Hello again :-) So, after another year of trying to schedule better...here is where I am at. veggiecanner said.. 'I have a garden plan going every year but find that it is only a guide to what really happens. ' Exactly! I had a plan but in the spring, I got sick and couldn't get out to garden until the end of May and by then I had a LOT to do out there, so the veggie garden was off to a slow start again! I did manage to start tomato seeds with the winter sowing method but for some reason, this year I had only 1 container germinate. I kept waiting for the others to germinate and by the time I gave up on them and headed to the nursery it was June and they were out of my favorite varieties. I think that will work out okay though. I am trying two new varieties from the nursery this year. Wayne...didn't get to sowing the broccoli in June again. BUT...I have a feeling I am not going to have room for them anyway. I have 3 of my raised beds planted with tomatoes that were planted very late. They are still only about 2 feet tall and it is mid July! So I don't think I will be pulling them too early. I will be lucky if I get ripe tomatoes at all. I only have one bed with string beans and that will be the only vacant bed, which I plan on planting with cover crop this year. My large containers that had tomatoes last year, have squash, cuke, watermelon and pumpkin in them, so I don't think they will be coming out early either. That is what you get with a small garden. I am actually feeling very good about our vegetable garden right now though. I have realized that part of the problem is I am trying to renovate the whole yard and the work that has to be done is always competing with the veggie garden too. Once I get a lot of the other work done, I will be better able to concentrate on the veggie garden. I am actually keeping up with it really well when I stop and think about it. I have gotten the frame work of the veggie garden finished and this is the second year of working with it and it is really as good as I can get it in the space I have, I am sure. I don't mean that it can't be improved upon later, just that the groundwork is done. The raised beds are working out great. As for looking neat and attractive, we had laid down cardboard with bark mulch all around the beds last year. This year the weeds were up like crazy right through what was left of the mulch. I don't know why I was surprised. We decided that we can't be weeding that whole area every year, so we bought weed fabric and layed it down in the paths and around the perimeter and put the bark mulch on top of that. The label said 15 years...I would be happy if I got 5. [g] I did something right since I last posted. I did buy a cover crop, Hairy Vetch, last year and even though it was late to put it in, it stayed warm so late, that it had plenty of time to grow before any bad weather. I turned it into my containers this spring and the soil is much better. Everything looks pretty healthy. Also added compost to my raised beds this spring and they look healthy too. I used Hay to mulch the raised beds which has eliminated weeding and is looking nice too. I also am keeping a daily journal now [thanks for that tip George and tjg911] for the first time and taking photos as often as possible. chaman's idea of keeping some space open for fall planting so I don't have to worry about scheduling the earlier crops was one that I think might be the only way I am going to get a fall crop. [g] I am going to have to rethink if there is somewhere I can put a couple of beds or containers that I could leave free every year, just for a fall crop. tjg011...I did wait to sow zucchini seed until July 4th. So we will see how that works out. It feels so funny to have little zucchini seedlings in the middle of July. Well, I have a good start I think and I am keeping a copy of this thread on my desktop to refer to, since there are so many great suggestions that I hope to try. Thanks again to everyone for sharing your experience and veggie wisdom. Photos taken first week of July. :-)

mahalie, in our damp maritime climate, you really don't have to store, refrigerate, or invest more than a few minutes if you'd like to try sowing the open pollinated seeds... Just fill a pot (now) that is at least 4-5" deep with any good quality potting soil, sow the seeds, top with some grit or vermiculite and sit it outside exposed to the weather. Our day/night temperatures over winter will work out to an average that is just about what you would find in your refrigerator. You may need to protect from birds, rodents. It's not going to dry out over winter and some time next year you may even have seedlings :)

What graywinfgs said ... cut in and then let it dry. then roll Even with latex, you should be painting fast enough that a "wet edge" is not a problem. Roller marks happen when: 1 - You try to spread the paint too thin. 2 - You go back and try to "rework" partly dry paint. To prevent this, remember that a loaded roller can do about a 2x2ft square of wall. I make an X with arms about 2 feet long, roll crosswise to spread the paint and finish by rolling vertically. I overlap the previous paint square by a couple of inches on the final rolling. And if you look back and the wall looks horrible and blotchy, it's because it's drying unevenly. This is NOT A PROBLEM! Wait for 24 hours and then evaluate it. I have never had a problem with Behr paint sagging. Pour enough paint in so the flat part of the roller pan is full (not the whole pan!) ... roll the roller towards the deep part until you have completely covered it with paint. Roll it lightly once or twice on the sloping part to remove excess. I always roll towards the deep end, out of the firmly held conviction that it's the best way, but I have no evidence.

In my opinion, it all boils down to maturity of the children and age-appropriateness. Tell children what is appropriate for their maturity level. My DS's mental maturity is vastly different from FSD's. Even FDH and BM have commented on it. Not that it's bad, but we have to handle things differently with each child. FSD is probably about 2 or 3 years behind in her maturity, mostly due to excessive sheltering from her parents. For instance, she was talking to a friend on the phone (in my bedroom, rolling all over my bed, while I was folding clothes) this past summer and her friend was talking of going to Greece with the extra-curricular group that FSD used to belong to before she moved. This friend told FSD that they have nude beaches there. FSD said "is that the name of it? Like Galveston Beach?" Her friend told her that it was a beach where people don't wear clothes. She says "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH, I get it, EWWWWW". I don't necessarily believe that nieviety (sp?) to be a bad thing. Actually, I find it refreshing in a world where too many people grow up too fast. But there are other things that her immaturity causes massive problems. Homework, schedules of her different activites and so on. DS, on the other hand, is over-aware of what goes on between his father and me. For instance, last year when X and I were going through CS issues, DS tells me in the grocery store "can I have yogurt? We have the money now that my dad is giving us more." He then proceeded to tell me how his dad was going to have to get another job and wasn't going to be able to be involved in his sports anymore due to having to work more. UGH! I hadn't been talking to DS about what was going on, but X did so I had clean-up duty. So I say "Okay, bud, here's the deal. Dad hasn't actually paid any of that money yet and the courts haven't decided exactly how much more he will be paying. So we will not be spending any more than we have to. And in any case, the courts won't ask Dad to pay any more than he is able to". I only told him what I thought he should know and could handle. Nothing more. I could've said "Well, your DAD has 2 vehicles and we only have one and he's complaining about having to pay a few more dollars to support HIS son when he's been getting away with it for the last 3 years. Oh, and by the way, he thinks his motorcycle is more important than you. He makes sure to make that motorcycle payment, but doesn't make sure to send his money for you." I could've said that. But that would only hurt my DS who looks up to and loves his father.