Would you believe I forgot all about the sale! I did get some good weeding done and more mulching......and, I repeat, I do not need any more plants. Helen, epimediums are supposed to do well in dry, shady spots and compete with tree roots....sound like a good plant. Christie, I think the hirta is different from Golsturm which is a rudbeckia fulgida and is perennial. Hirtas aren't but are supposed to self-seed well. I have one that does. I think you will find them different. I keep getting heliopsis and rudbeckias confused in my beds,but I think it is rudbeckias that something is eating the heck out of....last year it was a tiny fuzzy black worm. I don't see the worms this year but the leaves are holey....also my one remaining echinacea is threadbare. At least you all had a great sale day. I was afraid it would be raining. Helen, you may have to invest in a large Rubbermaid tub with a lid.....a couple of rocks would hold it down. I want to see everyone's plants when they get them planted.

Oh, Judith, your idea sounds lovely, too. I only wish I had a Michael's nearby, closest one is about 75 miles away. Now- go forth and make faeries, woman! This is what I did- at WalMart I bought 5- 5 packs of a Rubbermaid container, it's a decent size, clear top and bottom, deep enough to hold some excelsior and the faerie. (Our deli uses cups instead of boxes, rats.) Then from Hobby Lobby I got some wired gold ribbon (50% off!) to wrap around the container to disguise its clearness. On top of that I'll put a little pinecone pick, it's wired with some cones and berries together and a smidge of greenery. I'll make a tag for each one using my alphabet stamps, "Gardenia" or "Fuchsia" or whatever and tie that to the package top with a gold cord. Voila! It'll soon all be done, yay, and for less than a dollar each! And all the recipients will have a faerie AND a new container for leftovers! lol Thanks for all the help and ideas and brainstorming with me, ladies!

I haven't seen Sinner, but to some extent I think OITNB is realistic. I find the focus on sexual activity a bit ridiculous, and I think they have toned that down a little bit now that there's a lot more character development. The language is exactly what I hear on public transportation on a regular basis and from what I know tangentially about prison, sexual activity is pretty common. I have to admit I only know about male prisoners, but a woman I know told me flat out that her husband engaged in sexual activity in prison and it was as much about a hierarchical structure as it was anything else. And I've heard much the same from others who've been in the system for any length of time. That said. I don't need to watch it on TV. I never watched OZ, partly for that reason. And I don't like reading it in books either and usually skip over the parts where they have obligatory sex. As for bashing the Catholic Church, well, powerful things are always targets, but honestly a TV show could do no worse to the Catholic Church than the Catholic Church has done to itself. An I am a practicing Catholic.

Jacob, with your garden, you will have no need to go workout at a gym! But try getting a pry bar. I did not know such a tool existed till I saw some construction workers using one. And then, Hubs found one at a garage sale. It's made of heavy metal, might be iron, but doesn't seem to rust, and it's very strong. I dig out the soil till I can find the edges of the rock and then find a space to wedge the prybar into. I have found most of our rocks are flat and are wedged together in layers so once you get a "keyhole rock" out, most of the rest of the rocks come out easier. I often have to wedge a chunk of rock against the back of the prybar on the ground to act as a fulcrum and keep the back of the prybar from wanting to just lay down on the earth. (I kind of know that feeling- Heh.) We bought an electric jackhammer and it does help if there's no other way, but it's too heavy for me and it's loud, and it leaves behind a lot of powdered rock and chunks that makes it harder to get out of the hole and harder to find uses for. Big, flat rocks can be used for stepping-stone walkways and we have even piled them up along the edges of our property to make a short wall. This serves a real need, in that one of our neighbors uses a lawn service that likes to use our land as a "turn around" area, even though we have asked them not to, because they make ruts and that makes it hard for Hubs to mow there. You might want to be careful adding that limestone to your garden as it can change your ph from acidic to alkaline and most plants want soil that's on the acidic side -- about 7, I think, is what the horticulture folks say. Of course, if you add compost, and if it has coffee grounds in it, you might be offsetting that. It's hard to know. I have read that you can test to see if your soil is acidic or alkaline by putting a little in a glass of water and stirring in either some vinegar or some baking soda. If it doesn't fizz with either, I guess that would mean it's neutral. If the vinegar makes it fizz, then it's alkaline. If the soda makes it fizz, then it's acidic. Some of the guys in the computer repair business have a saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and that applies to your soil and almost everything else. Truly, I think compost is the way to go and I dig my kitchen scraps into the ground on an ongoing basis, bypassing totally the compost pile. I use my compost pile for the multitude of weeds and trimmings I remove from the garden, not including invasive stuff like Bermuda grass and Bindweed. Those go into the burn barrel. I've never had a compost heap yet that got hot enough to kill those roots. Here is a helpful website that talks about PH: http://www.thegardenhelper.com/soilPH.htm Amazon has a PH meter, and I bought one, but if it's working, I can't tell. PH testing is done by your county extension office but that can be kind of expensive. They usually want the sample to be composed of at least 20 spots in your bed, and down about 6-8", and our extension office has special implements they can check out to you for getting something that's similar to a core sample. Or, even, to that chunk of soil that comes out of the hole when you use a bulb planter. In my case, it's hard to dig more than 8" down in my soil without running into a rock. And seems like I dig more out every year. A Missouri friend of mine tells me, she thinks they "float up" during the winter. I'm not sure... But I sure do get tired of having to dig out rocks. I'll be interested in reading what others say they do about their gardens because I'm torn about what's the best thing to do. And so far, nobody really seems to agree what's best as far as I've seen. The no-till has its advantages except that it's ugly, and if you already have battles with insects, such as squash bugs, they'll winter over in the debris and be there waiting as soon as you plant something they can eat. But no-till is good for a location that is windy. I've seen "dust devils" spinning around over newly-tilled soil and as long as they dissipate while they're still on your land, I guess that's not entirely bad. But I'm forever finding it necessary to dust and sweep surfaces, and clean carpeting, and that dust and debris has to come from somewhere. I'm a fan of mulch up to a point. If you have Bermuda grass and Bindweed, that stuff will grow right up through it. As it is right now, for me, I'm laying down cardboard and then woodchips on top. This is really good for helping the soil retain any moisture that it's able to get. But bugs love to live under the cardboard. And if you happen to bury any of those woodchips into the ground before it's aged about a year, it sucks the nitrogen right out of your soil and you won't be able to get anything to grow well without enough nitrogen. Unless it's that ugly stinkhorn mushroom, which I had never seen before I started using wood chips in my garden. Many people say that most gardens are deficient in nitrogen. Phosphorus and Potassium will accumulate in the soil from one year to another but nitrogen does not. Anyway, that's what my Extension Agency says. Some people cover their garden walkways in pea gravel. If you've ever had to open a garden bed and find someone has used pea gravel or even smallish chunks of rock, in that area, you will know that this makes it almost impossible to improve. I have some corn seed I've been keeping in the freezer. Your post has given me the idea that maybe I should plant it where the beet seeds have not germinated. At least if that never happens, maybe I'll have some corn. I've had my PH and NPK checked in that bed and that's all ok. The only thing I can think is that the roots of the Bermuda and Bindweed that I'm not ever completely able to eradicate are giving off some kind of hormone that's retarding germination of my beet seed. *Sigh*. This is already a tough year. --ilene