Oh man Bejay! I hear you! We have Poinceana trees in just about every other yard here but I'm partial to the cassia tree (less leaf and seed pod litter). I am in Lee County which is where Ft. Myers is located. I am sure I have a micro climate. I'm less than 3 miles from the coast. Granted I have Sanibel, Captiva and Pine Island as barrier islands in between me and the Gulf but I'm right there on the other side of the intercoastal. This is a brand new house that we built and have only been in for about a year. Last year I got Blueberries and stuck them in pots because I didn't know where I wanted them. I succesfully killed them but not before I saw that Gulfcoast does much better than SharpBlue. I have a spot in mind for them but it looks like I'll have to wait for next winter. :-( So far I have planted 2 gigantic Areca Palms (for a little screening) I have the 3 apple trees, 1 Pom Wonderful and 1 Garden Prince Almond. I recently cleared a spot for an herb garden. I will be planting 2 kinds of basil, sage, rosemary, parsley, oregano and mint this week. I also have spots ready for beans, peas (i'm probably too late) cucs, 4 kinds of peppers and 2 kinds of toms. I already have 8 spots picked out for 4 kinds of oranges, 1 lemon, 1 lime, 1 grapefruit and 1 mandarine. I'm also planning on 3 coconut palms (those suckers take years to fruit! Almost a decade!) The coconut palms are going to be more for the hammocks! Oh and I have 4 passion Fruit and I'm getting ready to get 2 Kiwi (well really one, just one male one female). As soon as hubby gets the pergola up, I'm doing 4 kinds of grapes. When he gets the arbors done over the 2 gates, I was thinking about climbing roses but knowing me it'll probably be an edible instead. I really want to find space for a coffee plant, peanuts and sugar cane! Then I'm done...promise...or so I tell my hubby! ;-) hehehe I'd love bananas but hear they are messy. I wouldn't mind peaches or plums but I don't really have a whole lot of room. I would do plum before peach but hubby says he only likes the dark skin, dark fleshed, sweet plums and I don't know enough yet. I am patiently waiting for the day that I have acreage. I'm hoping it's sooner than later. I recently found 5 acres that is affordable for me but it's in the middle of no where, down a LONG dirt road and I fear that I would no longer have friends visiting me since I am the only person I know with 4x4. :-( Which would you choose...tree or friends? hahahaha I don't plan on jumping ship anytime soon. :-) I love growing things that I can eat. I have a really hard time planting things that don't do double duty as both eye pleasing landscape and also nourish my (hopefully soon to be) growing family. I'm slowly eradicating the grass and I'm loving every bit of it! Except the back breaking part! Ouch! Once I get a managable patch I'm going to plant low, xeriscape ground cover. Then I'm selling the lawn mower! I will certainly share my experiences. If I can get my camera to cooperate tonight, I'll try to take a few pictures of the apples. They are looking so pretty now that they are starting to bloom. Even my coworkers are giong out of their way to drive by my house. I love it! Thanks for the chat time...I needed it...now back to work. :-( Kristiina

I've tried the window box containers -- they just seem perfect for cut and come again lettuce near the kitchen. Alas, they just dried out too fast and got too hot. If I were to do it again, I'd do it indoors in the winter in a sunny window. (Which I don't have in this house.) Or put them on drip irrigation and a timer so I could give them a little water twice a day on hotter days. With 5 different kind of carrots you'd think *one* of them would have germinated by now. As wet as it has been, it's possible the seeds have rotted. This year I am direct seeding *everything.* Messing around with little pots and transplants is just too much hassle and my direct seeded plants always do as well if not better.

Carrlinesue's package arrived today. I know Moonphase's will be here soon, so I am busily sorting & doing a preliminary check for each person on what was sent vs. what was sent in for them. One of the neat things about this swap is having two ways of packaging. Those that package by individual player make it very easy on the initial sort process. But of course, some of the things that are sent in for a player are the exact varieties they sent to others - since I try to send back all new stuff (don't always succeed 100%, but I have a pretty good track record), the ones who send in seeds packaged by themes they will fit into - and I decide where they go - make the second round much easier. It's all good! :) Kim, the master of the run-on sentence (yikes!)

Thanks for the great feedback, rgreen48. Starting the new garden this year, and getting a late start on it, I reconciled myself to the idea that if we harvested anything from the garden that would be a bonus...that we were simply trying to get the foundation started for the garden. Naturally, when I saw plants growing and blooming I shifted gears from "we're building a garden" to "I've gotta save the plants and gotta harvest two tons of vegetables off of this little piece of dirt!!!".<rolling eyes> Then, of course, along comes downy mildew, SVB (most likely), etc.,. Reality sets in that I've created a buffet for uninvited guests of different sorts. "Patient fortitude"...nice expression. <chuckle> Thanks for the reality check on needing to be more specific...I see that I was asking in a "shotgun pattern" manner. I've looked at lots of plant/variety lists and I agree there is a long, long list of different varieties. That's probably why I asked my original question(s) asking for recommendations...the list can be, uh, a little overwhelming. :) But, I agree that being more specific will gather better response and more research on my part will allow me to ask more informed questions. I think I'm going to be happy with my okra variety (Clemson Spineless) and my cowpeas (Zipper Cream) are starting to bloom on some *very* robust bushes so I think I'm good on them, though I might try a smaller seeded variety along with them next year. Yellow crookneck squash, though having a tough go of it (planted late), will also be one that I'll be planting again next year. The jury is still out on my tomatoes, cukes, and melons...all seem to be struggling but I'm not so sure a lot of that is accountable to the extremely wet/humid summer that we've had. So, I may just plant two or three new varieties of these next year and see which performs the best...maybe buy a large enough quantity of seed to replant the next year of the favored plant to insure against crossing between the varieties...??? ...and hope for a less incubator-style weather pattern next year! Saving seeds from hybirds... If I save the seeds of a hybrid and then replant them I understand that the resulting plant will be a wildcard but will the seeds from that wildcard plant produce replicas of itself and be OP? ....ok, I did some googling (it takes me forever to respond to a good post!<g>) and from what I can tell it takes the 7th generation to have a "new" stable variety from hybrid seeds...is that the Reader's Digest condensed version of the answer to my question? Vegetable gardeners are like beekeepers, it appears...ask ten beekeepers a question and get 20 answers...maybe 21. ;) Thanks for the good food for thought!