Darcy - I hope to hear soon that you are playing soccer again.:) We are still lucky and have not get too cold, I am still watering most veggies every day since we have not had much rain. Big harvest coming up this week, lettuce, beets, radishes, peas, romanesco and for the New Year I am making carrot cakes and I have borage and nasturtium flowers to decorate the salads and the cakes. Cammunizm - The best teacher is the experience and actually visiting another garden and see how the things are growing, space, supports and things like that. Very often I bring people that are new to gardening to show them, some listen and some don't, eventually they learn what works or not by trail and error. If you have access to free bamboo, use that for support, and cut it in smaller pieces, check Craiglist or someone close to your area. Start preparing for the spring season, gather your materials and seeds. Thank you Carol and I agree with you when we get hit with the cold temperatures a lot of the plants will be safe there. Every day I find that I can put more things some are taller, others medium and short. Happy New Year to All the Florida gardeners! Silvia

Thanks for your input. It seems like most of the peonies I have grown tend to initially sprout roots as it starts getting cooler so it was not unusual for me to not notice them until the beginning of January when there were some days in the 60s. The rooting may have occurred in December, but to develop their eyes, I am observing a couple of indoor ones do that with temperatures in the 50s in a cool room. One of them is starting to put out a leaf so I think they first need the warmth in order to break the dormancy, but once the ball is rolling, they would prefer a temperature range from 40-50F in order to sprout roots and develop their buds. I've had some problems with non viable seeds, pill bugs, or diseases which have killed off many of my seeds so it is about time for me to look for even more peony seeds to grow. Do you know of any wholesale tree peony seed sources? I don't have anything set to sprout for 2014.

Yes, like Larry, I've had visions of children starving across pockets of America, including here. I've been cooking and baking for what, 2 weeks? 3 weeks? I was still cooking today, so won't be delivering until tomorrow. I talked with my friends this morning (both of whom have had Covid for 8 days now. . . they assured me they're about 80% healed. . . but they didn't sound that way. John said the total lack of energy was one of the biggest things, and I could hear them coughing.), and I was worrying about not getting food delivered yet. They assured me that everyone was covered. They said all got some things, some more. So that made me almost re-think recipients I had in mind. . . Trying now to think of elderly folks who don't have anyone. I wish I knew more about people in town. I'll have to find sources. I'm so tired tonight! Feel like my legs are going to fall off. Cooked all day long. I gave GDW choice of rigatoni with Ital. sausage bolognese and ricotta filling or cold pork sandwiches from a FANTASTIC pork shoulder roast I ssssllllloooowwww cooked yesterday. He chose pork sandwiches. Fancy Dancy Christmas dinner. I grazed all day taste-testing dishes--pecan praline cake (I made four 6.5x9" cakes. This was MY half of one of em. LOL. John gets 1 and a half because he LOVED that cake.). HJ--I laughed so hard that you had on the same sweater 7 years later to the day! CRAZY. Oh, speaking of crazy coincidences. I was posting pics on FB yesterday. Had a bunch of friends and family pics. One was me in arm slings--with my Dad. I mentioned that at the time both of my arms (actually, wrists) were broken. Two of our great OK gardening friends chimed in that they also had broken both wrists at the same time--one backwards in the bathroom; the other while unloading bales of hay. Sandy and Lori. Sandy commented that we belonged to a kind of exclusive club. Well, through the. years, I knew of another acquaintance in Mpls who did that--while cross-country skiing. This was particularly funny because both of those ladies are friends of mine! WOW. SOOOOOOOO, I don't know how many read these posts--but any of you "two broken wrists at the same time" folks? I'd never broken a bone until I was 51, and then broke 3 wrists and one leg in a year--the wrists from rollerblading; the leg while playing tag with Brisco the kids' wonderful Australian shepherd. I put on the brakes, hit a wet spot, and went sliding with one leg bent back under me/ I hear the snap and thought. . . "Ah, this isn't good." We were in Mpls at Hiawatha park, down a couple hundred steps from the falls, into a valley/basin. Only way out would be the steps or a helicopter. Ankle swelled immediately like a balloon. Thank God Steph (my wonderful DIL) was with Brisco and me--just for moral support. I crawled up the 150-200 steps to the top. Then Steph ran home (was only 3 blocks) to get the van and came back for Brisco and me. This was the year after the 3 broken wrists, so Steph was well-versed in my sudden misadventures. The worst part of it was that Wade was out of town for a couple days, and Steph and I had planned a GRAND dinner out that evening, just the two of us. So we got me home, I told her it'd probably be fine, I'd just put some ice on it and we could go to dinner. I iced it all afternoon, and then took a crutch to dinner. Assured her it was fine, but raised the leg to the empty chair next to me. So that was fine. Next morning, I was going to walk to the neighborhood grocery store 2 houses down and kitty corner across the street. Nope. I called her (they lived right next door) and said I guessed I needed to go to ER. They put a cast on temporarily and I got to go back to my broken arm doctor 2 days later. I liked that doc. Dr. Beck. I asked him if I should be worried about osteoporosis. He said, "No, you might want to pray you'll get over this clumsy phase soon. And stay off the rollerblades." Hilarious. Like Danny and Jen, I have a few being locked outside stories, but Larry, yours takes the cake! That is NUTS. Moni, I LOVE your adventures! That is an awesome park--I would love to see it in the spring. Will you please go back then and take more pictures? It looks to be, by gosh, rockier than it is here! And NO, I most likely won't go there. Thing is, I LOVE being right here. I will say, 20 years ago, I loved traveling and loved road trips. But now, I am stuck here with the critters and yard, and it's okay with me--no place I'd rather be. I think it's true--as we get old our neighborhood gets smaller. . . When I was 40 and heard this, is made me feel sad for folks ike my grandparents and other "oldsters." NOW? Now I get it. Well.................. Christmas has also take on a different tone. I woke. up this morning and felt so joyful and blessed. First to have read and studied Luke thoroughly over the past 24 days (there are 24 chapters in Luke). Second, that I had all day to finish cooking food for others. Third, that I didn't have one ornament to take down, because I hadn't put one ornament up. Also, we didn't have a bunch of gifts to buy. Long story and a lotta kids, but as a result, we just don't do presents, for the most part. That's part of why I go on these cookie-baking binges. I box em up and send to the families. And GDW and I don't buy for each other--if there's something we want, we get it. It was a GREAT Christmas. I'm thankful for what we have and that we're able to share a bit; thankful for knowing so many good people. Bless you all!

Sounds like lovely gifts, Kim! I'm sitting but feel like I'm forgetting something. I'm sorta mad at myself. On Wednesday I had pulled radishes and bunching turnips. I left them in the shop. They froze. SIgh. The sun shined today. The hoop house got to 55 degrees at one point. The chickens all got water. I was able to grab the ones who didn't drink yesterday and put them in the storage part of the coop with the waterer. They were scared, but drank. It's mostly the bantam roo. He is the lowest in the pecking order. Poor lil guy. (He stays close to my main roo for protection. Isn't that weird? My main roo (Jean Luc Picard) is a good guy for sure.) And the other two bantams. Also, two of the youngest hens. They were some chicks from 2021. All are hydrated now. Feel relieved about that. The food is prepped for tomorrow. Stockings are stuffed. I'm sure I'm forgetting something though. lol Anyway, Next week I'll begin getting a list together of seeds that need to be ordered. I did a real clean up during the summer. I planted all old seed--things like the dozen radish packets. So, will need replace a lot of things.