here is an option that i have found works great. buy pickup loads of spoiled baled hay. sells for about fifty cents a bale. takes flakes about 3 inches to 4 inches thick and scatter them out in a checkerboard pattern. you can do a solid pattern, takes more hay. but it works wonders. the hay keeps the rain from impacting the soil (which is what causes the erosion). yet the rain goes through eventually, while the hay is decomposing and making soil. plus the hay sprouts new grass from the hay. if you have a really rocky but close to flat area, leave the bales tied up and lay them with the straw sticking up. place them in a solid pad, and plant directly into the bales. works great for potatoes. as the potatoes grow, the bales decompose into soil. good luck.

Are you planning to over winter your plants in there and what types of plants? It seems it would work, with a couple of considerations. First would be that since you are in high desert country, the plastic on your Shade house will deteriorate rather quickly. Just be prepared to patch it together to get it through winter, if possible. I personally would step up the quality of glazing (covering) to a polyethylene covering and just re-use it every year. That way you won't have to worry about it crumbling on the coldest day of the year. This is especially true if you will be handling it much. It isn't too expensive either. Shippping would cost the most I would think so try and find it locally. Maybe call around to the local nurseries. The other consideration I would have is heat, but that depends on your answers to my previous questions.

So many good white ones out there. I do think that Joan Senior is the top of that list, it is inexpensive, and increases like crazy. Here is a picture, the picture is several years old. The bloom on the left is actually on the second day!! I don't have any other daylily that does that!!! I have seen gorgeous clump shots of it, maybe others will post theirs. Another really good one, that blooms somewhat later is Lime Frost, once again a really good increaser. I bought Great White last year, and it bloomed like crazy and is coming up with quite a bit of increase now. These are all cheaper daylilies. How about Wedding Band, Last spring I bought from Wilds, and they were super cheap and the daylilies did amazingly well, they both bloomed and took off , they did well overwinter and are coming back with increase. I got Nanuq and Ice Carnival from Wilds. (they have a website) just google wilds daylilies it should come up. Here is Nanuq, it's an older white, and did great. I had bought Great White from Ladybug Daylilies, from his bargain basement at 8.59 for a clump, don't know what he has this year in terms of white ones. Other great white ones that are inexpensive are Monica Marie, Artic Snow, Cortina, Royal Frosting, Serene Madonna, Tuscawilla Tranquility. I have seen some of these at local nursery centers. Good Luck , let us know what you find!!!! I just love the white ones. Cindy

Well, 30" is better than a 4ft pallet (not by much). Let's see how berries do at market today - last year I always sold out of wild blackberries, but last week only sold 1 out of 4 pints of blueberries - guess too much competition, even if my prices were in line with other vendors', grocery stores are selling them cheap right now (not organic ones, but a lot of people at this market don't care - I might do better at a different market). That guy DH works with who bought the potatoes (and I gave him greens) last week "ordered" more this AM - took all but 1 of my zukes (I have to go hunt for more on some other plants), plus chard and mixed greens (the same kind I gave him free last week b/c they were leftovers). But he didn't want any more potatoes, or blueberries. I wonder if that means I've overpriced them? Yes, Marla, I will add the cost of any baskets I buy to my price (or at least when I do my taxes they will come off as an expense, as will gas to go pick them and free ones up). I do the same with jelly jars - people gripe about the cost of jam but when I explain I have to buy the jars, sugar, lemon juice, labels, ink (which I actually don't write off since we use the printer for other things but maybe I should deduct 1 cartridge a year), and pay for electricity (again, don't deduct b/c I haven't figured how much actually used to run well, can), they understand. Now if they would actually RETURN the empties like I ask, maybe I could drop the price (or actually, I've offered a deposit but no one's ever come back - I think I need to put a sticker on the jar). I think I'm going to make up a sign for today asking people to please return empty containers, and another one offering 10 cents for every canning jar they bring next week. Oh, and we're getting a drizzle now! Looks like it rained overnight too. Maybe I can plant the rest of my squash (Early Prolific, so short season, and maybe more Raven just in case SVB get the plants I have now). I hadn't wanted to plant anything else if we weren't getting rain. I'll check tomorrow to see how much we get today. At least I won't have to water my berries with the lettuce-washing water (though I will save it)!