Thanks for the welcomes. I will have to get pics when I get my new camera. My other found its way into the ocean somehow. The 2 year old does not know how it happened. LOL!

I'm sorry to say that I'm not a veggie grower, I stick to pretty flowers, so I can't speak from personal experience. But other wintersowers grow all kinds of vegetables, with great success. They grow about any all all tomatoes and some don't plant them until spring. You need not feel rushed to plant on the solstice as some of us "wintersow" all year 'round. Basically it involves using the same recyclable containers, the same method, and planting at times other than winter, too. For me, I have only done flowers. Most of us begin in winter with perennials and hardy annuals, waiting until spring for very tender things like zinnias. It works extremely well and in spring we have literally thousands of seedlings. We have our own seed exchange, linked just above the threads on page 1 of the forum. See Trudi's offer listed there Stick around and some expert will come along to help you. Welcome to the forum, we're happy to have you. Karen Here is a link that might be useful: Trudi's offer

Hello! I hang in houseplants sometimes too, alot to learn over there! I think hoyas are pretty easy by comparison! Do you mean vines when you say strings? If so, sure you can cut them off, but you do take the risk of losing a vine that would potentially put out peduncles/buds. I usually just leave them be, I like the way they look, they add to the charactor of the plant...or u could wrap them around so they are no so obvious or in the way. If you don't like the bare look of the vines, keep in mind they usually do get leaves... eventually. As for repotting, hoyas can stay for years and years in small pots, and this is actually recommended for them. As they get more potbound you may have to water more or ocassionally top dress with some fresh soil, but the general rule is, the smaller the pot the better!

Congratulations on taking life by the horns and getting on with it! We've had our property for 3 years now, and it's time for us to move forward as well. Good luck on your build, and I look forward to tracking your progress!