Thanks obrionusa. I have changed my plans a bit this year. Was going to plan 24 broccoli and 12 cauliflower - but that is much more than I think we'll use. Heck, I just finished up the last bag of frozen broccoli this week - and only had seven heads last year! So, now I have room to plant about 167 potatoes - more than doubling what we did last year. We had about 60-70 pounds of taters last year. Some of the taters I'll be cutting into pieces - because I only bought 110 - thinking that was going to cover it - NOT! Original plan was to put the whole tater in the ground and let four or five eyes come up and give us a lot more taters - but now it looks like I'll have to cut half of those into pieces to have enough. Thank you for the comments. I have the taters sitting in the fridge now in a sealed bag (hope that is fine to do). I'll take them out about one week before planting as I read that they need to break their dormancy before being put int he ground. Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

You won't hurt the soil by over-applying :-) It is totally organic and will breakdown like any other type of organic matter and feed the soil. CGM is actually a decent organic source of nitrogen (NPK 9-0-0), so the only drawback to over-applying is that your plants may produce more lush, leafy growth, including any weeds that were not removed prior to application. What you are smelling is the natural process of the meal decomposing in somewhat anaerobic conditions because of the mulch cover - water and warmth will encourage and speed up this process but exposing the meal to air should dissipate the smell rapidly. Maybe rake off the mulch, leave the CGM exposed for a few days, then recover with the mulch.

Sweet Xuan-thank you so much for your good wishes! I would love to visit your country. I don't know if Dennis could handle it, though. After his Nam tour he came home very scarred. When we first got together he would have feverish dreams and the sound of a helicopter would send him over the edge. He is a very strong man, but war memories were difficult for him. I would cradle his 6'3" frame while he was struggling with nightmares and I would whisper that it was all right and he was safe. He was in a very speciallized field, working on the mechanics on turrets in certain tanks. Those tanks got deployed again after 9/11. He was one of 6 people (5 men and 1 woman) still alive in the US specially trained in maintaing the turrets. He instructed people on the maintenance. Luckily (I would have built a cellar to hide him!!) they had enough younger personnel to maintain them. Still, I think he would probably love to see a country he once visited when wracked by war and pain. And see it back to it's peaceful, beautiful existance. I have to tell you, the grandbabies are AWESOME! So energetic and smart. We had a wonderful time with them. I think being so active in my younger years and being totally happy with myself and at peace in my soul, makes me look and feel younger than my 56 years. In my mind, I think I am 30. (Even though Soultan thinks I am boring-LOL!!!) God bless Xuan, I will certainly let you know how things go for me. You can't keep a feisty, fun-loving, happy, energetic, crazy old Italian broad down! I hope you will share more about your country, photos and it's history. Maybe we will come get you to go to the beach one day!

For refrigerator pickles, it takes only a few minutes to make a batch. Storing in the veg crisper will not give you much in the way of a crisp pickle later. Freezing fresh cukes will turn them to mush. A salt brine type pickle would be a good choice too. Bacially you can add some fresh cukes to a big batch of dill flavored salt water brine and after a week or so, cap the jar for later enjoyment. Making a brine for a refrigerator pickle is quite easy. Next year, to avoid over abundence, plant less cukes. English cukes are wrapped in a shink plastic. They have very tender skins and waxing will not work, so they are sold with that plastic wrap instead.