Hi Dr. Horticulture! Thanks for the welcome. I've only just started gardening up here so there's not much for me to tell, yet! We added a greenhouse last year and just built a tomato bed for inside it this year. We haven't got as far as heating it yet but we may in the future. It's still going down below freezing in there most nights so I'm not keeping anything out there overnight. I'm starting to realize that heating it would be a good idea if I want to have more plants in there. Yes, we can get frost just about anytime. Back in 2007, we had a big snowstorm on June 7th. I think our average number of frost-free days is about 85. Most people here hold off on planting anything out until at least the May long weekend, and even wait until the first week of June for some things. Some things are okay to plant early as seeds, like peas. Most of my perennials are poking up now, which is exciting. I had a look around last night and just about everything I planted last year seems to be coming back, thank goodness. I'm going to make a list of the things that survived and maybe I'll post it in case anyone's interested. Right now our big projects are to build a shade bed against the north wall of our house and to figure out what we can do with our vegetable beds. We've got the beds in place from the previous owners but they're totally overgrown and full of aspen suckers. I think I'm kind of lucky that I'm starting out as a gardener up here since I have nothing to compare it to. I don't know what I'm missing out on by not living in a hotter zone. How's that for a glass-half-full approach, eh? I'm looking forward to contributing and reading more here. It's such a great resource.

I'm here for a few minutes. I read every day, don't always post much any more. I don't understand the dislike of the new format, because it can be changed easily. Books and newspapers have white backgrounds. If you need help go to CompHelp and ask. I'm having a problem with my computer freezing, so I drop off a lot and spend time searching computers to decide what to get, before it freezes again. Wondering if a reimbursed is a good idea or not. Of course that meant REFURBISHED! Unless someone would like to reimburse me for it. Sue This post was edited by Sue-va on Thu, Feb 14, 13 at 14:54

I am here but I've been a very bad friend. I've been juggling hobbies and, thanks to cold weather, I haven't been doing much mosaic through the winter at all. Though that's no excuse not to come by and see what you all are doing. I'm going to have to catch up on some of your projects. My sea serpent is getting closer and closer to being done. Can't wait until I can post some pictures. And I'm also wondering where SLOW has been? I don't see her posting on the board recently, and like you, I find that troubling. Hope she is okay!

Unfortunately, I wonder it's a losing cause no matter what I would possibly do to combat the beetles ... well, because only two mins away lives a lily breeder with a vast collection of tens of thousands of lily stems, also my next door neighbor has a substantial patch and makes no effort to fight the bugs. Oh, as for lilies with the least amount of damage, the gorgeous and stately growing 'Red Velvet' was thankfully hardly touched. Peren.all, how frustrating to have chickmunks chow down on the lily buds and then go after the bulbs! This spring, a pocket gopfer had come in during the night and commenced tunneling next to the foundation of the house, amazing just how fast and extensive they can dig in a only few hours time! First, I thought to drown the bugger out, though the full blast of the garden hose draining down the tunnels wasn't enough to snuff him out and he even popped his head up and began gnawing at the end of the hose! Sooo, forget that and I grabbed the propane tank in which I installed a short section of hose onto and drained the propane gas down his burrows for several minutes, job soon done and I later excavated his remains, ugh such LARGE teeth and long claws! I hoped he had done no damage to my plants, until buddleia 'Crown Jewels' had soon wilted and died.