Tony, I'm not a beekeeper yet, but hope to be one day too. I notice that you were online just ahead of the hurricane on Saturday. I hope that's the end of them. I see that you have raised Monarchs. So have I, as well as Gulf Frittilaries, Yellow, and Black Spicewings. With subsequent hurricanes I've seen fewer butterflies and I'm not seeing any bees. Most of my garden has been shredded and I only have ground orchids and porter weed flowering currently and one lonely milkweed. I lopped off the last of my fallen Penta yesterday. I hope you get some information on starting up your bees. I really think they and the butterflies are going to need all the help we can give them. You might contact Leu Gardens or your county agent for local bee keepers.

I am sorry I did not respond to Kate's request / invitation to hold the swap at my house. I would love to do a swap sometime but am not quite prepared for that big of an event. Having a couple of overnighter guests and tours - at OTHER people's house (LOL) - was my idea of a good starter activity. I remember her swap last year - or the year before? At any rate it was just perfect but was obviously not a small amount of work well before and not to mention during the event. So I say LET'S ALL GO TO RICKY'S!!!!!!!!!! (Have you seen those pictures of his yard on his web site? We will get a garden tour AND a swap all in one! If anyone from Orlando wants to car pool let me know. I have a big Dodge Grand Caravan I bought for showing my dogs that can hold a few people and still have room for plants. And if we trade for too many plants we can always strap people on the kayak rack on the roof on the ride home. Anita PS For those of you with whom I arranged a trade at Kate's, I am going to go over my notes and post to Ricky's invite what I think I had promised. Let me know if you are going to Ricky's and, if not, email me privately and we can discuss a mail trade or, if you are local to Orlando, a meet up. I have started all the plants I promised so they are ready to go!

Thanks, Silvia and L_in_FL. As for this: >they have to grow what they like to eat and can use otherwise it goes to waste One of them is an Italian chef (so they're pretty adventurous) and so far the only thing I know that they don't like is Malabar spinach. L, that's a good point about the sweet potatoes. I think several vegetable types, not just root veggies, but even tomatoes and eggplant, tend to give slightly less yield in earthboxes because the root system is constricted. But it would still be more than they would have if it just sits there empty. :) I agree that if I were wanting to container grow any kind of potato I'd be more likely to use some kind of bag that's deeper and easy to dump.

Thanks D, I appreciate the information. I did give Bella Pools a call for a bid but changed my mind after talking to the owner for 20 minutes on the phone. He was really trying to convince me I needed to change my tile because I'd be stuck with it at least 4 to 5 years, and even longer if I keep up with the chemicals. Also he told me it isn't that expensive and he doubted me when I told him it had no cracks. Also he told me I needed to do more research when I told him there were companies offering longer warranties than his. He told me he hated to overwhelm me with so much information, the only thing he overwhelmed me with was his conceit. Anyway I won't be getting an estimate from them. He did tell me that they subcontract part of the work out to Magic Marcite and that they are a good company but said he can get them cheaper than I could. The company that makes 3M Magicolors quartz aggregate reccomended All Pool (407) 295-4540 so I'll have to try them out. Thanks again.