I have to say that I find it completely ironic--and, really, quite entertaining--that some appear to be entirely "grossed out" and against the idea of using diluted urine in their garden, yet are more than happy to apply all sorts of odd chemicals they know nothing about to their food supply! There actually is an entire subculture of alternative medicine that believes in the power of DRINKING urine as a method of curing all sorts of ailments (and no, I don't subscribe to it!) and--to date--no one has died due to the practice. I personally think it's a rather extreme practice. However, I do know--from an organic chemistry-perspective--that urine can and, in fact, IS a very viable and effective fertilizer--especially for promoting growth in the early spring. It also seems to help facilitate protection against high-heat bolting, although the mechanism by which it does so seems a bit more elusive to me. Also, being a bit of a devil's advocate here, I challenge those here who feel so strongly against the use of urine to check their beauty products. Many shampoos, conditioners, anti-wrinkle treatments, etc. (especially the more upscale ones) contain urea--the main component of urine (and many organic fertilizers, BTW). It apparently also makes an excellent astrigent (although I can't say I've been brave enough to try it), and apparently its use predates Cleopatra, who I understand (allegedly) was a regular user of it to keep her skin aglow. Such is the legend, anyhow--anyone care to be a guinea pig?

Thanks for all of the positive comments..You are all way to gracious as I'm really not a writer..I always have all of this stuff in my head but I hate to write or type so it never gets down on paper too often..I suppose one of these days I'll write some sort of memory type book before mine(Memory) has diminished to the point where it's all fuzzy..It's funny, this little thing we call life..How when your young you wish it would hurry up and as you start reaching into middle age, you wish nothing more that it would slow down..LOL..I feel in my heart where I differ from the "franchise" is that I would do it anyway whether I made another dollar from it or not..I really do enjoy it..I do not like the business aspect of it that much as far as the filling of orders and dealing with habitual complainers. But that's part of it and it goes with the territory...I do not want to be known as someone who just introdused a pretty face or another mauve with a eye and matching edge...LOL..Not slamming them..Just think that the eye and edge thing has run amuck..I would love to see even bigger full forms up to 10" or so on statuesque plants in the 4-6 foot range..That would be a worthy path I feel..Instead of clogging up the 24-30 inch height range with more of the same..(we still hybridize full forms btw) I just got off the phone with Brian Mahieu earlier tonight telling him how excited I was to see such good plants in our intro's...Plants, not just a face...As I have filled hundreds of orders this spring it has become evident that both Brian and myself have taken the right path in selecting for the plant before the bloom. Details such as mature clumps that just fall apart instead of having to hack up woody type clusters of crowns..Things like beautiful cool mint green foliage that almost has a waxy look to it, and foliage of different colors of burgundy and purple and a few stable variegated ones as well...I loved digging a clump of Svenska today..The fans were spaced apart far enough to lay your fingers in between them on mature clumps..And then to discover this mint green foliage with burgundy pink edges on every leaf was a nice treat as well..I noticed a clump of a select seedling that was completely chartreuse in color..The only one in the field. Not sick or iron defficient, just a very healthy chartreuse...Can't wait to see it bloom..This is a few of the reasons I do this..To really try to get "plants" out there..I lopve trying to figure out why a cross isn't taking..I did probably 30-40 attempts with Scandinavian pollen on Brushed By Bluebirds with not one pod...on my last attempt I selfed BBB and it pulled the trigger and all 20 of my BBB pods with Scandinavia pollen took giving me 96 seeds..Things like that is why I do it...To try and get pods on plants that are pod infertile is a goal for me..I have had some luck doing everything from spraying different sprays to just pleading with the daylily Gods..LOL..Another thing Brain and me play around with is utilizing Tet. pollen via unreduced gametes..We have alot of luck with this and what better way to get Tet genes into your programs..I love good buds and branching..Someting I'm getting better at than when I started...I have some insanely branched and Budded seedlings with amazing increase and rhisomates growth like Kwanso that have come out of crosses like (Citrina X Linda)X (Galaxy Explosion X Hankow)X (Jungle Fowl X Thorhalla) X (Species X Species)..Once you get a line of breeding like that, you can then be assured of a total plant and then have an aweful lot of fun playing around with the blooms..I dont do it for recognition..I dont do it to conform to the standard..I dont go to shows, and don't have time to visit other gardens..I don't care about awards or ribbons..My fulfillment for this is rather simple and I am rewarded every morning I get to see the sunrise and watch all the Bluebirds we have, to watch our little pygmy goats and donkeys play..To have my faithful sidekick cat Mango come to me and love on me without judgement..and to be able to see that seedling bloom for the first time..And of course my family whom without my wife Laura, I would in no way be able to get it all done..My boys are a big help as well...I love all the people I have met..I love seeing peoples faces when they see a bloom that is speacial to there eye and then laugh when they leave with a yellow nose without telling them..I hope all of us who enjoy gardening and daylilies in particular can reflest like this from time to time and not forget why we do this...Antway, enough of my ramblings...Hope I didn't bore the heck out of ya..Later Taters...David.

