Hey everyone, I will not be able to come to the swap this weekend. I just got back from the vet and my doggie is not doing so well...apparently her spine is degenerating....anyway I can't leave her alone all day. For anyone that I was trading with I'm very sorry but hopefully I will make it to the next swap. If anyone is in the Miami area or passing through and would like to pick up their plants I am available and we can make a bar-b-que out of it.

Hey Amber-how do I start some Tithonia cuttings? Anything special? The plant you gave me a few years ago is a huge Tree/Shrub, now. It gets covered with delicious homey smelling golden flowers in the fall. I remember you telling me it's easy to start and i thought I'd share some at the swap.

Thanks Cindeea: My wife works for the IRS, she will find the exact location of the office tomorrow, but I believe it's in Downtown Ft Myers. We will rent first, then look around for a house at our leisure. I figure it's going to take a while to sell our place up here, with the housing market being what it is. I am a respiratory therapist, and will probably look in to home care, so not sure where I will be working yet. We just got the word today, so haven't had much time to digest yet. Won't be able to make the swap on 9/2, but I'll make the next one hopefully! Scott

"Where in FM can i get manure ?? And where can i find Seagrape ?? Dose it stink a lot when using manure ? Shoutd it be covered with soil or something ? How about some old fruits ? they should be perfect food for plants. Just like milk for humans. Also, i know guys who cut grass and trim palms , got to pay to dump that somewhere. I wonder where they dump it. Maybe i should make deal with some of them and start shreading they garbage for myself too. That rurbo in your screen name anyhow related to cars ?" Hi Lehigh. Sorry for losing track of this thread. My girl has two horses that she keeps at a stable in S. Ft. Myers. I know there are several stables around our area and most of them are near I-75 or a little East. Most don't seem to mind if you take the used stable bedding home. One thing about the stuff though; It has a lot of wood shavings in it so it takes some time to get it composted enough to use in your planters. I run it all through my shredder and then water it and turn and re-wet the piles every few days to let it heat. After three or four heating cycles it is good to use as a top mulch. The "potting soil" that I make with it takes a year to finish off while stored in trash cans. No strong odor to it even when it's fresh but once you turn and heat it a few times there is only an earthy smell to it. Seagrape trees are common around here. I have one on my lot that I gaether leaves from. Every year or two I put the pole saw to it bringing it down to size and I get lots of wonderful wood mulch after running the limbs through the chipper. I use everything at hand including fruits for composting. Sometimes a neighbor might have a few hundred citrus fruits that they didn't use and I just toss them in the shredder hopper and it all comes out a spray of good nutrients which soak into my leaf and stable bedding compost piles. One idea for trellis building that I haven't seen mentioned is the use of bamboo. I have a friend with a large clump bamboo plant and he begs me to take the dead stuff out of it each year, This stuff is huge and it is very strong. I built a large trellis from the stuff for my climbing crops. I also run countless lengths of it through the chipper for the organic compost material. The "Turbo" in my name does indeed have to do with a car. I have a 1987 factory slant nose 930 turbo cabriolet in tripple black. Only 78 were built so it is a special little beast. The "Capt" part of the name is from what I do for a living as a charter boat Capt. Best of luck with your gardening efforts. I look forward to seeing further posts from you to see how things are going for you as the Winter gardening season continues. CaptTurbo.