Not much for expecting a garden to look clean, except for deadheading, and such. Not sure which parts you want clean?! You spray plants to keep them from being dusty, then you get sunburned leaves. Some suggestions I've tried: - My wrought iron birdbath rusted within days. Tried all the typica methods to resolve it -- reapplying inhibitor, rub on stuff that is supposed to change rust to a new kind of surface, and just plain ole scrubbing it off constantly. Nothing worked. Then I waxed the surface! Now I'm rustless -- lots of algae, but no rust. LOL (Next birdbath won't be made of rustable metal. LOL) - I have "compost buckets" (really just a small containers that a plant came in) in each section of my yard, while watering each night (container garden), I just throw the deadheads and weeds in those. When they get full, they go to the bigger compost bucket, and container is returned. - Being both cheap and a disabled container gardener (I'm disabled, not my containers or garden LOL), I am always keeping an eye out for ways to raise my containers. Right now some of my herbs are growing in our old large gas grill, with both of the side areas (one shelf just to hold the plater on, and the other side was a burner with a cover, so the cover is permanently down) used to hold their own containers. One side is just a Dollar Store plastic container growing a couple of basils, while the other side holds another thrift store find -- a child's toy plastic wagon, converted into a nursery for herbs. (Holes drilled through the bottom of the wagon, of course.) Our next grill, a round charcoal pit that we didn't use long, before remembering how bad we are at starting charocal burning, is now a lovely container with two ornamental peppers in it. The peppers will be mounded perfectly to the shape of the grill when they are mature enough to start producing peppers. The Radio Flyer red wagon bought at a flea market last summer, holds two of our cuke plants, and, since the holes drilled in it are so small, it takes long enough for all the watering to leave the containers and wagon, that the plants are soaking up the water almost 21 hours later. (Also waxed the wagon, which prohibits rust from showing up quickly.) And, on the opposite corner of my garden (which is only 16' X 16', and is really just a slab of concrete covered in lots of containers) I have a round, plastic child's picnic table from WalMart as my plant stand, sitting underneath a large arched trellis I bought two years ago. Either end of the trellis has one leg in a deep container, while the other foot is out of it. One side carries my Clematis to the top of the trellis, and the other side awaits my perennial hibiscus and hummingbird vines to get to the size where they need it. I also have a couple of metal shelving units tied to the chainlink fence for smaller containers, and a few big to huge containers full of plants. We get enough rain for it not to get noticably dusty, and I wish we could have a few spider webs. Got more bad insects then beneficial bugs and birds, so much of my gardens' messy look is due to the insects eating holes through juat about every leaf older then three days old. Still, I am feeding birds and butterflies, plus, obviously growing produce, so I'd rather have holey leaves then chemically treated holeless leaves! I do have to sweep occasionally, but generally, any extra dirt and leaves on my ground are squirted down the drainage hole. I'm thinking the only way to keep your garden clean, if you have that need, is to pick up the falling leaves, rake as needed, and, if you have spider mite web problems, "wax" your leaves with Neem soap, as needed, instead of hoping they don't get scorched after splattering them with water in the heat of summer. Truly though?! Only perfect garden can be found in photos in garden books, and half an hour before and 15 minutes after the picture was taken, I can all but guarantee another leaf fell and ruined the perfection again. LOL Our theory -- if you don't like the mess YOU clean it up! Got anyone complaining about your "messy" garden, hand him or her the rake, towels and water. LOL

The pork guava sauce usually has some ginger root in it for a little zing and shoyu (soy sauce), salt, pepper, sometimes onion and garlic to give it a less sweet flavor. Sort of a sweet/sour sauce. Generally I just sorta sniff it and see if it needs anything sometimes just the plain guava jam if just a sweet sauce is wanted. Usually if we are using a half gallon of guava jam that means we've caught a fair sized pig in the trap so there's plenty of pork to work with. Guava jam generally starts out as a five gallon bucket or so of guavas, some brown sugar although white sugar can be used and a bit of lemon or lime juice although that's optional. Guava season is late summer so our jam supply is made up during this time each year. If I make enough, then I can make guava jam every other year or every third year or so. That's the idea when picking guavas so by the time the jam is ready to can there's way too much jam to fuss with tiny jars. Sigh!

Hi Sumilea - Aw come on - you've been around long enough now to know there is no "dumb" questions! ;) JMO, ok, no gospel here, just what works for me. (legal disclaimer ;) 1)how long would the Tomato seedling roots take to completely outgrow the Styrofoam cup... It wouldn't happen. Not till long after it was time for them to be in the garden. You've seen the 6 packs they sell tomato plants in? Compare the size to your cup and you'll see the difference. This is not to say you could or should grow it in that same cup and skip transplanting altogether, just that it could, if it had to for some reason, remain in that cup till it's garden time. 2) gets potted up it, it may appreciate the extra space and grow vigorously maybe? Transplanting accomplishes 2 things and is the main reason I am a big advocate of multi-staged transplanting. It stalls (retards) top growth for a bit (about 1 week) and stimulates root development, allows root development to catch-up if you will. 2 plants, same age, 1 transplanted and 1 not, 10 days later the transplanted one will show me 2x the root development while top growth on both remains about the same. Since I want sturdy (not leggy) transplants with good root development that will ignore any transplant shock, I usually transplant 3x before the garden - seedling flat to cell pack, cell pack to small coffee cup, coffee cup to 16 oz. cup and then to garden. It's not required, just what always works for me. Besides, I like playing in the dirt. ;) 3)How much buried stem is required to make sure that your plants wont turn out Leggy? I transplant deep as possible. I bury the stem up to 1 finger below the first set of leaves. But this does NOT prevent leggy plants - only light and avoiding over-crowding can do that. Deep transplanting can compensate for leggy plants but not prevent them. 4)Which is a better approach to potting up? Gradual addition of soil as the plants get bigger so the stem can grow roots gradually and utilize time better? or.... let the plant grow on its own let the root do its own thing for awhile before potting up (less work)? I think neither is the ideal, as I have said above, I prefer multi-staged transplanting. Honestly, I don't anyone who does the "add soil approach". I'm sure there are some who do but it wouldn't work for me. I do know that the pro growers don't use that approach. I have talked to several nursery growers over the years and they all do 2 or 3 staged transplants, depending on the size plants they are preparing for sale - 6 packs or 4" pots, or 6" pots. Hope this helps and lets you spit out that bullet. :^) Dave

I recommend MicroSpun by Lion Brand Yarn. It is a sport weight yarn and very silky soft feeling. I love it. The gauge on it. using size 4 needles is 24 stitches in 4" and 32 rows in 4". There are 2.5 ozs in a skein and it is 100% microfiber acrylic. If you use a crochet hook with it the hook size is H-8 13 sc in 4" and 16 rows in 4". There are 168 yds or 154 meters. It is machine washable and dryable.