Being the onions are sprouting in one area only and lettuce pieces are starting to come to light, I'll average my temp is near 50 degrees. It's going to snow a few flakes tonight, so I'm putting a tarp over them, with 50 degree weather through out the following day. My yard stays green all year almost even rye grass never turned brown. I know it's not an evergreen, the clovers are still green, the hill I planted on is very high, maybe it gets more heat? I may have planted too deep, I'll wait for one more week, but next week I will replant if nothing else. The carrots should have peaked out, so maybe their is something wrong. It was so pretty outside, I thought I could get away with planting early. Root crops can grow all year round, so I'm not afraid for the turnips, carrots, and onions. I'll try to sprout them inside on paper towels or coffee filters next time, maybe do as the packets suggest by soaking them in water for 24 hours would have been better. I'll be watching for something until Thursday, then I'll start them in an inside garden on paper towels. Thanks for the input.

I grew up in Northern CA. As a kid whenever we went up to the mountains I made sure we had a bunch of Chiquita Bananas with us. When I found a banana slug, I'd put a Chiquita sticker on its back. Wouldn't take too long for them to slide right out from under the sticker as they moved. Jodi-

I like to cut across just below where the stem joins the fruit, peel the stem part back a bit, then put two to four nicks in the skin at the four "corners" so it'll peel well. May try the other way - we can always improve the ways that we do even minor things. It's a poor day that one doesn't learn something. ole joyful P.S. I may look a bit like a monkey ... but I try not to act too much like one. Throw-back, ya think? o j

I'm trying that Earthbox experiment here in Hayward. I transplanted two "cool weather" tolerant determinants (Siletz and Legend) March 17 to an Earthbox with with the plastic cover. The cover acts as a mulch to the soil and I placed it dark side up to absorb warmth. The plants are growing like crazy, loaded with flowers. I'll report back my results. I am transplanting more varieties the second weekend in April, four to Earthboxes, 16 to a raised bed. It is a mixture of early and midseason det., indet. and dwarf plants. I usually transplant between May 15-31 to try to catch the heat in September and October. My harvest typically starts in August. This year I am experimenting to see what happens if I start earlier. I'm predicting the earth box plants will do better than those in the bed due to soil temperature.