Yes, Katamari is the rolling stuff up game. Its really addictive for such a simple game, and theres three of them. The part I like the most is the amazing effort they put into the music. I found some of it on youtube and it ranges from techno to jazzy lounge music, swing music, Im pretty sure someone even snuck a gospel peice or two in there. While Iw as writing yesterday I stumbled across someone who had done an orchestral version of one of the themse that made my jaw drop. Video game music is constantly impressing me with every passing year. But anyway, back to gardening... Part of my problem with the space issue is theres a movement out here for the "Grow Biointensive" system. While I'm interested that they've managed to do so much with such small topsoil space, I've noticed all the beds dealing with the system need at least two feet of soil, dug down or in raised beds, and thats not what I have. My mum has been trying to push me in that direction, but I dont feel confident with it at this time since I wanted to get more of a feel for the general gardening situation since its my first time and all. Some plants still got pushed closer together than I would've liked but then none of us had seen some of these plants actually growing before. The cukes are doign better than I expected for being about 6 inches closer to each toher plant than I really wanted them to be, but we had such a huge amount of plants to deal with that I did the best I could. I think the funniest part about all this is while it is my first time growing a real garden, I've been growing virtual gardens since I was abotu 19, playing an online game called "Final Fantasy 11", which had a really complicated planting/gardening system most people didnt know about. That game system is actually what got me really focused on the seasons, when to plant, where to plant, when to fertilize, what plants grew better in what geological areas, and I even had a little notebook for a long time where I'd record the weekly cycle of my virtual plants in relation to the moon phase and exact time I made any modifications to the planting space. Even the gamers thought I was nuts, but I loved it! They'd even die off or give terrible results if I neglected them for too long, or give off better results if I got proper gardening tools, workbenches, and diffrent planters had diffrent effects too. Im getting better results with a real garden than I was in my virtual gardens though... Except for that one time I accidentally harvested 122 virtual onions. I can tell you, the cooks sure were happy with me.

My first try at winter sowing was somewhat of a disappointment, as the weather warmed a seeds started sprouting, I moved all my pots to a portable greenhouse. In a nasty wind storm everything came toppling down. I had piles of pots and soil everywere, I tried to save what I could, the lavetera, lupine, sweet pea, and hollyhocks are all that survived out of about 40 different kinds of seed. I took it as a lesson learned, my plants could have been in there, I staked it down after the storm and we had some windy days after that but my plants survived the move outdoors to the greenhouse. This year the stakes go in first. Janet

are they as yellow as they look in the pix??? .. whats the story on the potting soil???? how old is it ... if you look at your second pic... note the new buds have no damage... there is a good chance .. the culprit is gone.... this might be a silly question.. from a MI man.. but can you grow babes to fruition.. in november/winter in the northern hemisphere?? .. for most of us.. the sun is in decline [not to mention temps] .... the short question: is your timing proper??? ken

