I would love to trade for your extra Stampede tubers and a start of your yellow Raspberries. I have a smooth Cactus and seeds of Diakon Radish, Castor Bean, Fennel, Epazote, Jalapeno, Chinese Peas, Leeks and Lettuce I am also interested in your red leaf lettuce and would love to learn more about your Italian veggies. Here is a link that might be useful: exchange page

I could have sworn I commented on this a long time ago but apparently not. So here's a short, but long overdue update. On April 3rd I began keeping the indoor started seedlings outside in a mini-greenhouse. I was bringing them back inside when the nighttime temp was forecast to be below 40*F. The winter sown seeds that I planted on March 10th, sprouted on April 9th. These remained outside at all times. On April 20th, these nearly died because I accidentally left the cover on the container during a sunny day and forgot to water them but they eventually recovered. I planted both the indoor started and winter sown plants on May 9th. The winter sown plants were about half as big as those started indoors. Both sets of plants should have been sufficiently vernalized. The artichokes were growing well but they stalled out about a month ago. I've given them fertilizer but they're still the same size. The two winter sown cardoons I've got planted in the same bed are growing larger and the two rows of beets I planted down the middle of the bed in early June are growing well and nearing harvest. So at least I'll get something from that bed this year. To be honest, I'm tempted to rip the artichokes out and replant something for Fall. But I also want to see if I can overwinter them successfully. So I'm not sure what to do. One thing I do know for certain is that this is the first and only time I'm planting artichokes. Major waste of space in a small garden like mine. Rodney P.S. Congrats to those of you who were successful!

Kim said... >My original obsession was outrageously out of hand and I loved it. [...] I'm keeping to the level area as much as possible. Weeding that slope is offensive enough without having to traipse up and down, sliding on every other step, to maintain anything down there. I know I will resent the ones which go on the slope and will eventually allow them to go the way of the Dodo, so I'm choosing to rid myself of them, instead. That's a LOT of roses, quite a few of which are seedlings either generated through my obsession or those shared with me by other "obsessives", but that is what it is going to take to keep this "fun", doable and prevent the water requirements from eating me out of house, home and desire. Weeding through them to maintain those which are just happier to be here with me and those which are endangered, has been a real chore. Now, if there was a ton of level land with high ground water. Hi Kim, Back in the Dark Ages we lived in California in just the sort of spot you are conjuring up as a high ground water fix. But native trees really like spots like that too... and our house had lots of shade, too much shade for most roses. Still, we wouldn't have dreamed of cutting down a tree. We didn't own the house, we like trees, and anyway, removing a tree was illegal without a good reason for a permit where we lived (a Monarch Butterfly preserve). Anyway, we were relative youngsters at the time and didn't know just how wet that property was until our vegetable garden was swimming in water during the winter months. It was fine, fine black silty sand that held on to the water pretty well too. Your post made me think about what we'd do if confronted with your lack of water problems back in California again. What you're doing makes a lot of sense. But I also am wondering whether a bank full of Renaes rambling around might not survive and also keep the weeds down once they proliferated and established themselves? They might take over the other remaining roses, but if you weren't still trying hard to keep those... A bunch of Renaes might not require so much watering once established? I don't think a big crowd of them would look bad at all, depending on personal tastes, of course. In fact, I prefer that kind of look. We've done that crowded thing in a pretty good sized area with azaleas and rhododendrons here; they all grow together and if there's a weed under there somewhere, well, you can't easily penetrate to find or see it. Once in awhile there's a tree sneaking in that will have to be pulled up, but basically it's too shady under all the plant thickness for most weeds to grow. And I adore the looks of those crowded plants! No, we don't have big problems with fungal diseases, even with the crowd. Maybe fewer than average problems, though phytopthera wilt sometimes does require some cutting back of rhododendron limbs. You know a big problem with azaleas and rhododendrons is that they aren't drought tolerant. Well, we have lost huge numbers since our drought problems began big time here around 2001. It's been wonderfully rainy most of the time during the last couple of years, but the next drought period is probably just around the corner... and if we lose some more azaleas and rhododendrons then, well, I'm thinking of trying to establish some Renaes and Annie Laurie McDowells in their place in the relatively sunnier spots... along with some more camellias, which are drought tolerant after the first year. (Though blooming is less than ideal if August and September are dry.) We lost our Annie Laurie McDowell to Rose Rosette Disease last year, but I am figuring that if it's anything like our Renae here, well, it's as no-care, no-worry a plant as any other plant of any kind we've ever had in our yard. Not a touch of blackspot or any other disease here thus far (though that may well change just a bit as we get more shade as the sun angle changes during the fall). Anyway, I'm hoping for another Annie Laurie McDowell eventually too. Ours is a no-spray all-organic yard for everything we grow and Renae fits well into that way of doing things. I think Annie Laurie McDowell will too. I know it hurts to cut back some on what you are able to continue doing, Kim. But I keep thinking mostly about your achievements and how much you have helped so many others in what you have already contributed. Thank you! Best wishes, Mary

