Well, I been busy, except I moped around a lot yesterday. Brooke, I like your pond picture. Your overall landscaping is very nice. Glad the bad storms are missing you. Like Lelia, I have not had much rain. Fortunately, I have pvc buried and running all over the place. I still have to use garden hoses to reach some of the areas. For example, in the area I just planted, I have two sprinklers. Have to run a hose 100' for one and a little over half that distance for the other. At least we don't have many mosquitoes this year, which might be because of lack of rain. We are having thunderstorms today. So far, not much close by, just a few sprinkles. We are still early enough in the growing cycle that lack of rain is not all that bad. Nancy, I think it is great that you are getting a greenhouse. Before building mine, I was not sure it would be worth the cost, but it has been a real pleasure. Regarding what to do, I am not at all sure I am the one to try to help. It is different than gardening outside and I don't really have it down myself yet. I sometimes think I make one step forward and two back in learning. I think I read that you are going to visit Jack Carpenter. He can be a big help. When I was building mine, I asked a question on the email robin about shade cloth and cooling/heating. He answered privately and we swapped two or three emails. He was tremendously nice and knowledgeable. If I recall correctly (and I am not sure that I do) he has raised beds in his gh and plants directly in the raised bed, rather than in pots. I plant in pots. For me, the worst pest by far is spider mites and I sometimes move the pots outside to spray them if the weather is fairly nice. I hate spraying in the gh and going back in it for a day or two after spraying. I use at least 5 gallon nursery pots and have them 3 deep on each side, with a walkway down the middle of the gh. It's nice to be able to move the pots when hybridizing or photographing those on the back row. I pot them up and put them in the gh before the first frost. Generally, I keep it heated only enough to prevent freezing until about the first of the year. I try to not let it get colder than about 26 to 28 degrees until that time. This year, I turned up the heat in early December, hoping to get earlier blooms. The blooms were no earlier and next year I will go back to turning up the hear on the first of the year. If I was getting free gas, I might turn it on in December again. Good luck - I think you will find it a joy. Oh yeah, we had frosts two nights this week after everything was up and growing. Daylily foliage is scorched, but we seem to have that every year.

Hi Thank you for the quick advice. Really I try to be patient but with the XX going on I don't manage too well. I realize they multiply like crazy but I want castings for my spring garden and 1 pound in 3 months probably won't do it. With 2 more pounds making 3 bins I think I have a shot at it. Plus if something happens to one bin I have a back up plan. My current tote is 18 gal. Got 6 more yesterday at Wallyworlds black Friday sale for 2.40$ each. My dream is to have all 7 bins going strong and then using 4-5 of them to start a wooden flowthrough. Then I can feed like crazy and start establishing bins for friends and neighbors that are interested. Woo Hoo! Less in the landfill and at the same time creating wormy friends that won't roll their eyes when I start talking squirm. I live in a townhome with a decent backyard but have an area 15' by 30' on the north side of the house. Doesn't get enough good sun to grow veggies but seems to be a good area for worming and non food plants. This area currently has my bin and two EarthMachine composters between a few palms and other plants. Composters are about half full of quarter done compost that was leaves, manure, grain, grass, and garden clippings. Got really hot for weeks. Turned it once and am waiting for the heat to stop again before I trust it with the worms. It feels like I will mix the worms and let the strongest survive. Eventually my herd will be mixed but will be uniqely suited to my area. Thanks again J

You are the first that I have read about using fresh chicken manure It can really heat up! I suspect that the small volume containers that you use are allowing use of this material. Is it possible to lower the heat for a week or so after restarting the totes? You may wish to experiment with temperatures, length of time for each batch, different initial stocking rates, and different feed stocks. You have a great opportunity to experiment and learn with your small batches and climate control. I compost my chicken manure and deep litter before giving to worms. I use fresh, pure horse manure (no bedding) and my worms love it and reproduce/ expand well. I do not do whole batches, but rather top feed once every 7-10 days. I have heard fresh rabbit manure is ok too. I like your power trommel sifter! I made a low-tech version with 2 buckets and hardware cloth. It runs on beer and has lasted about 4 years now. I finally got to the point where I quit sifting. I remove the top 8" of my windrow, set aside, and shovel the rest into my garden or wheelbarrow. I then replace that top 8" to the bed. Sifting takes out any worms leftover, sticks and rocks and makes it pretty, but my garden does not care. Pretty simple and quick You are doing great. Keep it up and keep us posted. Pete

I think siamese ginger and hidden ginger are hardy in our zone (8b). We sell them at work and I brought some home to see. I'll know next spring. Those passionflowers should root easily. I stuck 20 cuttings of my P. caerulea a couple months ago, in that horrible heat. No rooting hormone, no mist and no lightweight medium ~ just straight into some potting soil (rather heavy potting soil). Three of them took! I was very surprised as I didn't really think they'd do well after the timer mishap ~ yeah, they dried completely out a time or two, but still some rooted. But if you can get a rooted plant, Texasfern, it'd be well worth going to dig it up. It'll take off quicker once you get it planted. Say, what color were the blooms? What did the fruit look like ~ color, size, shape (egg shaped, or completely oval without a large end like an egg?)? Any fragrance to the blooms? Can you post a pictures after you go back? If you do, get good pictures of multiple leaves if you would ~ they're different for different cultivars. I'd love to know what kind yours is ~ I'm always on the lookout for new hardy ones.