I wrote a long answer to your question about what to do but I guess it got lost in cyberspace. The simplest way to deal with spider mites is to wash them off with a stream of water. If you can mist the plants daily, that might help. They really prefer dry areas, I've been told.

I filled three new whiskey barrels with the "organic" raised bed and planter mix last year - first time I've ever used any Kellogs product. Didn't really like the look of it (I worked 12 years for a greenhouse and was used to the lovely commercial mix we used there)... I sure wish I'd seen this thread first!! I've grown in barrels with nice success over the years, but NOTHING I planted in that soil did well. Carrots never grew beyond 2" tall, no taproot to speak of. One healthy, stocky bush tomato plant produced ONE tomato and died. (A cherry tomato did semi-ok, but they're half a weed anyway.) Three different dwarf/bush type squash plants, and only one female bloom the whole season. Green beans failed to yield, I picked enough for one meal for two people. Container variety of corn got about 2' tall, and tasseled weeks before any ears appeared. Swiss chard, planted in the fall, got about 4" tall and stalled. Nasturtiums, bought in 3" pots, just stalled and never bloomed. Even my marigolds stayed tiny. The only thing that flourished was some chocolate mint, and after reading this thread I think I'll just pull it up and start again with some other kind of soil!! I'm going to be pulling all the Kellogs junk out of my barrels this spring and using it as fill dirt where I don't plan to plant anything important. Hopefully grass will grown in it...

Susan, Winter sowing is a method of seed propagation using recycled plastic containers (milk jugs). This was my first year trying it and it works incredibly well. I only WS a few annuals--alyssum, cleome, nasturtium, cosmos, marigold & ageratum. I mostly WS perennial seeds, the bulk of which I received in trades. The seeds go inside the milk jugs and the jugs go outside in December/January/February/March. The seeds know when to germinate--it's in their genetic code. The milk jugs simply provide a sheltered environment where they can germinate without the risk of being blown or washed away and where critters can't get them. Check out the winter sowing forum link at the top of the Propagation from Seed page. There's also a website, wintersown.org where you can read about it and even see lists of plants that are hardy in your zone that can be WS successfully. I'm growing over 40 new perennials from WS, including Siberian iris, Echinacea, balloon flower, butterfly bush, blackberry lily, flowering dogwood, turtlehead, bee balm, globeflower, beardtongue and many more. Setting the seeds outside in winter means the plants that grow are already accustomed to the fluctuating outside temperatures and don't need hardening off. I'm even growing tomatoes from seed this way. My tomato plants are huge and healthy way earlier than usual here in north central CT. If you have questions after checking out the website, feel free to email me. I'll be glad to answer if I can.

Edible flowers and weeds has been a hobby of mine for years! I love foraging for free and healthy food! Here are a few more, some are weeds that are good for you, many are also medicinal herbs. All are edible. I have made organic wine with many of these and eaten most of them in salads. 1) all mallows, includes hibiscus and malva moschata has more vit A than spinach and is mild and good in a salad. Mallow common weed is really good for you and the seed pods are high in protein! 2) lilac flowers 3) violets, mild and also good in salad 4) bee balm, monarda didima - makes good tea 5) amaranth reseeding annual - (loves lies bleeding, intense purple) eat the small leaves, sprouts and seeds 6) Meadowsweet flowers - add almond flavour 7) burdock sprouts, only young sprouts and stems 8) jewelweed reseeding annual flowers and seeds 9) potentilla yarrows fireweed dandelion Not sure these next will grow up here: milkweed, early sprouts, small pods, silks cattails - new sprouts, roots and seeds evening primrose I have made organic wine with: lilac flowers, choc mint, hibiscus flowers, dandelion flowers, red bee balm (monarda didima), daylily flowers - as well as some flower jellies. All were delicious. I found the lilac flower wine to be slightly bitter, however and would probably not use it again. Dandelion flowers make good syrup and are delicious battered and fried, as are daylily flowers, which can also be stuffed before cooking! Nasturtiums are peppery! Try just a tiny bit in a salad at first. I have a lot of blog posts about exactly this, but have not included a link - don't want to get sent to Disney or have my posting rights cut off... :-)