Yes, Katamari is the rolling stuff up game. Its really addictive for such a simple game, and theres three of them. The part I like the most is the amazing effort they put into the music. I found some of it on youtube and it ranges from techno to jazzy lounge music, swing music, Im pretty sure someone even snuck a gospel peice or two in there. While Iw as writing yesterday I stumbled across someone who had done an orchestral version of one of the themse that made my jaw drop. Video game music is constantly impressing me with every passing year. But anyway, back to gardening... Part of my problem with the space issue is theres a movement out here for the "Grow Biointensive" system. While I'm interested that they've managed to do so much with such small topsoil space, I've noticed all the beds dealing with the system need at least two feet of soil, dug down or in raised beds, and thats not what I have. My mum has been trying to push me in that direction, but I dont feel confident with it at this time since I wanted to get more of a feel for the general gardening situation since its my first time and all. Some plants still got pushed closer together than I would've liked but then none of us had seen some of these plants actually growing before. The cukes are doign better than I expected for being about 6 inches closer to each toher plant than I really wanted them to be, but we had such a huge amount of plants to deal with that I did the best I could. I think the funniest part about all this is while it is my first time growing a real garden, I've been growing virtual gardens since I was abotu 19, playing an online game called "Final Fantasy 11", which had a really complicated planting/gardening system most people didnt know about. That game system is actually what got me really focused on the seasons, when to plant, where to plant, when to fertilize, what plants grew better in what geological areas, and I even had a little notebook for a long time where I'd record the weekly cycle of my virtual plants in relation to the moon phase and exact time I made any modifications to the planting space. Even the gamers thought I was nuts, but I loved it! They'd even die off or give terrible results if I neglected them for too long, or give off better results if I got proper gardening tools, workbenches, and diffrent planters had diffrent effects too. Im getting better results with a real garden than I was in my virtual gardens though... Except for that one time I accidentally harvested 122 virtual onions. I can tell you, the cooks sure were happy with me.

Nice colors on both AJ and CS. Looks like Joan has a lot of other things besides daylilies, which is nice to see. Sorry I don't know about the coneflower variety. It's pretty too. Vickie

I am so envious! Beautiful yard, beautiful house and beautiful dogs. Lovely beyond words. I tell you what. All of you with your picture perfect gardens puts mine to shame. I am not posting anymore pictures of my simple gardens! I had a Dalmatian/Great Dane named Benny. I told people he was a "Damnation". He scared everyone who came to our house, especially the meter readers. He was beautiful and so playful, like a Dane, but had the not-so-friendly-strangers-personality like Dalmatians. A great guard dog for me. Poor Benny died of kidney failure at age 5. I believe it was the result of being bit by a gigantic copperhead. He developed complications afterward and the kidneys failed. He loved to go for rides in the truck, sitting up tall in the cab and looking out. He HAD to go for a ride every day. What a character. I took him for his final ride, having to lift him up into the cab and by the time we got home, he could not walk. He was miserable and suffering. The next day, I took him to the vet. My poor Benny. I love your Great Dane. He has just a beautiful coat coloration. I love how they are big, playful pups. A great breed of dog. Thanks for sharing all. ~Annie

Thanks for posting these............they are great.