Last year our spring was non-existant; very cold and wet, then we went hyperdriving into extreme summer overnight. Tomatoes took a real beating. This year with the warmer, dryer spring we had we were able to plant a month earlier than last year. But now we're paying for it; we haven't had a decent rain in weeks. *Sigh* Early Girls are great for jump-starting the season, though. And yep, we're doing the lasagna thing this year, too. Isn't it great? Congratulations on your first harvest of the year!! :-)

Much depends on what you do with the containers for the winter. If left outside or exposed to normal winter weather for your area, you want to stop fertilizing now. To continue to fertilize will continue to encourage new growth and any new growth that is formed now will not have sufficient time to harden off or ripen before winter's cold temps hit. It will be more vulnerable to cold damage and can consequently make the entire plant more vulnerable. If the pots are going to be protected or stored in an area that will protect them from winter cold and freezing, you can continue to fertilize them weakly until you bring into the protected location. Or you can stop now as well :-) Plants need no fertilizers when they are dormant so no reason to fertilize in winter, period. And it won't hurt to let them go for several months without fertilizing even before they go dormant. They likely have enough energy stored to get them through that period just fine.

Jen, How rude of your DH to bring home germs to you. I hope you get well more quickly than usual. Jennifer, I really think more and more than whatever you and I both had in November was the flu. I've been around so many sick people (despite my best efforts to avoid them all) and haven't come down with anything, so I think I've already had it and now have some degree of immunity. I really do believe that. Eva Purple Ball is a good tomato. The color really is a deep pink, not purple, and the fruit are very smooth and globe-shaped, and maybe weigh 5-7 oz. each. It produces a decent harvest here. Rebecca, Take care of yourself. Everything else can wait until you're able to breathe more easily again. I've noticed lots of folks in our area are having respiratory issues lately. Nancy, We fed the Daytimer lust by buying them and they were marvelous. I think that was in the 1980s, maybe the 1990s too. I don't miss having one now and y'all know if I had one now, I wouldn't use it. I used to always buy Tim one for either his birthday (which is in December) or for Christmas until he started keeping track of everything on his phone maybe 5 years back. If he ever loses his phone, he's going to be so disorganized. Lucky went out yesterday, stayed out all night, but was outdoors wanting to come in and screaming to be fed this morning, so I do believe she's here to stay. We have been adopted so many times by so many animals since moving here. I guess we are big suckers because we cannot turn away an animal that needs a home. Like you, I never forget the pets we've lost. I think of them with happiness and with sadness, and I don't want to forget them. I've learned the more love we give to these animals, the more we receive back from them....and the more love we have to share with the next animal that comes along. Sometimes people tell me they don't have enough love to expand to another animal. I think they are wrong---I don't think you have to stretch some finite amount of love to make it cover another animal----I think the amount of love you have to give just is infinite and just grows and multiplies. Don't freak out over the seed sowing and WSing. It isn't like you get only one chance and don't get a do-over. Be patient. Stuff will sprout and grow. You'll find places to plant it all, and if any varieties don't grow (assuming you didn't sow a whole pack of seeds), you can just sow more seeds. We have a long season and plenty of time to plant more and more and more..... If y'all were warm yesterday at 46, then today we were hot at 63 degrees---and sunny! I love it and think we will have a couple more 'hot' January days before the next wintery blast hits us down here sometime Thursday. It's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow and maybe tomorrow night, and they mentioned the word 'thunderstorm'. The amount of rain expected is small, except for anyone who lucks out and gets a thunderstorm. If we are going to have a thunderstorm, I wish it would just go ahead and hail. That way, we can get our annual quota of hail out of the way before there's any plants out in the garden that it could hurt. Amy, I think God sends us replacement animals before an old one dies. It happens every time. Lucky had been hanging around for quite some time now, but lurking nearby---not coming directly to us. I saw her for weeks and weeks before Yellow Cat suddenly went downhill and died. She has taken his place in the spare room upstairs and acts like she's been here forever. Shady is the last of a couple of litters of kittens gifted to us by Emmitt and Midnight when we first moved here and they just showed up out of nowhere. I enjoyed raising kittens and keeping them together their whole lives, but we got Midnight fixed after her second litter because we didn't want to turn into crazy cat people with 247 cats or something. Since then, we get each cat fixed ASAP after it shows up or at the appropriate time after it is born. (This, of course, does not work when a mama cat shows up with a bunch of babies in tow. and you find yourself adopting 5, 6 or 7 cats instead of 1.) It must be lonely for Shady to have outlived all his litter mates. He is a good decade older than the other cats we have now, and he does act paternal towards them. I think he learned good paternal behavior from his dad, Emmitt. He loves on all of them, likes to cuddle and snuggle, and tolerates no infighting amongst them, just like his dad before him. He even sits in the exact same spot on the back steps where Emmitt used to sit and watch over the yard and its inhabitants. It is like Shady was in training to take Emmitt's place. Honey sounds so sweet, while at the same time being pure puppy and totally destructive. I love it when a dog has that sort of happiness just oozing out of her pores----no wonder we fall in love with them. I have found it very aggravating to garden with puppies, but they aren't puppies long and don't remember destructive forever. One day you realize they've settled down a lot, and then it seems like they suddenly, somehow, in the blink of an eye have gone from being settled down to old and lazy. I look at Jet now and think of how he aggravated me his first 3 years or so and think that I'd give anything to have one of those puppy years back. He mostly sleeps now, and I guess that is the stage he's at in his life now. He is still refusing to eat his Prescription canned food, and the dry is not due to arrive until Tuesday, but the medication seems to be helping him a lot. He doesn't have to go outside nearly as often and he seems like he even feels better. Kim, The story about the Pyrex cup being your coffee mug made me giggle. I'm glad Sophie didn't lose her pups. Rebecca, Our TSC usually has 3 to 5 good basic varieties selected just for OK, sold in bulk from large containers by the pound. They usually have them sometime in January or earliest February. A little later in the season, they'll have maybe 4 to 6 varieties of fingerlings in little bags like bulbs come in. I've grown and liked all the fingerlings, though they produce less for the space than full-sized tomatoes. Atwoods has seed potatoes, about the same varieties as TSC, and usually a little earlier, but theirs come in netting bags of maybe 3, 5 or 7 lbs. Our Wal-Mart usually gets seed potatoes in January (the common ones like Yukon Gold, Norland Red, sometimes Adirondack Blue or All Blue), some form of Russett, etc. and Home Depot usually gets them in February. I have ordered seed potatoes online a few times, but they are very costly when ordered online/shipped and I haven't bought them that way in some time since it really isn't necessary. I started doing it so I could try some of the fingerlings....but now those are available here, and I ordered online the last time so I could grow some of the purple potatoes---fun, but not necessary. Just relax. The potatoes likely will be in the stores by February, and I don't think I'd plant any early than February if I lived as far north as you do. I haven't been in any of the stores here looking for seed potatoes this week, but it would not surprise me if the potatoes are there now. If not, they'll be here in another week or so. If I'm watching for them, they never show up, but as soon as I forget about them and stop watching for them to appear, suddenly they are everywhere. It happens every time. If you buy any grocery store potatoes to use as seed potatoes, just buy them (now) and put them in a cool, dry place and they'll sprout and be ready to plant by the time you're ready to plant them. The only downside is you won't know the exact variety and they won't be certified seed potatoes. Certified seed potatoes haven't been treated with a fungicide to ensure they are not carrrying diseases, but in the years in which I have used grocery store potatoes as seed potatoes, I have not had any special disease issues with them either. Remember, the reason to buy organic is so they'll sprout---conventional grocery store potatoes are sprayed with anti-sprouting chemicals to prevent them from sprouting so, even though that stuff wears off and they eventually sprout, it can take months and months. I have bought seed potatoes from The Potato Garden and they arrived a little later than I had hoped for (but they have to work around what the weather is doing). The seed potatoes were small but healthy but grew just fine and produced well. Still, it was much more costly than buying local. I already had received the catalogs you got today, but the new ones that arrived here today were Willhite Seed and Richter's Herbs. Now, if there is a catalog that is going to have some things I simply cannot resist, it is Richter's. I always have fun ordering new (to me) herbs from them and growing them. I've never had a crop failure or germination issues with their seeds either. The stores here have a lot more seed-starting supplies this week than they did last week, and it does my heart so much good to see them. Irrationally, while we were in Sam's, I wanted to buy some MG Soil-less Mix---not because I have a need for it or a plan for it, but simply because it was there. I didn't buy any because if there is one word that describes my approach to gardening this year it is "restraint". (lol, and we'll see how long that lasts). Dawn

