EEEEKKKK ! I accidentally erased my response and now I have to type it all again ! I have a master gardener friend who used an empty 250-gal plastic storage container that's inside a metal cage. He got it at a place that sells sprinkler equipment. I saw them yesterday at the feed store (they're $100) and they used to be a Hawaiin Punch concentrate container. He has his behind his storage building, with the gutters on each side leading down through a Y tube to the container. Then he has it connected to the soaker system in his huge veggie garden, which is on a circuit so there isn't an end that doesn't get as much pressure as the beginning. He uses a sump pump to start the flow, then turns it off after a minute, and it continues on its own. It's very cool. It's an unsightly container, but could be easily camouflaged. Carol

Thanks William, There are 2 separate searches going on. One on GW and one on DG. Hope to link the two tomorrow.If we find the elusive chocolate basil. Do you want some seeds or starts. A perfect mystery for hollaween. I've been searching for several days and no solid lead. Do appreciate the search and info. Vickie Here is a link that might be useful: Search for Chocolate Basil- GardenWeb

Carmen, You generally can plant grocery store garlic and it will sprout and grow just fine. You would want to buy it in advance and let it sit in a cool, dry location for a while in case it has been sprayed with anti-sprouting agents to prevent it from sprouting in the grocery stores. Buying it in advance of planting it and letting it sit would give those anti-sprouting agents a chance to wear off and lose their effectiveness. Or, you could buy garlic that was raised organically. Jay, I was wondering about the folks at We Grow Great Garlic because of the mention later in the thread that it had been found in Wisconsin and Iowa. Hopefully it is not as widespread in those two states as it seems to be in Wisconsin. I noticed that SSE has a phytoplasma alert on their garlic page, and if you click on it, it takes you to the alert posted by Plum Creek. I hadn't heard anything about phytoplasma in garlic but had heard that in Minnesota they were seeing a lot of aster yellows in echinaceas. I guess those darn little leafhoppers have been really busy. Cathy, Yes, that's him and thanks for updating us on his harvest. I remember when Martin used to post a lot on Garden Web and, via Jay, knew of all the garlic he grows and, of course, we all know of his interest in heirlooms. I am relieved for his sake to hear he harvested and his crop is fine. It is a shame to have so many garlic growers hit by aster yellows, but it is so much worse when it happens to the folks who are keeping many heirloom garlic varieties alive and in use. I don't think there is anything you didn't have happen there in your garden this year. Maybe 2013 will be better. Too bad the hail didn't smash all the grasshoppers that were plaguing your crops earlier this summer. That would have been poetic justice. I hope your fall garden is growing well. Dawn

One of my first designs used BioGlass. It's very unlike other glass products. They fuse it under high pressure for a long time. It is made out of recycled glass, but takes a lot of energy to produce. I believe it comes from Spain. The slabs aren't very big. Similar to soapstone--I don't remember precisely, but 4' wide or a little more. It ships from Florida, once it's in the U.S., and must be crated so shipping is very expensive. Then you need someone who can fabricate it correctly--I'd get fabrication insurance on it. It's very expensive. One thing I decided was that it wasn't a particularly green product to use. It's supposed to have the same hardness index as granite, however. It feels good. Kind of like soapstone, kind of, sort of. On the edge you can see the strata of the layers of glass. I wasn't able to do heavy testing, but it feels like it would hold up to usage a lot better than other glass. Not so prone to nicks, scratches and chips. I had a sample of ordinary slab glass that fell a few inches--the corners shattered. I think the BioGlass would be a lot better. Because it's glass it's inert. You can etch glass, but not with lemon juice or wine. It's non-porous. I don't know how it would handle thermal shock. They recommend it for panelling buildings, so it would be fine for gradual heating, but I would worry about putting a hot pot on it. Otherwise, it's pretty tough. There is a limited range of colors. They don't look like they do on the web. Less translucent in normal lighting. The white is beautiful. The dark green with white clouds is a beautiful color, but the white hardly shows because you see the dark green through it. The blue isn't dramatic, but it's fine. I never got to see a sample of the pale green/aqua color, which is the one I was most interested in. Getting samples was very hard a couple of years ago, when I was looking. The store rep here was able to negotiate a good price on the slabs, but the crating and shipping was just as much, and considering the other issues, and the lack of real eco-friendliness, I just couldn't do it. I probably spent as much or more on my tile, but it has the advantage of being well proven and I expect my kitchen to last at least 30 years. I was looking at it at epOxyGreen. You might call them for more information.