When I bought my house 24 years ago, my kids were babies and we had no money for landscaping. The house sat on an acre of dense woods all around, except for the leachfield which was purely sand and had an odd steep slope to it that my kids would use over the years as a sledding hill, toy truck ramp, ski slope, skateboard hill and anything else that prohibited the growing of grass. My then-husband didn't have any interest or ambition concerning gardening or landscaping (just other women) and I was busy raising my babies so the yard remained devoid of anything other than trees, rocks and sand. Fast forward ten years and I got rid of many of the trees, stumps, rocks, the sandpit, and.....the husband. While a single mom of 3, I had even less money than ever, but I had no one to tell me what I could or couldn't do anymore. I wasn't into roses yet at this point but I got to work getting a lawn going, planting perennials that were given to me as divisions from friends, composting, and learning how to operate lawnmovers, chainsaws, leafblowers, etc. I got really strong, both physically and mentally. I pushed a wheelbarrow chock full of rocks up that steep slope, over and over again, until I had enough to make a stone-lined bed for my lilies. When that bed looked wonderful it inspired me to build more, until I soon had many rock beds full of blooming beauties. This being the Granite State rocks are free and plentiful....all thats needed is a truck, a wheelbarrow and a strong back. Just this fall alone I have added yet another 5 rock beds for roses and lilies. I have to buy loam by the truckful because the soil here is too rocky and sandy by itself....but the wonderful thing is that my now-husband is very much a part of my gardening vision and passion. Even though he is a great help to me, he enjoys bragging about his 'Wonder Woman' (as he calls me) when folks stop to admire our little acre of Eden. He says I look my sexiest when I'm digging or hauling rocks, my hair all in my face and up to my neck in mud and mosquitoes. So I accomplish more than having a show-stopping yard and a place of peace and refuge....my husband is proud of me...my kids, now grown, brag about their mom and how strong and fearless and rose-crazy she is....my mom who has Alzheimers and lives with us can sit outside and enjoy the scent of roses and lilies....our neighbors and folks passing by get a little 'lift' to their day enjoying the garden beds by the roadside... and friends of ours can rid themselves of all those darn rocks in their yards! I know that its just a matter of time (and coming soon) before there is absolutely not one inch more of space for me to add anymore gardens. I have managed to cram more plant material into an acre (and still manage to have a few trees left, although the lawn keeps getting smaller...LOL) than anyone would ever have thought possible. I guess I never really planned anything out, it just evolved over time as a mad gardener's addiction to planting and building garden beds....in any available space that had a bit of sunlight. I never really had a vision in my mind, just a passion in my heart that couldn't be denied. And my heart led the way. One garden led to another, and one rose to another...and another. Sometimes even I am amazed when I look at old photos and see the yard as it was so long ago. A long time ago, an acre seemed like a lot of land but now that I have mostly filled it up, it is feeling crowded. But in a wonderful way! I am surrounded by hundreds of roses, lilies, 2 water gardens, shade gardens, berry bushes, statuary, arches and pergolas....and LOVE. I guess that was my vision after all. Celeste