Konrad, that does make for a nice raised bed :) With having a large yard and well amended relatively weed free productive soil, I hadn't looked into using the bale method and had wondered why anyone would even bother ... though, last night I had watched several videos and my thoughts had changed as I observed the benefits to be had under certain circumstances and am now "almost" tempted to try it with some peppers, as I guess they do especially well when bale grown. Mmmm, I do have some two year old bales sitting at the back of my yard, but I'd be more inclined to do as Konrad's posted photo, because I'd like for the plants to draw the nutrients from the soil, rather than me having to be dosing the bales with fertilizer. Peppers require very good drainage and this would certainly provide for such and requires no carpentry skills of needing to cut and nail a bunch of boards together :)

I'm also considering buying from Magic Garden Roses this year. Last year I bought from Treloar, and while they did send me two freebies (DA Mayflower and a Flirtatious), I note that a couple of the bareroots I received appear to have come with a virus - the leaves have curled all year (though dont show patterning like mosaic...so who knows).and it also concerned me that several of the bareroots i was sent had canes that were splitting/damaged upon arrival. Hmm. Look I'm no expert, so I'm not saying these plants were DEFINITELY virused, i'm just saying i dont know...and I dont like feeling unsure/iffy, so am not keen to take the punt with Treloar again. What I do know is that Magic Garden Roses openly mention virus issues on their website (saying they graft onto 100% virus-free rootstock) so therefore I feel we can assume MGR care about not sending you virused roses). that coupled with the fact MGR offer you the option to buy in pots from them, whereby you then receive a plant with some amount of foliage so you can immediately ascertain the plant's health (unlike bare-roots, where you're waiting several months to see how the leaves/canes etc grow out). Anyway, that's my 2c worth on why i'm considering MGR this year, despite the fact I'll be paying the heavier freight costs since i'm in northern nsw. worth it for me, not to have 'doubts' about whether i've inadvertently introduced some virused roses into my garden.

Hi little_minnie, You are quite right, and I did have an infestation of both types of caterpillars on my brassica plants last year. I believe there were a greater number of cabbage worms compared to cabbage loopers, though. I could be remembering it wrong, and it may not even matter (for example, a decrease in one population may lead to an increase in the other). An admittedly-lazy search of Google only turned up results of people on forums claiming that the cabbage moths are territorial. Nothing official from sites I would consider a "trustworthy" source of information, such as extension services and university agricultural websites. Regardless, I am still going to try this myself considering little work and potentially large benefit it might serve. My plants were heavily infested last year, so even a decrease in the amount of worms would be nice. A complete absence of them would be ideal, but not realistic. ;) I will post my results when my plants get growing later in the season. Thanks for your comment.

Well, NMFruit, It looks like we may not be getting that sunroom too quickly. They want $21,000 after a few rebates that we may or may not qualify for, and the offer expires on Dec 15, 2015. We were planning to start the project in spring/summer 2016. So the whole thing is in limbo for now. I know that eventually we will have some sort of sunroom, solarium or large windowed building built, eventually. I am happy to have a large south facing window in our basement. I have my Bird of Paradise there now. It was outdoors in the summer, I would love to not have to reduce it's height in the next couple years. I am interested in a mandarin orange tree, etc. So does anyone have any info on perhaps making your own porch enclosure, you know, large windows and a nicely windowed door for at or under $12,000? That is our budget. We have been able to find another Pittsburgh area company, "Patio enclosures". I told them our budget of $12,000, and the size we want (7' X 9') rounded off. So they will likely want to build a tiny closet (poor persons closet) size sunroom/solarium. We just may just have a builder build the whole thing, versus a sunroom company putting their rooms up. I always heard that these sunroom company's buildings were cheaper than a contractor sized room, that is obviously not true. WE didn't include any real "comforts" on our estimate from 4 seasons sunrooms either. No heating/Ac units. Just the bare bones, with the best glass though. Well, just wish us luck at finding what we want with a good price, and of course, if anyone has any ideas how to do it all at a decent price(within our budget), But bear in mind, nobody in my family can build anything, unfortunately.