Damon: Fantastic! Such a smart guy and taking advantage of any sunny space you have, even if it is on cement. Bravo! Can I ask a couple of question? I am thinking of growing tomatos and others in tote containers and or pots on my flat roof since it gets lots of sun up there and I figuire it is space a could make use of. What and why is the plastic on top of your buckets and totes for and made of? Why are some buckets wrapped in black plastic? How can I make it that I water thorugh a pipe too? Is it easier than just watering overhead every other day or so? Do you use lime? Any ideas and or help greatly appreciated before I head out to start. I just started a strawberry collection in a stand up pot that allows me to grow them on the sides. Yahoo:-) Thank you.

Yes, Katamari is the rolling stuff up game. Its really addictive for such a simple game, and theres three of them. The part I like the most is the amazing effort they put into the music. I found some of it on youtube and it ranges from techno to jazzy lounge music, swing music, Im pretty sure someone even snuck a gospel peice or two in there. While Iw as writing yesterday I stumbled across someone who had done an orchestral version of one of the themse that made my jaw drop. Video game music is constantly impressing me with every passing year. But anyway, back to gardening... Part of my problem with the space issue is theres a movement out here for the "Grow Biointensive" system. While I'm interested that they've managed to do so much with such small topsoil space, I've noticed all the beds dealing with the system need at least two feet of soil, dug down or in raised beds, and thats not what I have. My mum has been trying to push me in that direction, but I dont feel confident with it at this time since I wanted to get more of a feel for the general gardening situation since its my first time and all. Some plants still got pushed closer together than I would've liked but then none of us had seen some of these plants actually growing before. The cukes are doign better than I expected for being about 6 inches closer to each toher plant than I really wanted them to be, but we had such a huge amount of plants to deal with that I did the best I could. I think the funniest part about all this is while it is my first time growing a real garden, I've been growing virtual gardens since I was abotu 19, playing an online game called "Final Fantasy 11", which had a really complicated planting/gardening system most people didnt know about. That game system is actually what got me really focused on the seasons, when to plant, where to plant, when to fertilize, what plants grew better in what geological areas, and I even had a little notebook for a long time where I'd record the weekly cycle of my virtual plants in relation to the moon phase and exact time I made any modifications to the planting space. Even the gamers thought I was nuts, but I loved it! They'd even die off or give terrible results if I neglected them for too long, or give off better results if I got proper gardening tools, workbenches, and diffrent planters had diffrent effects too. Im getting better results with a real garden than I was in my virtual gardens though... Except for that one time I accidentally harvested 122 virtual onions. I can tell you, the cooks sure were happy with me.

Hi Christine Your veggies are looking good! So healthy. I didn't grow cocozelli before, let me know how is the taste, maybe I will plant next season. Amaranth can be used as a potherb. When you get the grains, they can be popped like popcorn, or cook like rice. It is also made into a flour. Corn looks good, I love this variety. Stir fried with a little bit of butter, olive oil, some garlic, green onions. Sometimes I add at the end chopped zucchini, red peppers and fresh oregano, parsley for you, cilantro for me :o) Your garden is going to sing many salsa songs. Getting ready there for harvest. Silvia

Dear txgardenlady, Hi Terry (and Mackenzie). It was good to see you again. We had a fun time at the swap. We wish for more events like this so we can meet more fellow gardeners as well as exchange for more species of plants for our garden. How is your garden? Any special new plants in your garden this year? Have you found homes for all the bamboos? The bamboos from your garden are doing well here. Do you remember the exact name of the dark black bamboo? I think you called them "temple bamboo." Andy