Seasun, a south window is great, but 5 feet away is too far. You are not giving your phal enough light and it will decline into death if you leave it where it is. Orchids take some time to die, so you'll think you're doing fine, doing ok, maybe not growing like it should. Oh NO!!! What happened to my beautiful orchid???? Here's how where to put the phal figures: phals need about 1000 footcandles of light to grow and bloom. *Outside* at high noon = app 10,000 FC. You are never getting anything near that indoors because of the ceiling and roof of the house cutting off that directly overhead sun. All you are getting is the slanting sun, of much less than 10,000FC. Cut in half by the window glass and screen. Cut in half again *for every foot away from the window*. At 5 feet from your south window you are giving it *100FC or less* by my fairly generous estimate of what your south window actually lets in. In St Louis, I can keep phals *in* a south window with no damage, just far enough from the pane for a shade to slide down. Start moving it closer to the window. The first day move it to about 2 feet from the window. Leave it there a day or two, feeling the leaves where the sun falls on them (if it does). If they are hot, it's too much light, move at least 6" further away. If barely warm or cool, move closer. Repeat above, moving it 6" closer to the window every couple of days til you are at the place where nearer the window = leaves are hot (or it's in the window). There's been a lot of discussion with newbies about how much light to give phals here lately. Mostly newbies wanting to argue for keeping it on an inside wall in a bookcase where it looks great, more experienced growers arguing for more light, LOTS more. Your phal will love you if you do a search for these threads. Use the search function and put in something lilike "phal + light". If you leave it where it is and it dies in 6 months, put it down to needing to learn things the hard way. Actually that's how most of us learned this lesson.

I'd be willing to bet good money the zoo manure was primarily derived from herbivores. 'Zoo Doo', as it is known around here, is a very popular and highly desirable soil amendment (actually sold by lottery!) but it is the composted manures of herbivores only and primarily ruminant herbivores. "Disease paranoid morons' aside, there is another very good reason one is encouraged to restrict manure usage to herbivores and it has little to do with diseases - composting is composting and the process should remove most potential pathogens given sufficient time and heat. Rather it is the nutrient benefit provided. Manures derived from herbivores are just more nutrient diverse and with higher concentrations of primary nutrients than those derived from carnivores. It has a great deal to do both with diversity of diet as well as digestive processes. There's nothing necessarily wrong about the mink manure. Just understand that it may not provide the same benefit to your plants something like cow or horse manure would. And like any animal manure, compost it fully before using on any edible plantings.

Linda, I am so sorry you have to go through all of this pain at once....I know it must be very hard for you...I know this won't make you feel better but there is hope...but both my dad and dog were diagnosed with cancer....both of them are doing fine now....my dad had the seeds put in....he had prostate cancer less than a year ago...for now it is all gone... so there is hope.. and my baby (dog) was infested with cancer...she had a late life spay and when they removed her stuff they found the cancer...when they cut her they let it all out....she was dying and I could smell it...you could smell the infection because her body was fighting the cancer so the cut they made to neuter her would not heal...I dont know what the vet did....but its been almost a year now with no sign of it coming back and she acts like a puppy.... My thoughts are with you. Michele

Most of the herbs I grow, I use in tea! Firstly, herbs don't really thrive indoors. I've tried this too, no luck. I got a grow light this winter and have been using it to overwinter some plants indoors. Spearmint has done really well, but that's about it. Lemon balm and lemon verbena are both excellent plants, for growing in general and for tea! But they're easier to start from cutting. I took several cuttings last season and had great results. They grew outdoors in pots, and in the ground. I still have one of each alive in small pots in my house right now. But they're sad, so I don't harvest from them. I was also able to keep 2 peppermints alive indoors. These will do great in pots. Actually, never plant a mint in the ground- it takes over. Mints add a nice flavor to teas, they also aid in digestion. Another calming herb which is a member of the mint family- catnip. Chamomile is an annual that will definitely take over a yard if you let it. It drops seeds everywhere and they come back the next spring. They grow happily in a container though, but they need to be outdoors. Only pick the *flowers* for tea. Lavender is hard to grow. Most seeds aren't viable. You'll get a low germination rate. Try to get an already established plant from a garden supply store, or order one. They also don't tend to bloom until they are 2 years old. And they NEED sun. There are a zillion different varieties out there of lavender, I've heard hidcote recommended most for eating. But any variety you pick will do. The blooms grow on spikes, and there's not many of them for each plant. They'll grow in containers, but you might need several of them. You'll quickly lose interest in trying to make lavender happy, but worth a try. I have two english lavenders, and rubbing my fingers over the leaves releases the oils. Smells amazing. I also had a goodwin creek grey one year, and the blooms were fragrant + a nice dark purple. St. John's Wort is a weed, so it grows really well! It also tastes mildly of honey. I've never grown it, but you should try it! Speaking of weeds- try self heal. I had some in my yard but I stupidly killed it. It doesn't have much flavor, but I hear it lives up to its name. And if you can get your hands on a hops vine, adding the buds to tea acts as a sedative. But watch out, the vines are sharp, they'll cut you. And I don't think they can be planted in containers. You have to have space for the vines to branch out + be a vine lover, as hops will quickly consume an entire wall or fence. You can also add sage or rosemary to tea to enhance brain functioning. These will easily double as culinary herbs. I hear rosemary does okay indoors, but both of mine died when I brought them in. I had them in pots all season long, they did well. Another nice tea herb is actually basil! If you're adventurous, try growing passionflower. You can also get it dried. It's calming, but more mild than lavender or chamomile in its effects. For now, you might want to just stick to dried herbs. Order them in bulk from Mountain Rose, this is what I do. Valerian is predominantly used for sleep and anxiety conditions, St. John's Wort for depression. Use lavender essential oil in a diffuser. Two other brain boosting herbs: gotu kola, gingko biloba (gotu is hard to get, but once it does it will live happily in a pot, however it spreads so beware, gingko is a tree and I don't think you want an entire tree so just get it dried) I hope that helped!