Hello everyone, this thread is moving very fast with all kinds of amazing pictures of roses and pets. Flowers thank you for such nice comments about Ragiku. I named her after one of my favorite anime character from Bleach (a popular Japanese series). Depending on the Kanji used it could be translated to chrysanthemum. In this series she is a shinigami, (death god) and her katana's soul was a very playful cat =) I really love Japanese and Egyptian everything. A Sphinx cat with a Japanese name was perfect for me. She is a super cuddler and wants to be the center of attention at all times. I really love love your pictures of Wildeve and quicksilver. Could you please tell me how is the repeat on quicksilver in the future. I am having a lot of trouble with the super healthy Kordes not repeating well, except for Bourdox. I would love to add quicksilver with that amazing color, but don't want any more super slow repeaters no matter how beautiful. I am glad you were able to get into your house, that could have been a very scary night outside. I like the suggested idea of a secret key just in case for the future. Diane, thank you Rangiku thinks she is a perfectly human little girl and she is a lot of fun. I just keep going back to your pictures of Evelyn and drooling over her beauty. Your garden is amazing and your tick infested fields are very beautiful to me, such a natural unspoiled beauty all around is hard to find in this super developed world where houses get too close together. Your JC are ginormous yellow beauties. I also love your shot of Golden celebration and its super globular blooms are incredible. Lisa I am really glad you are ok. You falling down sounds scary. One of my baby Mel's heritage has started growing a very good rate and it is 100% black-spot free without spraying. What a fabulous rose. Kelly all your roses and companion plants are lovely. I really like what you are doing. Your kitten looks like a sweet little angel and is very fortunate to have you as a family. Your Spike is super cool also. Pippa your Distant Drums looks fabulous. You mentioned not having it in the ground because you weren't sure on placement. What are your options? I think that round could blend really well in the garden with those soft colors. Trish I am so glad your little girl is improving. I know all those vet visits can get exhausting. I really love your pond and can't wait to see how it all develops around it. Hallo your Moonlight in Paris is incredible and you should keep posting lots of pictures to show her off. She looks very much like an Austin to me and the color is very sweet. Your pictures of Mary rose are great, she is one of my favorite Austins. Ann thank you very much for the nice comments about Rangiku. Your Portlandia is a very beautiful rose. I have looked at her several times on the Heirloom website, but had never seen pictures from someone who actually have her. Will keep an eye on her for the future see if I can get any info regarding blackspot resistance. Jim your hydrangeas are amazing and I love your geraniums.