Thank you so much for your reply justaguy2. Would that be the same advice for any veggie (cucumbers, zucchini's, and such?). The current garden I'm planning is 10 times the size of any previous garden I've planted (mainly due to the addition of corn), so I'm trying to soak up as much info as possible. In previous years, I've lived in a subdivision, and used a small space to garden in. I have 5 children and we all love our veggies (believe it or not!) and I'd like to plant an appropriate amount per person now that we have 40 acres to work with. Of course, I'll only be using an acre or less for our garden, but that is still quite a bit more than I've done in previous years. There is so much wonderful variety that I'd like to experiment with, but I just don't want to do so and unknowingly be shooting myself in the foot. You know? Also, as I am a real "planner", do you know of any good programs that will allow me to plot out my space? Thanks much! Stacie

Hi there, I am also interested in the pumpkin seeds along with some of your others. I have many of your wants. From your list I am interested in: CAULIFLOWER..."Purple of Sicily PUMPKIN..."Long Island Cheese SQUASH(Winter)..."Futsu"... Seeds I have for you: BASIL - "Mrs. Burns" CARROT - "Purple Haze" CONEFLOWER - Echinacea purpurea - "Harvest Moon" ZINNIA - Zinnia elegans - "Zowie Yellow Flame" PLMK if interested Deb

It's been weeks since I've posted. I planted some melons in August. The weather has been very unpredictable the last two months here in Southern Cal. We've had mainly cooler than average temps (5-10 degrees) except for one week of 90 deg. weather. Not surprisingly, the Butterscotch Sweetie performed like champs. There were about 3 melons on each of 8 plants, all of them sweet though smaller than those planted in June and harvested early August. Most of the volunteer Galias have blossoms but they probably won't bear now. The 4 Haogen Melon plants suffered through the foggy evenings and cool days, succumbling to blights. But I managed to get 5 regular sized melons, the rest were too small and I pulled the plants out. Unfortunately, the largest, a 2.5 lb melon was attacked by the ground squirrels. I have one Jenny Lind plant and it produced one one-pound melon, but the squirrels got to it, too. The other two JL melons were too small to be worth anything before the plant died. The good news is that those three melons, if planted in early August in the future, will probably succeed. They were still selling Ambrosia, Galia and Haogens at the Hollywood Farmer's market through early October. Anyway, I am so glad the Butterscotch melons can produce even when others struggle this first week of November.

I wouldn't want to use GMO plants, that's for sure. One reason I like to use open pollinated plants, even on vegetables that I'm not likely to save seeds to, is that if I fall in love with a variety, I know that I have the option of saving seed. With hybrids, you have to buy seed from a seed company. I've seen people very disappointed when their favorite variety of something is no longer available. I'm also learning that it's much easier than I originally thought to save seeds from most things, like lettuce and other everyday veggies. I'm letting my radishes form pods and will be collecting seeds soon. My only problem is that I usually have so many varieties growing that crossing on many things is a problem. But, I will save squash seeds from my favorite squash after my summer squash die out, since the winter squash are on the vine longer, anyway. Or, just hand pollinate and bag a few blossoms, which is really very easy with squash and melons.