Hi Jean, Since asking about the size of the 2 plants that you would be sending in exchange for my 11 plants, I have only had 1 reply saying you would email the height the next day. I have not heard about the size yet, perhaps one of our emails is messed up. Post here and I will get back to you here as well. Here are our emails; Would you be interested in heucheras. I have several 'Snow Angel'. I also have hedychium 'Peach Delight', which overwinters here but I don't know about up there. LMK if you are interested, Les Reply; I am very interested in your heuchers and they are hardy for me.... I wish I coud use your peach delight but it is not hardy here. Tell me what else you have.......in your bog or in your shade garden that would be hardy up here. I am near Albany, NY and we are zone 5 I want to put 2 bananas in the box because they are heavy and I can ship in a flat rate box. Me; I also have one heucerella (several shoots) 'Strike it Rich Gold'. Single division heucheras, 2 'Mocha Mint', 1 'Peach Melba' and 1 'Licorice'. The 'Snow Angel' each have several shoots. I have ajugas, 'Caitlin's Giant' and 'Burgundy Glow'. All of these are pot grown and so can be planted out immediately. I can't think of anything else that I have that might work where you live. I sort of try pushing the envelope so do a lot of zone 8 plants. We are right on the border between 7 and 8. Hope there is something that you like, Les Reply; These all sound great to me one heucerella (several shoots) 'Strike it Rich Gold'. Single division heucheras, 2 'Mocha Mint', 1 'Peach Melba' and 1 'Licorice'. The 'Snow Angel' each have several shoots. However, I already have the ajugas, 'Caitlin's Giant' and 'Burgundy Glow'I Let me ask you this ...Is the hedychium 'Peach Delight', a bulb that I could overwinter in the basement? If so you could send me all the heucheras and a few peach delight in exchange for 2 banana. Let me know if that seems fair to you and send me your address. What fun...and thanks for being willing to trade. Jean Me; Can you tell me what size these plants are now? Reply; I will measure them tomorrow. The next day I wrote; Just a guess as to the height would be fine but either way DH wants them so send me your address. I think the hedychium can be wintered over inside but I am not sure if your growing season will be long enough for them to bloom. I would pot them up in the early spring and set them in a sunny area to help them get started before you move them out. I will send out tomorrow or Friday at the latest, Thanks Les (here I had my address but I have left it out now)

Now, if we can just hold back the rain...

Oh. I thought different vegies needed different ratios of salt and water, for safety reasons. Is that all wrong? Different veggies may benefit flavor-wise from different brine levels but that is a matter of taste. As long as you use one of the recommended salt brine levels - see salt brine charts referenced above in Joy of Pickling (JOP) for example - then you can safely ferment any vegetable or mixture of vegetables. This, of course, assumes you use the proper fermenting techniques too - enough brine to cover the amount of vegetables, time, air temps, cover, skimming, etc. Dave PS: Randy - feel free to start a new thread. That way the OP won'r be getting all the emails if it turns into a long discussion. :) This post was edited by digdirt on Sat, Oct 26, 13 at 11:16

One pole(climbing vine) beans that I lik best is "Hyasinth". It starts flowering and producing beans from June till November(right now). It flowers and grows beans non-stop, and attracts bees. What is more is that it has the most beautiful fragrant purple flowers and beans. The beans can be harvested young or left to mature. The color and cluster of the beans also are very pretty. It is perhaps better than some mail box flowers or morning glories(which do not have fruits and the flowers are closed most of the time). This past summer I had another pole beans (orange color), Cypress vine, morning glories, passiflora Incarnata, all climbing on the same arch. I have been most happy with Hyasinth beans than the rest combined. I will not plant Cypress vine next year, although I have so much seeds of it. The passiflora will grow back and I will just plant Hyasinth Pole beans and maybe two wild morning glories(non-lobed leaves), which are much pretier than cultivated ones and flowers grow as a bunch. Back to climbing beans: My all time favorite:Hyasinth.