This list may seem rather long, but I think you will find it useful. Many of the vendors stock a fairly limited number of varieties, so, when you make your mind up about which variety and rootstock combination you seek, you may need to shop multiple nurseries to find what you want. I would be surprised if many local nurseries knew enough about growing fruit trees to be highly useful. There is one very very knowledgeable guy, that's a regular in the Fruit and Orchards Forum, that lives in your area. I'm not sure of his screenname right now, but will try to find it. If I forget to give it to you, email me in a few days. Here are some good* mail order sources for various types of fruit plants: *Sources with poorer ratings are listed separately below. Adams County Nursery - various fruit tree types - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.acnursery.com/ Bay Laurel Nursery - multiple types of fruit and nut trees and plants - very good G.WD. rating - http://www.baylaurelnursery.com/ Big Horse Creek Farm - apple trees - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.bighorsecreekfarm.com/ Blossom Nursery - pawpaw trees & seeds - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.blossomnursery.com/ Boston Mountain Nurseries - affiliated with Arkansas Berry & Plant Farm and Pense Nursery - multiple types of berries and grapes - very limited, excellent G.WD. rating (warning! Arkansas Berry & Plant Farm has a very poor rating!)_- http://www.alcasoft.com/bostonmountain/ Boyer Nurseries & Orchards, Inc. - multiple types of fruit trees and plants and nut trees - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.boyernurseries.com/ Burnt Ridge Nursery - various types of fruit - very good G.WD. rating - http://www.burntridgenursery.com/ Century Farm Orchards - apple and pear trees - limited, excellent G.WD. rating, knowledgeable and helpful owner - http://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/ Cloud Mountain Farm - various types of fruit & impressive selection of other plants - excellent G.WD. - ratinghttp://www.cloudmountainfarm.com/ C&O Nursery - various fruit trees types - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.c-onursery.com/ Cummins Nursery - various fruit trees types - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.cumminsnursery.com/ DeGrandchamp Farm - blueberries - limited excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.degrandchamps.com/ Double A Vinyards - blueberries - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.rakgrape.com/ Durio Nursery - various types of fruit - limited G.WD. review - http://www.durionursery.biz/ Edible Landscaping - various types of fruit - good G.WD. rating - http://www.ediblelandscaping.com/ Fedco Trees - various types of fruit - excellent G.WD. rating - http://fedcoseeds.com/trees.htm Forestfarm - huge selection of plants - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.forestfarm.com/ fraises des bois - alpine strawberries - no G.WD. review, but my order was great! - http://www.fraisesdesbois.com/ fruit-tree.com Nursery - multiple types of fruit trees and plants - limited G.WD. review - http://www.fruit-tree.com/ Going Bananas - banana plants and corms - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.going-bananas.com/ Grandpa's Orchard, LLC - affiliated with Moser Fruit Tree Sales, Inc. - rootstocks and various types of fruit trees and plants - very limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.grandpasorchard.com/ Greenmantle Nursery - various types of fruit - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.greenmantlenursery.com/ Hartmann's Plant Company - various types of fruit (mostly berries) - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.hartmannsplantcompany.com/ Hidden Springs Nursery - multiple types of organically-grown fruit trees and plants - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.hiddenspringsnursery.com/ Indiana Berry & Plant Co. - multiple types of small fruit and berries - excellent G.WD. rating - https://indianaberry.com/ Ison's Nursery & Vineyards - multiple types of fruit trees and plants (specialize in muscadines, blueberries and blackberries) - very good G.WD. rating - http://www.isons.com/ Johnson Nursery, Inc. - multiple types of fruit - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.johnsonnursery.com/ Jung Quality Garden Seeds - multiple types of fruit trees and plants - good G.WD. rating - http://www.jungseed.com/ Krohne Plant Farms Inc. - strawberries and asparagus - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.krohneplantfarms.com/shop/ Lawson's Nursery - apples - not sure if this place is still open, the website is outdated - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.lawsonsnursery.com/ Leuthardt Nurseries, Inc. - various types of fruit (specialize in espalier) - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.henryleuthardtnurseries.com/ McKenzie Farms Nursery / World Wide Plants - unsure of products sold - excellent G.WD. rating - http://mckenzie-farms.8m.com/ Montoso Gardens - tropical fruits and seeds - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.montosogardens.com/ Morse Nursery - various types of fruit - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.morsenursery.com/ Moser Fruit Tree Sales, Inc. - affiliated with Grandpa's Orchard LLC - rootstocks and fruit trees for commercial growers - very limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.forfruittrees.com/ Nash Nurseries - pawpaw, hybrid chestnut, pine nut, etc. - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - no website - phone: 517-651-5278 Nolin River Nut Tree Nursery - persimmon, pawpaw, & multiple types of nut trees - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.nolinnursery.com/ Nourse Farms Inc. - berries and small fruit - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.noursefarms.com/ OIKOS Tree Crops - multiple types of fruit and nut trees and plants - excellent G.WD. rating - http://oikostreecrops.com/store/home.asp?cookiecheck=yes& Old Southern Apples Nursery - apple rootstock and custom grafts - no G.WD. rating - http://www.oldsouthernapples.com/ Peaceful Valley Farm Supply - various types of fruit trees and plants - good G.WD. rating - http://www.groworganic.com/default.html Pense Nursery - affiliated with Arkansas Berry & Plant Farm and Boston Mountain Nurseries - multiple types of berries and grapes - mixed G.WD. rating but newer entries are better - http://www.alcasoft.com/pense/ Raintree Nursery - multiple types of fruit trees and plants - good G.WD. rating - http://www.raintreenursery.com/ Rhoras Nursery - various nut and fruit trees and plants - limited, mixed G.WD. rating - http://www.nuttrees.com/ Rombough, Lon J. - grapes - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.bunchgrapes.com/ St. Lawrence Nurseries - various northern climate fruit and nut trees - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/ Stark Brothers Nurseries & Orchards Company - various fruit trees and plants - OK/good G.WD. rating - http://www.starkbros.com/ Tomlinson's #1 Farm - antique apple trees - no G.WD. review - http://www.netreach.net/~tugger/apples/apples.html Trees of Antiquity (formerly Sonoma Antique Apple Nursery) - multiple types of fruit trees and plants - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.treesofantiquity.com/ Tripple Brook Farm - unusual fruits - very good G.WD. rating - http://www.tripplebrookfarm.com/ Van Well Nursery - various fruit and nut trees - excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.vanwell.net/ Vintage Virginia Apples - apple, pear, and quince trees - limited, excellent G.WD. rating - http://www.vintagevirginiaapples.com/index.html Whitman Farms - small-fruit plants and trees and nut trees - excellent G.WD. rating - http://whitmanfarms.com/ Woodlanders, Inc. - wide variety of hard-to-find southern plants - OK/good G.WD. rating - http://www.woodlanders.net/ Here are some mail order sources with poorer reviews for various types of fruit plants: Aaron's Bulb Farm, Arron's Fruit Nursery, Aaron's Nursery, etc. - see TyTy Nursery Apple Tree Nursery, Fig Tree Nursery, Pecan Tree Nursery, etc. - see TyTy Nursery Arkansas Berry & Plant Farm - affiliated with Boston Mountain Nurseries and Pense Nursery - multiple types of berries and grapes - very bad G.WD. rating - http://www.alcasoft.com/arkansas/ Autumn Ridge Nursery - various fruit and nut trees and plants - very poor G.WD. rating - http://www.autumnridgenursery.com/ Burgess Seed - various fruit and nut trees and plants - poor G.WD. rating - http://www.eburgess.com/ Direct Gardening - see Burgess Seed Gurney's Seed & Nursery - multiple types of fruit and nut trees and plants - poor G.WD. rating - http://gurneys.com/ Henry Field's Seed & Nursery - various types of fruit - poor G.WD. rating - http://henryfields.com/ House of Wesley - see Burgess Seed Inter-State Nurseries - see Burgess Seed Kelly Nurseries - see Burgess Seed Miller Nurseries - various types of fruit - OK to poor G.WD. rating - http://www.millernurseries.com/ One Green World (Northwoods Nursery) - multiple types of fruit trees and plants - OK/fair G.WD. rating - http://www.onegreenworld.com/ TyTy Nursery - extremely poor reviews Willis Orchard Company - multiple types of fruit and nut trees and plants - fair G.WD. rating - http://www.willisorchards.com/