Ariel If I hear of another worm composting workshop, I will post it. If you (or anyone else) is interested, I found on the Pinellas County Extension website (http://pinellas.ifas.ufl.edu/calendar_hort.shtml) the following classes: Saturday August 18, 2007 Compost Happens Think composting is a mystery? Join Pinellas County Extension educators at Weedon Island Preserve Environmental Education Center, 1800 Weedon Drive NE, St. Petersburg for this informative program to discover how easy it is to create your own compost. Pinellas County residents attending will receive a FREE 7.5 cubic feet plastic compost bin. For reservations please call Weedon Island Preserve at (727) 453-6500. 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. **************************** Saturday September 15, 2007 Rain Barrel Workshop This class will be held at Pinellas County Extension, 12520 Ulmerton Road, Largo. Learn how to set up a recycled plastic barrel to collect rain from your roof to water your garden and landscape plants. Workshop is FREE. Barrels will be available for attendees to purchase. For reservations or information please call (727) 582-2673. 10:00 a.m. Â 11:00 a.m.

I probably could dig down 4" in the garden, at least in the raised beds. I'd expect to find moisture since I've been watering deeply about once every 4 or 5 days. No matter how deeply I water, it isn't enough and dries out really quickly, but I'm just trying to keep things alive until rainfall returns. Outside the garden? Everything, clay and sand alike, has deep cracks and is rock hard. I'd have to use a jackhammer to dig down 4". I suppose I could stick my finger, hand and arm down into one of the cracks in the ground to see if I could find any moisture, but I wouldn't dare....I've seen snakes glide down into those cracks and disappear. July and August have been really disappointing, moisture-wise. No rain here in 5 weeks and, while I am sure we have good soil moisture a foot or more down, we don't seem to have much in the upper portion of the soil. Even the Johnson grass and crab grass are withering and turning brown....which isn't a problem, of course, and the lambs quarter leaves are all rolled up, drying out and falling off. The pigweed (sadly) still looks fine thought the foliage all wilts at mid-day and then perks up again over night. Normally we have better rainfall in August than we have had so far---we average about 2.6 or 2.7" of rain in a typical August. At our house so far this year, we've had 0.02". Of course, August isn't even halfway over yet. Since the butterflies love the heat, we have butterflies everywhere, so at least there's that. Chris and I mowed the front pasture 2 or 3 weeks ago and it showed no new growth at all for well over a week. Now, a few grasses finally are putting up new green growth but it is pitifully thin and sparse. There's nothing wrong here that a good 2 or 3" of rain wouldn't fix, at least for a while, but there's no meaningful rain in sight, and our KBDI goes up daily. Robert, the KBDIs near you are scary-high. My garden is looking pretty pitiful and I have been watering. It's just been hard to water enough to fight the sort of heat we've been having in combination with no rainfall. I am hoping this week's little cool spell helps. It is drier across the river in Texas than it is here, and there are some disgruntled fire chiefs in the county across from ours because their county commissioners declined to enact a burn ban at last week's meeting. Oddly (don't tell my fire chief husband), I don't think we need a burn ban (and doubt they really need one yet either) because I don't think the fires here are bad enough to merit that. I think we're months away from possibly needing a burn ban and I expect El Nino' autumn rains will ensure we don't reach that point. We are, though, quite a bit drier than we normally are in August and that could mean problems down the road until rainfall materializes in a decent amount. Had I not been watering quite heavily the last 4 or 5 weeks, I expect my garden would be largely brown and dead. I base that on all the gardens around us that are exactly that....brown and dead. A lot of people have mowed their brown gardens down to the ground, or plowed them under. I can't do either because I have perennial herbs, veggies and flowers in my garden that I'd like to keep alive. Between the 2+ months of incredible flooding and then the quick onset of dry conditions once rain stopped falling, it really hasn't been an very good year for gardeners in our county, though I know some folks had a great melon year or a great tomato year or a great bean year. It is just that it wasn't that great of a year for everything overall. A friend of mine has told me every day this week "I'm ready for September to get here." I understand exactly what she means and I feel the same way. I guess if September doesn't bring relief, we'll start looking ahead and hoping for October to hurry up and get here.