Hi Sandy, I was so excited to find my package waiting for me when I returned home from work yesterday. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I can't tell you how pleased and happy I am with the seeds you sent me - you really did a fantastic job! All your time and hard work is very much appreciated. Matching up seeds to all of our "want" lists had to have been a tedious job and a lot of work! You deserve a big pat on the back! Thanks also to RBRADY and MNWSGAL who sent seeds in marked for me!!! : ) Again...thanks a million Sandy - I love everything and can't wait to get them going! : ) Smiles : ) - Lisa

It looks like you don't have enough corn for good pollination. My understanding is that you need at least 4' x 4' of corn for decent pollination. Do you have a plan on how you will get to the plantings in the back for care & harvesting? I think you might want to consider some stepping stones at least. Consider also that your plants will bush out - when we grew cukes & beans on a trellis in a bed 2 feet from the fence they bushed out so much there wasn't much room to get behind them. Also, I have never grown okra, but I've heard the plant can be irritating to the skin. I think it gets pretty big, too. You might think about putting it together & somewhere you won't have to come into contact with it until you want to. Why are you mixing things up? Are you trying to avoid cross pollinating varieties, or going for aesthetics? Or is it for another reason? I would consider putting same plants together because they will have the same needs & you can more easily deal with them as a group. Beans are great & can be very productive. You could substitute them for the corn along the back. Perhaps you could do a block of a short variety of corn (so it doesn't shade other things too much) if you move things around a bit. I am not familiar with your growing area, so I'm not sure what else to add. I see you have cukes growing on the fence, but you have a line of them down into the bed. Will those get a trellis, or are you putting bush varieties in front? Definitely (IMO) put as much organic matter into your soil as you can. We have terrible soil here (sand), but my small gardens are looking lush. We found a local coffee shop that gives us bags of their compostable material regularly. We add that straight to the garden beds (coffee grounds, veggie scraps, egg shells) with some manure (we use quail because it is inexpensive & convenient). Also, we added in some peat moss & vermiculite the first couple of times we were turning over the beds. Hopefully someone with more expertise will give you some good tips. Best of luck!

Hi there all- Yep Ann- I posted back on the 20th that I had received your envelope- thanks again for the very nice selection sent in! I received a few more envelopes today- Roflol, Clay Lady, Kliddle, and Nan6161! Whew- so many many great seeds you all have sent in! I am using a laundry basket with an alpha-accordion file for the general swap- and individual pocket manila folders for each member- and I am already running out of room with only 13 member envelopes out of 38 members (so far) sent in! That IS a lot of seeds!- OK- a lot of paper too but hey- Shilohyn - how ever many or few you send in is GREAT! The mix is wonderful too. They are sure to be appreciated by those who receive them! I hope I have been answering questions as they appear on the board here- But some of the entries are being "squished" so that I can not read them- It must be time to start a new update thread- but I think I will wait till Sunday if I can. Please feel free to contact me by e-mail if I missed your important question- Thanks- Julie

This website says pollen and stigma aren’t ready at the same time, and that another clone may also be needed. Canarina canariensis I store my seeds carefully (fridge, with dessicant) so my leftovers may still be viable. Here is my plant today, it is just starting to bloom. The flowers hang down so are a bit hard to appreciate. There are at least two plants in the large pot so it definitely needs dividing up when it is dormant. I tried putting another plant in the ground but it never came back. Those in the pot come back reliably.