Jana, I had good results with using the sous vide (I think I did it at 112 degrees for 2 hours- but I'd have to check the tags on the plants) and soaking the bulbs in either bleach and water or hydrogen peroxide (the extra strong stuff that's made for hydroponics) and water. None of the Chico bulbs that were treated showed signs of red blotch this season. Jana, I hope you can find something that is effective for treating your bulbs. Have you tried peeling the layers until NO red is showing and then soaking in a bleach solution? If I were facing the issues that you are, I'd also dust the bulbs and the top of the soil with Captan (an anti fungal powder) when I repotted the bulbs in fresh pots and soil. It sounds like you need a faster draining soil than what you're using. My plants with red blotch were definitely potted up in a soil that stayed too damp (a coir based seedling mix). I had better luck with plants that were in a coir, coco crouton, and chunky perlite mix with an osmocote type fertilizer. Most summer days here are in the mid 90's to 100+, so I need something that retains a decent amount of moisture, but allows good air flow to the roots. Every environment has different needs. Good luck!

Nancy, I am already beat! Another roughly day and a half of all this activity and I might be dead, but we are having fun. It is good training for the upcoming planting season. Kim, I hope the meeting with the landlady isn't about her having different plans for your house. Enjoy your time with the little man. Jennifer, His name is Frankie and we've been trying for about three years to tame his feral side well enough that we can pick him up, touch him, pet him or exert any sort of control over him. Some feral cats never can acclimate to more domestic behavior, but we are winning him over with canned food. He still looks pretty wild and is incredibly lean and muscular as are many feral to semi-feral cats, but we were able to get him into a crate and take him to be neutered (and to get his shots). He was mad at us yesterday but also at the same time relieved to be back here and no longer at the vet's office, but not so mad he wouldn't let us feed him and pet him. A lot of people say feral cats cannot be tamed, but they can. Sometimes it takes a few years to do it though, and often it is a very slow process where you're forever taking one step forward and two steps back. He and Lucky seem to know each other from their feral journeys. Lucky is fully domesticated now, and I think there is hope for Frankie to someday be as calm and gentle as she is now. Kim, I'm sorry you're ill and hope you recover quickly. Your seeds and planner are a sign, I think, that you'll be gardening somewhere. Bon, The good thing about the cold weather here is that it usually passes through fairly quickly, as least compared to many other states. I hope y'all are toasty warm again soon....without the need for the wood-burning stove to provide that warmth. I think it stays cold here for two more days and the warming trend starts around Monday. If that has changed, I don't want to know it because I'm just hanging on and waiting for the warm weather to come back. Jennifer, Great job, Finbar! He's doing his job as far as he is concerned, and I think dbarron's ID as a shrew is the right one. You have something I've never seen here. I'm not saying we might not have shrews around, just that of all the god-forsaken-wild-things that ours cats and dogs have killed and brought home, there's never been a shrew among them. Nancy, This does feel like a more normal winter although we still haven't been nearly as consistently cold as we were our first few years here. Everything seemed to change around 2005 and since then winters just have gotten warmer and warmer, except for 2010-2011 which was the last really persistently cold winter that I can remember. Rebecca, They really expected more snow and ice flurries in north and central Texas than they received in general, but it isn't because the clouds weren't trying. A lot of snow and ice were falling from the upper levels of the atmosphere but in the very low dewpoints closer to the surface level, the precipitation was evaporating before it could reach the ground. Our dewpoint here was only 12 so I'm not surprised that adjacent areas of north Texas were the same. It was odd to see the Winter Weather Advisory covering the area south of the D-FW metroplex yesterday, but I bet everyone in the DFW area is glad the precip missed them. Nancy, I doubt DFW gets much warmer than we will today, but I think they usually warm up a day earlier than us, so if we are expecting the warmup on Monday, they may get it beginning Sunday. So much flu is running rampant down there now that we are carefully avoiding going south this weekend. Of course, flu is running rampant to our immediate north, so we aren't going far from home at all since Love County seems to have, so far, avoided the widespread flu and strep that now have closed down 8 school districts in the Texoma region. I cannot believe how cold it has been the last couple of days. We are up to 38 degrees and it isn't even noon yet, but I don't think we're expected to get much warmer than what we are right now. The 4 year old is lobbying to go to the playground in Gainesville, but I think it is still too cold for that. Maybe tomorrow will be a touch warmer. Or maybe the sun will come out. Dawn

Good for you! I'm all for summer lazing and putzing :) I was going to continue tackling the weedy spots on the verges, but then decided that they provide excellent wildlife and will just leave them. Yeeeaaahhhh. Wildlife habitat, that's what it is! I have a new policy this year of just cramming everything in, plus I didn't start anywhere close to as many seeds as I usually do so that makes it a little less judgemental looking when I go along the side of the house. Usually I have a ton of wilted little things in pots just begging me to do the right thing.

IPink, I wish you all the best in this time. I think organizing one's space and belongings is essential, and actually a responsibility. My dad passed last summer, and he lived a very simple and frugal life. But he kept bills and documents from 50 years ago. My siblings and I are weeding through mountains of paperwork, and it's exhausting. Similarly, just today I dropped off to Goodwill a load of holiday stuff... hostess gifts I didn't need, Christmas gifts I'll never use. One of my goals this year is to figure out how to tell the people in my life that the best gifts they can give me aren't objects. Not another candle or holiday trinket. Ugh. Thanks for sharing the article, Runninginplace. What a great way to declutter... but my goal is to never have to resort to that. Most of us have far too much stuff that we don't need, and much of which will end up a total burden on others.