The low sugar pectin should be fine. The recipe already calls for less than regular pectin. You might give it a try and see if you like the flavor. Another option is Pomona Pectin. You can totally control the amount of sugar since it isn't required for the set. It won't make a clear jelly, but fig isn't anyway! Some say they can taste a "chalky" texture, but I don't have any problem with it and I like being able to make sugar free jam and jelly. Deanna

@Larry WOW I saw those other pictures and the difference is just amazing!! Wasn't the last picture only a week ago? They're definitely outpacing mine. Very fortunately, I haven't had any problems "potting up". Boy, I'm grateful for that since my timing is off and slow to get the ground decent, start the silly things in pots that are too small OR the soil mix I made wasn't proper. I think some of my tomato plants have been potted up three times since seeding. I didn't kill any but I bet it stunted them. All the tomato plants that got damaged are doing OK. Dawn and Jay were right. New growth came in and only those older leaves have the damage. I cannot believe every one of them are still alive! Thirty tomato plants! (that must still survive the onslaught of bugs) A few days ago I had to sit -right in the garden while working the soil. I just couldn't move well any other way. I commit to bathing as soon as I got indoors. I was trying to hoe. Apparently, Bill was watching. He walked over to the shed, grabbed this old concrete tool, lopped off part of the handle and threw it down by me. The length was accurate and the leverage I gained was perfect. It's amazing how a little change can make a huge difference. Today I couldn't sit at all so I worked on compost piles standing up. I'll let Bill see this picture. I know he can make me one of those. He brought me over a step stool just like the one you're using and my seven year old is always carrying it around the garden for me to sit on. He's the water boy and an OK weeder, too. So far I've had three different sources suggest cereal rye for ground cover so it must be really good! Today Bill installed the compost bins for a new plan we came up with. I dug up the dirt from beneath the old compost pile and planted a tomato in it a week ago. By far it is my most prosperous plant! I decided to put the compost bins right on top of the garden bed to let it work itself over time just like that one did. I made them small - no bigger than 1 yard sq so I don't have too much trouble turning the entire thing. When I turn the pile from the first bin to the next I'll leave about 4-6" of the compost where it lie. I found out exactly the ratios I need for effective composting and over time, the entire area will have a compost pile atop it. This will limit my garden space for veggies this year but the sacrifice will mean less work getting that soil ready next year and the cover crop, too. If I have enough browns I think I can create about 1sq yard of compost every two weeks or less. @Dawn "sow them very thickly in the cells in flat inserts, water lightly, keep the fan blowing on them and otherwise ignore them" I hadn't thought of using a fan since my tomato seedlings were small. That might help a lot. I must reuse a lot of my soil so I'm sure to cook it in the oven before I reuse it on seedlings (boy, does it stink). I must be watering too much and it very well could be the environment. Come to think of it, I have more trouble with dampening off when they're in the kitchen window versus the dry idle store room in a south window. Maybe I'll "sow them very thickly in the cells in flat inserts, water lightly, keep the fan blowing on them and otherwise ignore them". I've "ignored" other seedlings in that back room because it's easy to forget about them and .. guess what? I went and found them thriving. Sounds like a plan to me! I'm going to try sage and oregano again with some used miracle grow potting soil and sterilize it first. I LOVE to cook and want herbs SO badly. No. I NEED an herb garden. I imagine how many wonderful trace minerals and vitamins are contained in freshly picked herbs. I'm not real certain what it was about the compost dirt. The compost is very old and well aged and no chemicals at all. The tomato plants recovered but they took longer than the others after transplant shock. It very well could be I damaged those and it's not the compost soil at all. I have since marked them to watch the differences in their growth. I bet they do better, but their transplant shock was far greater. Plants.. weird. Since they eventually recovered I went ahead and amended the soil with compost on the ones I planted today to help avoid compaction. Today I transplanted a few of the tomato plants from old coffee cans containing makeshift soil. They are only about six inches tall. I noticed the roots went all the way down to the bottom of the can. That little bit lifted my spirits a lot for I know it means they were very healthy and strong. I managed to fertilize these old Irises in our yard earlier this spring hoping they'll bloom - even a few - until I can get them divided this fall. These were present from long before we arrived to this house and there are so many from looking at the foliage ... at least a hundred that I can count? I've never seen any bloom. Little miss and I walked over to the Irises along side the fence where, surprisingly, three beautiful white blossoms were showing their glory. She joyfully screeched to high heavens as she ran and bounced over to greet them. Something happened to my heart right then. ♥ Yeah. I gotta get those bulbs divided and cleaned up this fall. bon

I bought a quart size container of dried mealworms and tried them in and about my backyard feeders with no success at all however, I don't have regular bluebird visitors either so didn't know what to expect. The regular feeder birds (sparrows, doves, cardinals, and juncos) ignored the dried mealworms entirely while still gorging themselves on other seed offerings. While the mealworm casings (because essentially that's all that's left after drying) eventually disappeared, I've always felt that they simply disintegrated in the weather or blew away and weren't actually eaten by the birds. In another local area where there ARE bluebirds and I occasionally "bait out" an area for my photography hobby, I found about the same level of feathered interest (zero) from multiple species (all of the above plus chickadees. titmice, and a couple of other species). In areas with a steady or high seasonal number of bluebirds, the dried mealworms may be a reliable food source but I won't be trying them again in my area of DFW. If you're in a different area of the country however, YMMV. Steve

Dogmom- love your Bluebird pics! Really good! I'll tell you that it will be hard for bluebirds to have a successful nesting experience if you have a lot of house sparrows & house wrens nesting with you. You know by law that you are allowed to remove HOSP nests, eggs, & young. We're even allowed to dispose of HOSP because they have caused such problems for our native cavity-nesting birds. Otherwise, they'll keep bluebirds or others from nesting or throw eggs out, kill babies & kill parents if they trap them in the box. If you're not willing to keep HOSP from nesting in your yard, the only thing you can do is put up a sparrow spooker after the bluebird (or other) lays their 1st egg. Since you have HOWR too, you should put up a wren guard after 1st egg is laid. Otherwise, the others won't have a chance to nest with you. Also, the only sized opening that will keep a HOSP out is 1 & 1/8, which is the size for Chickadees. Some birds won't nest in boxes with smaller entrances. Most of the time with Chickadees, you have to start out with the standard 1 & 1/2 & put a hole reducer on after the 1st egg is laid. Then, they'll usually accept it.