-growing Crabapple tree. BTW, my tree is right up next to the patio, so seeing little bulbs is no problem. If yours are to be seen from a distance, I would use the minor bulbs as low sheets of color under the tree & probably use the large daffs, if I wanted daffs as well. One thing to remember is that it takes a lot of minor bulbs for impact from a distance. Think in hundreds not tens, but they are very inexpensive & you can add a few of the 100-packs (don't worry - these are very easy & quick to plant) each year of this or that to get the effect you want. Most of them spread well also, some even too fast, especially if you have sandy soil. Please see my pictures of some of these minor bulbs in the posting by Trowelgal on this page about planting with sedums. All of these minor bulbs should be available from places like Brent & Becky's Bulbs & John Scheepers. I attached a link to Scheepers, which has some lovely pictures of various varieties. Fritillaria meleagris - this one likes a bit of damp, which might be a problem under a Maple tree, but really lovely and spreads very well for me. Might be worth a try. The white ones pop out the more purplish color of the others & I love the checkering. P. S. These are also taller than the mini daffs. Miniature daffodils - I bought two mixed packages of 50 minis each which have spread generously. I now have two large patches, each with various small daffodils blooming at different times of the season, which is nice. Here is a link that might be useful: John Scheepers

This year I purchased egg-sized seed potatoes. It was cold for so long, I just left them in their brown bags until I was ready to plant. They had some sprouts on them and I just dug a hole in the raised bed and put the whole thing in and covered with soil. They are coming up just fine. In the past, I have cut and dried and not problem that way either. Keski

ilene-84, Happy Birthday to your Dad! Is he a WW II vet? I hope all the medical issues are behind you and your family now. Spring is around the corner and it's such a great time of year. And, I'm sure when your kitchen is all done, it will be great simply because it has been a labor of love. It's good to know I am not the only one sleeping terribly. I wake up every day with a terrible headache and neck pain. I also wake up in the middle of the night repeatedly adding up cabinet sizes, trying to make a list of events of what should come next, what goes and doesn't go, if I do this then I have to do that and the infamous DID I MAKE A MISTAKE and what are my options now if I decide to change the layout. I started keeping a pen and paper on the night table to be able to jot down the ideas and make notes. However, one kitty is a pen thief, the other is a paper tearer. So when I get up to find the pen, big doggie has to come over and inquire as to what I am doing but more so to make sure he is not missing out on a food tidbit. Then DH starts in, what's wrong, is everything okay . . . it's so pitiful I have to laugh because I would cry. Now I try to get back into bed and find out that another kitty has stolen my warm spot and I just can't bear to move them so to the couch for me where I wonder, I just left that bed with all of them so how did we fit on there before! At least I'm off the kitchen biz. So much for the couch idea. There is usually the shy rescue cat there who so prefers DH to me. Then if I manage to lay down, it's impossible to get my back comfortable but then I finally fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion and then there is DH waking me, come back to bed, you know the couch is no good for your back. Argh . . just leave me be! This is a daily routine for us. I almost want to quit my day job and get a night job just so I don't have to go to sleep. I am sure also that the massive amounts of junk food I am eating is not helping the situation either. I am actually craving veggies so I don't know what that says about the diet. But in the end I will have a nice enough kitchen that I have built out of a labor of love. I am so looking forward to cooking again for us so hang in there! Christine, thanks for sharing your perspective on things. I must say you must be one strong resilient woman! You go girl.

I think I gave some flats too much drainage or ventilation slits....it seems like I have to water them almost every day, what can I do? This is an easy fix! I never put more than five or six drainage slits in a flat, but even so that might sometimes be too much. So to fix that I pick up the flat and dry its bottom off with a paper towel, then I take a piece of duct tape or white bandage tape and simply tape over a couple of the drainage holes. The tape does a great job of sealing the slits enough that the excess drainage is slowed down. If you've put too many slits or holes in the cover for air transpiration you could tape some over with clear packing tape, or even easier, just toss out that cover and make new one. How do I make a new cover? Take your flat and slip it into a baggie or ziploc bag. Close the baggie with a twist tie or knot. Take a paring knife and make a few slits in the bottom for drainage and make some slits in the top for air transpiration too. If you use a ziploc bag you can keep the zipper open a bit and make just a few slits in the the top. Trudi