Hi, Lisa, First year, just buy plants, and enjoy them. Now, until next spring- each time you cut the grass, dump the clippings in one place. When you prepare vegetables and fruit, dump them in the same place. Cover this pile-very simply and cheaply- with a black plastic "yard" garbage bag. Pile on your autumn leaves, and get your neighbor's leaves, too- the key is to cover with the plastic. This composts your discards so fast that you won't believe it! If you have clay soil, go to your local home improvement store and buy a 10 pound bag of "contractors", or even "play" sand. Mix it in well with your clay soil, and especially your composted veg discards. Possibly, your community gives away composted leaves that they pick up each autumn. It's important to cover this with plastic and let it sit for a year- covering is EXTREMELY important, to kill the weed seeds. The manure thing is great- if you have access to straw to mix with it, (well "rotted") even better. The important thing is to mix organic material- and the sand if you have clay soil. Best thing is that the organic stuff is free- save all of the "vegetable refuse" you would normally throw away-potato peelings, vegetable "trimmings", the unattractive outer leaves of lettuce and cabbage- soft tomatoes, bad radishes, eggshells. Pretty much any vegetable discards will do. Just make sure that it hasn't been cooked, or contain salt or vinegar. And after many years, I learned that covering the "pile" is the key. If you have REALLY heavy clay soil, I have friends who did this- their soil wasn't only heavy clay, but marshy and wet- they collected old matresses- not with springs- tilled up, dug down about 3 feet, laid the matresses down and covered them back up with soil. This gave them incredibly good drainage, and they had one of the best vegetable gardens I've ever seen. I wish you luck, hope I've been of help. I live in Delaware, 3 miles from the beach, and have spent 8 years amending the soil here, making it so good! ( I be proud) Don't hesitate to contact me directly (shellywilley@juno.com)- I'd love to hear how you make out, and I have lots of agriculturally adept friends who will be more than happy to share with you. Hope to hear from you, Lisa- we'll all be happy to be made to feel knowledgeable and important by having the opportunity to share with you! Shelly ps- I meant to spell it all correctly....and did you get that covering it all with plastic is important?

msbeekeeper, I see 'honey crisp' being mentioned more and more by the catalogue companies catering to the cold zones, so maybe zone 3 isn't so much of a stretch, particularly a sheltered spot which in general fruit trees prefer. I also read that it's often not the coldest temperatures in the cold part of winter (mid jan to mid february) that harm plants, but often cold snaps that might occur, say in march when the trees are starting to bud out and wake up from dormancy. Or, if the fall weather is unusual and the plants aren't allowed to properly prepare for winter. Having said that, however, good luck with your tree. I've read really good things about the fruit. I have a similar apple (similar in the way that it's a bit later in maturing but stores well) called September ruby and really love the sweet but slightly tart and juicy taste. Glen

Thanks for the no oats recipes! I grew up with a no oats crisp and made the oats version for many years. To me, it's like eating an oatmeal cookie crumbled over apples. Too heavy and sweet, especially with the ice cream. My version is from Caprial Pence, who once owned a popular bistro in Portland OR and had a cooking show on PBS. Fruit Crisp from Caprial's Desserts 1 c. flour 3/4 c.sugar 3/4 c. cold unsalted butter, diced 1/2 tsp. vanilla pinch of salt Combine all ingredients and mix with fingers until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Note: I like to press some of the dough into marble-sized clumps and refrigerate it to maintain the clumps. Otherwise, it spreads while baking. 7 c. peeled and sliced tart apples 2/3 c.sugar 2 tbsp. cornstarch 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, allspice, and ginger 1 tsp. vanilla Toss fruit with the other ingredients. Place in a 9" x 13" greased pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly, about 45 min.

Thank you! I will let you know how it turns out. We're a day behind at the moment ;-) We went to Claim Jumper last night for dinner as FIL has been waiting for months to enjoy beef ribs with his son. Before we left, I went online to check out the nutritional information. FIL and DH ended up sharing a half rack of ribs (which was fine), and MIL ordered Tri-Tip off the senior menu. They both had roasted veggies for sides. They made good choices, mostly by portion control. However, I noted that the vast majority of their entrees were over 2,000 calories per entree - not including sides. That was just scary. We were out celebrating both my sons' birthdays, one a few weeks ago and one next week. No one had room for the TCBY cake that had been requested by them, so we're having it tonight. Apple crisp will be on the menu for tomorrow. I currently have one batch of applesauce cooking on the stove, and the remainder of 40 pounds of apples on the dining room table. My house smells rather apple-y!