Here I am all showered, dressed, and ready to brave the pre-dawn chill and head to work at my preferred time. I have a small job to finish up this morning and then heaven knows what awaits me. ;) I am definitely "into" the whole house purge, you guys. Instead of continuing the protective measure of averting my eyes from areas of accumulated clutter I've embraced the "refuse to live in fear" motto and I've methodically made a list and begun chipping away at it. The place looks great and I feel great about it. The reaction from the helpmeet is mixed, he likes the cleanliness but is nervous about my ruthless approach to the many tomes that haven't been cracked in over 10 yrs. and my unwillingness to give him any more time to go through them himself. Time's up, baby! When I return from work this afternoon I'll throw some more clothing destined for the thrift into the washing machine and begin systematically going through the Lab.. I have lots of old fabric, items of abandonned clothing (the bane of dry cleaners and alterationists), and old notions that are taking up too much space. I wish some of you crafty types lived down the road, I'd send it your way happily. ;) I want it all pared down for the move across the driveway to the Salon. Idyll Camp has definitely kindled a fire under my hindquarters, you guys. This is one reason I'm not feeling housebound or winter weary, on the contrary, I'm wondering if there will be enough time to get it done before Idyll Camp. :) Wow, Marian, that orchid is just lovely. I smile every time I think of you puttering around with your plants. I've been meaning to ask you how you carry your wood indoors. Do you use a log carrier or do you just carry an armload? I'm trying to come up with a containment system for the Salon that is attractive and efficient. Eyed the log holder on the clearance page of the Sturbridge Yankee site Cynthia mentioned but was too cheap to spring for it, lol. There HAS to be something here that could be suitably repurposed... Its good that the puzzle is out for Nolon to pick at when the mood strikes him. You know, I never had the presence of mind to provide a puzzle for Mum, something I regret now. Loved the shots of Doobie and Ted, Kathy. Anyone who says cats aren't friendly has never known one that is much loved and fussed over. Our's like to chaperone us when we're outdoors, too. And there was a lot of getting into the boxes and bags destined for the thrift this weekend, too. Lots of Kodak moments. Well, time to get rolling so I may return home and continue the progress. Wanna place any bets on how much of the culled stuff actually makes it to the kerb this morning? ;) Cozy up, guys.

The weather seemed to make my yard more of a bee and wasp world this summer. We had wild bees in holes in the ground all over the yard, including on my SIL's lawn where my niece almost ran over it with the mower. I heard wild bees don't sting, but that's hard to remember when you're weeding a garden bed and they fly up around you all of a sudden. We've had a lot of carpenter bees and bumble bees this year. They got cheated out of their usual convention in the horsechestnut tree because the blossoms went almost as soon as they opened. So they've been foraging in the yard on everything else they could...Nasturtiums, Sweet Peas, Dahlias, and Monarda mostly. The Sunnies didn't seem to please even them this year! And then, a bunch of wasps kept me from tending to one set of my Dahlias. They were going in between the siding of the house and everytime I tried to prop up this one Dahlia, or cut one to bring indoors, they went after me....and they didn't stop until I went in the house (they followed me to the door...even inside if I didn't maneuver it right!) Their queen must've been pretty special!! Linda

Thanks for the nice words Jon, Ken, and Rick. Yeah, I know I planted them rather close. I'm coming around to the viewpoint that it'll be easier to move them in a few years than it would be to maintain them in containers over the same period. Container maintenance becomes a bit much (for me, at least) above a hundred container plants, and a major goal was to get a lot of plants into the ground. I'm planning for the next several years, not the next several decades like some of you folks. I don't mind moving them when the time comes, and I'll have more space opened up by then. Call it planting at the Fletcher density...well maybe not that close :o). I buy the pine bark nuggets by the bag; they're not available in bulk around here. Local garden centers and big box stores have them for ~$2.5-3.5 for a 2 cubic ft bag, so it comes out to a little bit more than bulk mulch delivered. It's worth it IMO for the aesthetic value and also for its greater longevity - the nuggets will last much longer than shredded hardwood mulch, which needs to be replaced every year or two. A side benefit is that its much faster to apply mulch from bags. -Alex

Hello! I recently started growing flowers for fun and because I like to do everything the difficult way around I decided I would grow them from SEEDS. Goodness. So I have successfully planted, germinated and kept alive (woohoo) about 200 helichrysum (straw flower) seeds. They are currently about 1 inch in height BUT the problem is, they're crowding. They are not yet big enough to transplant (which I don't know how to do either, so any help there would be appreciated too). All I want to know is, how long can I carry on growing them feasibly before overcrowding will kill them? It doesn't seem to be bothering them too much at the moment, they're still soldiering on and getting new leaf growth every day. They're on about their third or fourth set on new leaves if I had to guess. Questions I have include: I'd like to grow all the seedlings in pots, which size pots should I use? I don't really have a garden at my disposal sadly so I must grow in pots as much I can but I have space for BIG POTS, so any size pot recommendation would be great. Is there any special way of keeping little flying bugs off of my helichrysum? They don't eat the plants, they just annoy me. Maybe something DIY... they're like little flying bug mite things. Think they're attracted to my fluorescent indoor growing light. Is there anything I could do to help their growth? I've potted in Canadian peat moss to start and mixed in very little seedling food, sprinkled with a layer of compost over the top. I gave them general organic liquid plant food a few days ago with their water. How often so they need to be watered at this size? So many questions! Thank you so much.