Wayne: I'm thinking, after further research that, the "tillage radishes" came about from a cooperative effort of the U of MD and a private entity, the result is the private operator was able to have a patented line of seed and named it, "tillage radishes". It seems from some further reading that other than the patented tillage radishes, radish types tend to be named in a loose, generic way like, "forage radishes". At any rate, it isn't too uncommon for products to come to market via private/university cooperative efforts, if memory serves me correctly, Surround and Bt came about this way. After I finished my last post yesterday I did a couple of hours of researching and realized I was pretty darned uninformed about the turnip cover crop idea, the research also led me into a tangent on mustards and brassicas which is just as interesting. Much to learn, to say the least but fascinating to consider incorporating into my little slice of heaven. This link is from KS State and is a pretty long review of information on cover cropping with brassicas and mustards, enjoy. Here is a link that might be useful: The link

Oh, I can relate to that. (Not having time to plant.) I have seeds that are five or six years old that I'm sure will have at least a 10 percent germination rate left in them, if I can ever get them in the ground. This summer, I planted almost all of my old pumpkin seeds directly out in piles of aged manure -- and got a really miserable germination rate. But the seven plants that made it (out of nearly 70 seeds, I'm sure) grew really well -- we were blessed with great weather this year. Next year, I'm going to start the pumpkin seeds in pots where I can keep an eye on them. And maybe I'll even get the blueberries in the ground (they've only been in a pot for two years -- I hope they survive one more winter in the green cellar). Thanks for the tip -- I'll take a look at Douglas's thread. Good luck next year! M.

Hi Hanover: I'm no expert on this but here are my comments: culling: Keep track of what day you pollenate each pumpkin (make a spreadsheet). Measure the circumference of each pumpkin each day and record it. This will give you a clear indication of the growth rate of each one. Myself, I plan to cull when mine are around basketball-sized, possibly a little earlier. Some factors to consider when culling are rate of growth, shape, stem angle with the main vine (one that's closer to 90 degrees is best). Remember, you only have a single day to pollenate each flower, and my understanding is that you want to do it in the morning, say 8-9 am, before it gets hot out. Make sure you tape the flower shut afterwards with masking tape, and also make sure you use multiple male flowers to pollenate. watering: I'm watering 4 times a day, about a gallon and a half each time. One thing I would think you would want to avoid is sudden large amounts of water, to prevent splitting.

Plant Love, I think most Korean maples are seed grown, those I previously had seen at the nursery varied in habit and fall coloring and some hardier than others from what I've read. I'd sure love to acquire some superior clones! Okay, just went out and snapped some photos, the growth of 'Taylor' matures to a yellowish brown that gives the appearance of being attacked by spider mites, in which these have not. Don't know if I just have a poor specimen or what, it had been obtained from Greenland a good number of years ago now. 'Medora', is one of my favorites for narrow form and coloring. 'Medora' The below are 'Moffat Blue', awkward in its juvenile years, though pruning makes for nice compact landscape punctuation marks, these have been sheared rather hard to obtain a desired slim profile, they will show some browning in the worst of winters.