I'm sorry to say that I'm not a veggie grower, I stick to pretty flowers, so I can't speak from personal experience. But other wintersowers grow all kinds of vegetables, with great success. They grow about any all all tomatoes and some don't plant them until spring. You need not feel rushed to plant on the solstice as some of us "wintersow" all year 'round. Basically it involves using the same recyclable containers, the same method, and planting at times other than winter, too. For me, I have only done flowers. Most of us begin in winter with perennials and hardy annuals, waiting until spring for very tender things like zinnias. It works extremely well and in spring we have literally thousands of seedlings. We have our own seed exchange, linked just above the threads on page 1 of the forum. See Trudi's offer listed there Stick around and some expert will come along to help you. Welcome to the forum, we're happy to have you. Karen Here is a link that might be useful: Trudi's offer

Hello! I hang in houseplants sometimes too, alot to learn over there! I think hoyas are pretty easy by comparison! Do you mean vines when you say strings? If so, sure you can cut them off, but you do take the risk of losing a vine that would potentially put out peduncles/buds. I usually just leave them be, I like the way they look, they add to the charactor of the plant...or u could wrap them around so they are no so obvious or in the way. If you don't like the bare look of the vines, keep in mind they usually do get leaves... eventually. As for repotting, hoyas can stay for years and years in small pots, and this is actually recommended for them. As they get more potbound you may have to water more or ocassionally top dress with some fresh soil, but the general rule is, the smaller the pot the better!

I can't help much but can try. This type of lilies like almost full sun. Even 6 hours and mine tend to lean. Daylilies will do fine in part shade even in less than 6 hrs full sun, for some and for me anyway. The only lily I have that prefers dappled shade is Mrs. R. O. Backhouse, and she grows straight. None of my others do unless they get almost total full sun. They all lean, some a little and some a lot, stake some of them to make them behave better but can't stake them all. My Regals are on the east side and do not get enough sun at all. They lean all the way to the ground, and I'm probably going to lose them. I stake what I can, and think I risk piercing a bulb when I do, but they are delicate and tops break off too easily, the ones with longer, thin, and feathery leaves, lots of them. In spite of it they bloomed beautifully last year, but very sparsely this year. Deer? I think so but not sure. Other critters will eat the tops off which spoils them for the season, some will eat most of the plant. I use liquid fence on mine fearing squirrels and coons and anything else but see that I'm not going to have to do it for all of them, haven't had any problems that way. Deer are two blocks away, so there is always a chance for that. I will have to see for sure if there is any deterrant short of a double fence, won't have that. I think I know which pink you are talking about because I saw a real beauty, too, but likely it, too, will prefer almost total full sun to grow well. Except when I forgot, I stirred one teaspoon of bone meal into the soil in the bottom, planted all with a bulb planter and not as deep as the Regals for which I used the augur on my drill because I had read that to keep them safer from being dug up by something that wants to eat the bulb, plant them 9 inches. That is too much, and I will not do that again. The only other tip I got was a poster here, and I have done it only once was sprinkle them leaves and all with liquid kelp diluted properly per directions on container. It's organic I believe and safe, but shouldn't apply it in full sun or when it is too hot. I waited for an overcast day. I got mine through my rose club here, so much, don't know how I'll ever use it all up, highly concentrated liquid. I see Burpee has some on their website, but it looks like it might be granular which would be fine so long as you dissolve it completely. I think some use Miracle Gro (regular) on them, but I haven't yet. To get that to dissolve right, I start the first quart with a little warm water, stir well, then add more quarts of cold water, stir again until I have what it says on the box. Then it will keep for a little while if you don't use it all up in a cool place, not in the fridge. Maybe another poster can verify my suggestions, add some more esp for deer, and correct anything I said that was wrong, don't want to mislead you in any way. I would especially like to know myself if there are any more named varieties that will grow straight without leaning in part shade. My sister in MN can't grow this type of lilies at all, not because of the cold, but because no matter what she has tried, something keeps eating and ruining them, and think she doesn't have a deer problem but could. I will remind her again about liquid fence reapplied after every rain or at least regularly, darn stuff is expensive and smells awful but doesn't when dry, worth it to me. Maybe there is something else that would work. One good thing is that some get stepped on or mowed off, may come back anyway, but if the stem isn't totally broken, I stake them and they heal. Don't cut the foliage back until it browns in late summer or early fall. They need it to replenish the bulbs.

I made this for Christmas dinner a few years ago. The family loved it. Easy on the waistline as well. Pork loin stuffed with fuji apples SELF : November 2005 Santiago De La Cruz Servings: Makes 4 servings. Ingredients 1/4 cup golden raisins 3/4 cup Riesling 1 1/2 Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch cubes, peel and core reserved Pinch of cinnamon 2 lb center-cut boneless pork loin (ask butcher to make a 1-inch incision in the center all the way through) Sea salt Vegetable-oil cooking spray 1 medium onion, diced large 1 carrot, diced large 1 celery stalk, diced large 4 stems fresh rosemary 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar Preparation Heat oven to 375ðF. Soak raisins in cup wine for 10 minutes. Combine raisins (including wine not absorbed), apples and cinnamon in a bowl. Fill pork-loin cavity with apple-raisin mixture. Season pork with sea salt and pepper; set aside 15 minutes at room temperature. (If loin splits, tie with kitchen twine.) Meanwhile, coat a roasting pan with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Sear pork on all sides until golden brown, about 4 minutes total, turning frequently so it doesn't stick. Place onion, carrot, celery, rosemary and apple peels and cores in pan; place pork on top. Cook 25 minutes or until pork reaches 150ð. While meat cooks, reduce vinegar and remaining 1/2 cup wine in a small saucepan 15 to 20 minutes on high heat until thick and syrupy. Remove pork from pan; let rest 10 minutes. Slice pork and divide among plates. Drizzle reduction over pork.