My landlady taught me. You buy collards which have a thick stalk on the bottom. Cut off that thick stalk and plant it (in the same direction it was when you bought it, bottom down in your pot or garden) in some cow manure or MiracleGro. Keep watered. Watch the leaves grow. The more you pick the leaves, the more they grow. I grow kale also, but we bought the plants from Home Depot. Did not try to grow from seeds yet. Here is how I cook collards and kale. My African American neighbor laughs at me, but this is very tasty. First I boil down the greens until they get soft. Then I drain them, put some olive oil in a frying pan, gently cook some garlic, parsley, onion, a little hot pepper if you want, we grow wild tomatoes, so those are always in the mix, maybe also some cooked beets or green beans, then I add the kale or collards and heat thoroughly. YUMMY and super-healthy. You can also top a microwaved sweet potato with this cooked mixture. I'm a vegetarian, so for me, this is the entree, but you can use it as a side dish. You can also grow collards from seeds, but HEY, that takes forever. The "stalk" method is 100% better. I eat greens every day. They are high in calcium. A lot of women need extra calcium. LMK if you have any questions. Carolyn in Broward County, Florida, zone 10. johnmillerz2003 (at) yahoo.com

Tropical -- sounds like you can eat most of your weeds :) Early in my gardening career, I learned from a woman who is now the director of the veggie gardens at a Zen monastery. She let weeds flourish in her garden, and it was so beautiful. I mean, really happy, huge dandelions, dock, etc. I admired her and her garden. So I do a mix of ripping out weeds, and letting them grow as companions to my plants. Only quack grass is treated with no mercy (though I do thank it for what it is trying to do, which is hold the ground together like it is supposed to do in the rocky north of England where it came from.) Also, I am aesthetically incapable of pulling up clover. Which gets me in trouble when the purple clover takes over some of the beds. (then I have to rototill my no till garden :( ) Anyway, it's a style, I suppose. And this year, the weeds are really taking over because I have to travel so much (in fact, I'm in SF area right now :) ) So far, weeds and veggies are all happy. Will see how the harvest turns out this year, and I'll let you know.

for summer lettuce/salad mix we made a growing bed that gets late afternoon shade. we transplant head lettuce and direct seed the lettuce for salad mix with a 4 row pinpoint seeder. we are having problems with flea beetles on the other salad mix ingredients so the mix for now is mostly small lettuce leaves. the head lettuce bolted but has remained sweet so we pull off the big leaves and wash them and bag them. demand for this during the summer way outstrips supply and we have no trouble selling out the quantity we have been bringing to the market. next summer we will grow much more. we charge $8/lb for the mix and the larger lettuce leaves. we could probably get more $ but we want these lettuce customers to be loyal when the lettuce glut hits the market and consistent price should help with that. lettuce glut is in april, may, and october, november. every vendor has it then. so easy to grow.

Good Morning Goddesses!!!! Another beautiful summer day here in North Carolina! (we skipped spring) High 80s in the forcast for today! My TBIris are getting buds (many are already blooming in the area, but mine are right on schedule for this time of year! The spirea and lilac are blooming and the daffies are winding down! All of my veggies are up and waiting to be moved into the garden Life is good! Has anyone heard from Treasa, we haven't heard from her since she signed up! Theresa best wishes for your upcoming proceedure! I think we are all eager to learn how it goes! I will not be participating in the swap, unfortunately we have had a bit of a setback, it is going to leave us on a very tight budget for awhile. (it could have been much worse) Maybe a long while, I hopw you will all understand, it could be some time before I am able to swap again. But no worries, this swap is still on! I am going to e-mail Treasa and see if she is still participating. Any last minute participants will have until the end of the day to sign up and send me their goddess info! I will post the goddess info in a new thread and get the selection process underway tomorrow! Have a wonderful day everyone! We now have 10 Glorious Goddesses to make our Spring Gardens flourish! Jeanne April Laura Vina Treasa Annie Carol Remy Shirley Deborah 3 very deserving but busy Goddess sitting out: Melissa Frances Theresa 2 Lurking Goddesses! Dottie Hiedi Frances