Hi..I'm writing this on behalf of sumala..I wanted to let everyone know that he passed away this past Wednesday April 25 at the Veteran's Hospital in WPB. He thought he had the flu but just couldn't seem to shake it. We went to the VA on Monday thinking we'd get some meds and he'd be coming back home but that wasn't the case. I suppose our Creator in Heaven needed an avid gardener up there because he passed away Wednesday from heart failure. None of us, including him, had any idea that he might not be coming home..He rode his bike daily and was super active especially in his garden! I know he really enjoyed 'chatting' and sharing gardening tips with you all! My thanks to Minderella who helped me to get onto the site so that I could let everyone know-as you can guess, he's already been truly missed. When we would come home he was either on the computer chatting with different ones about his garden or out in it-so it's still hard walking into the house & he's not here..I will probably be signing on using his name so that I can read some of his posts-I was just reading all of his posts here along with everyone else's and the info will help the family to keep his garden going. He was also really getting into 'putting up' the different things he was growing so this will also help to preserve waht is grown. Thank YOU ALL for being such wonderful friends of his-I know he respected & enjoyed all of you. I'm not sure where all he would gon in GardenWeb but I would appreciate if you spread the word..Anyone may also email me at tirtle1@aol.com if you'd like. Thanks again,keep your green thumbs up (and hopefully ours will turn green as well) Take care & God bless

If you do a cut & come again salad bed or "baby lettuce heads" it should work out fine :) fortunately, many lettuces & other greens need not be grown to full size before harvest. I usually add the maximum from both the days to germination and the days to harvest to estimate the amount of time under less than ideal conditions (i.e. shorter days, cooler weather, etc.) Some plants will come in under target others may need an additional 10% or so. Another trick is to slip the transplants directly in with the with almost full grown crop in hopes that you will harvest the old plants before the new ones grow large enough to need the space. And, some shade is okay in this case because you can use the shade from the almost-ready-to-harvest plants to transition/harden off indoor started seedlings for the outdoor full sun conditions. Just be very careful when you harvest.

I am kind of a haphazard gardener, to be honest. I just plant what appeals to the butterflies, bees, moths, and other beneficials. Of course, along with all of those we do get the ones that are not so beneficial as well. Mother Nature has a way of balancing things out, though. In planting things that attracted all of these "pets", I attracted many others that I didn't plan on, but were welcome anyway, like the beautiful sphinx moths, and the hummingbirds. I never had put a hummer feeder out until the hummers began to show up to nectar on many of the same flowers and shrubs that attract the butterflies, like the passion flowers, Verbena bonariensis, Pentas, Lantana, Cypress Vine, Mexican Sunflowers, and many that are considered tropical here and only grow one season in pots. A couple of years ago I began to get interested in growing natives, because they attract a lot of birds, butterflies, bees, and other beneficials, and many are host plants for butterflies (they lay eggs on specific plants). Monarchs will only use milkweeds, Black Swallowtails only use parsley, fennel, Rue, and other apiaceae family members. Our native passion vine is host to the Gulf Fritillary, as well as a few other passion vines. Aristolochias (pipevines) that are natives are utilized by the Pipevine Swallowtail. Three of these are native to Oklahoma. Native asters host Pearl Crescents. Native sennas host Cloudless Sulphurs and Sleepy Oranges. Native False Nettle hosts the Red Admirals and Question Marks (so does stinging nettle, but False Nettle does not have the stinging hairs). Wild Indigo (Baptisias) host the Wild Indigo Duskywing. Plantago hosts Buckeyes. Verbesina encelioides (Golden Crownbeard) hosts Bordered Patches. Coneflowers (Echinaceas) host Silvery Checkerspots. Goatweed (Crotons - native not the decorative houseplant) host the Goatweed Leafwings; Tulip Trees host Tiger Swallowtails along with a host of other trees, including Wild Black Cherry. Sassafras and Spicebush host the Spicebush Swallowtail. Wild violets and Passiflora incarnata (natives) host the Variegated Fritillary (not a true frit, but rather a longwing). Daturas (the native and others) host the Tobacco and Tomato hornworms. Virginia Creeper host many, many moths like the beautiful 8-spotted forester and lots of sphinx. Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) hosts the beautiful silk moth, Cecropia. Native honeysuckle and viburnum host the Snowberry Clearwing sphinx moth (resembles a large bumblebee). Hackberry and Elm trees host Question Marks and Hackberry hosts the Hackberry and Tawny Emperors. Willow hosts Red Spotted Purples and Mourning Cloaks. So you can see the list is endless almost. I get lots of ladybugs, green lacewings, and praying mantids. This is all good, but they do eat their share of butterfly/moth eggs and caterpillars. Such is life in the garden, tho. I find lots of insect activity on all the plants I mentioned. Most natives are loaded with nectar because it hasn't been bred out of the plant in the breeding process. For instance, you might find some activity on the old species roses, but you don't on cultivars. They just don't produce nectar. So the more hybrids that have been made up the line, the less nectar the flowers produce. Natives are wonderful. They have proven they can survive almost any adverse condition or event. Some are quite beautiful, too, but their purpose is often a bit more esoteric than appealing to the eye. Also, butterflies generally like flat top or single flowers because they provide a better landing pad for them. All of those new doubles cultivars make it almost impossible to obtain nectar so I try to stick to these. Kenna has survived the scars of being traumatized by the pit bull exceptionally well. She still loves dogs, cats, and, of course, butterflies, and hasn't displayed any inordinative fear of them. It probably helped that both her grandfather and I both love animals and have them at home. In fact, her GF has 3 Rottweilers that are watch dogs. They have grown up with her, though, and she doesn't hesitate to interact with them at all. I, on the other hand, am a bit more cautious cuz I am not around them much. Susan

Ladies and Zeak, I think we are wrapped up on this trade. Many thanks to everyone. I am excited to be trying some new seeds from all of your gardens Plan to label them with your name as well as the official name to help me keep track Looking ahead to spring and happy gardening. Thanks to all!