Sorry to hear that you won't have any pears or plums this season. I hope we don't get a late freeze that kills the fruit tree blooms. It happens occasionally. My peach blooms are almost ready to pop. I did cut back some branches and forced them inside. The flowers are so pretty and the daffs and quince are blooming so it's starting to look like spring but I'm going back to FL at the end of the week anyway. lol It's still not warm enough here for me. Does anyone know of a good nursery in the West Palm area? Butterfly World has a decent selection of passiflora vines and other butterfly host plants but I'd like to find a nursery instead of paying $25 to get in just to shop. I was there 3 weeks ago but it was still too cold to ship plants home at that time. I love the gardens, butterflies and birds but don't need to see them again so soon. Once a year is enough. lol

Terri, consider looking up no-till gardening/farming for the area over your tree roots. Even making a raised bed one or two boards high can give you the space you need to plant, and the plants' roots will take care of themselves. I prefer raised beds, actually, and will be building 3 more this year. I hate the messy edges of directly in-the-ground planting. Got those beds, but I think they look like crap. I think I showed you the raised bed I made last fall, where I used Hugokultur and lasagna gardening methods, didn't I? Hugokultur would be perfect for all the untreated scraps of wood, saw dust, and even brush from cut-down trees. That's why I decided to try it. Can't wait to dig into my new bed to see what turned to dirt over the winter. There's also a preservative called Ecowood ($about $17 on Amazon) that you can spray on any wood. It's nontoxic, environmentally friendly, blah blah. It does weather wood, which I like. It's purpose is that it changes the make-up of the wood so it doesn't rot. It's not a sealant, in that it'll still draw water, but the wood doesn't rot. I used this on my new bed and the giant potting bench I built. I figure what the heck. It got great reviews from long-time users and if it makes my outside stuff last a bit longer, great.

The first time one of them did that.. laying down on her side, it kinda freaked me out. They do it to sunbathe, dust bathe, and to cool down when it's hot. They look like dorks. Here's Gertie and some of the other girls when they were about 6mos old Here's Josephine with the cute little white silkies I had when we first started getting chickens. It was so funny how she was their protector and one day they just lay down and one of them kinda gave her a hug! Not sure if it was the make or female. Had to re-home them because we can't have roosters. He was crowing a LOT and always trying to get with Gertie. The silkies are banties, so they're about half the size of the other chickies. Couldn't see keeping the female since they both were chased and pecked at relentlessly by the other girls.

Oh, and there's also a swap going on in Loveland on the same day: http://lovelandgardenclub.com/