Actually, I grew moonflower 3 years ago. My memory tells me it bloomed around September but it only had 3 blooms. And as far as location is concerned, it was in east side. It grew about 10 feet but skinny. My new moonflower now is very healthy but haven't seen any blooms. We will find out. For morning glory, it's my first time planting it. It's very healthy too but no flowers yet. I'm sure my neighbors are wondering why everyday I'm looking at the same vine. LOL! :D

Beautiful as always, Karin! I do have "plenty" of blue hostas. That's pretty much all I had up until last year, LOL. Yellow ones looked weird to me (like hostas going down for the year), but got a few of those late last year too. We'll see what I still have this year...if/when this snow finally leaves. It's been such a tease, just as it almost melts, more falls to cover everything back up. Sedums emerged quite a while ago, but I think that everything else is still sleeping. All the chipmunks we had in the yard last year has me worried about this year. Those guys were digging all over the place (and the mole wasn't exactly helping either). Anyhow, I probably just keep repeating myself at this point. Hope everyone's doing well and hanging in there for the final stretch of winter.

@cleo > I have a ton of Red Star - happy to send you some. hmm. I have never had good luck through forum email. I just tried and ended in FAIL. I would be very interested in ruffles cherries. please send terms to junk@ponyshow.com I don't have much to offer, I gave most my seeds away this year. @sandy > You forgot about fuzzy tomatoes, a whole new arena for you I have tried a couple of them but forgot to list them as wierd. Which is weird, because they definitely qualify. I am interested in fuzzy Red Boar in particular. I raised a Yellowed Striped Boar. One of the tastiest tomatoes I ever had. I wonder if it's a relation? > And have you tried BROWN tomatoes like Cherokee Chocolate and Brown Berry, Chocolate Cherry and Russian Chocolote? Brown Berry, yes, the others, no. I'll put those 2 on the stack for next year. > How about BLUE/Eggplant purple tomatoes like the OSU Blue? yes, ***VERY*** interested in OSU Blue. Please see above email address to set terms. I also tried Silvery Fur. It is true to its name. pretty neat. @dawncols > Chinese tomato, Burgess Nope, never heard of it. puttig it on the stack for next year, thanks. > Japanese Black Trifele 7 young seedlings in my green house greet you. They say "Hi!" > Zapotec Ok, thats weord enough looking to try. Thanks! > Spoon LOL!!! Good one. Gonna try to squeak them in this year. If not, then next for sure. They are CUTE!!! > Black Cherry--though I don't know if that's weird enough for you. Not really wierd enough, but damn a tasty tomato. I have about 8 in the green house now. 6 are going to friends per demand from last years crop. With a little patience, it will make the best spaghetti sauce ever made.

Worms as environmental wrecking balls is something I read about several years ago. At that time, it was Canadian scientists measuring the massive forest destruction caused by US 'night crawler' worms (as opposed to the Canadian night crawlers, which are presumed to be respectful and polite to the forest floor). The pictures were very telling, but if 'before and after' pictures are all it takes to do science, then late-night infomercials are the pinnacle of scientific enlightenment. I remember a respected worm expert stating that worm bin leachate should be disposed of as hazardous waste because it contains alcohols, phenols, and turpines, or something to that extent. You can buy a substance called humic acid to put in your garden. It's considered to be a healthy product of composting, and a benefit to plants. If you look up humic acid on Wikipedia, you will find: " Substances identified include ... linear alcohols, phenolic acids, and terpenoids.[4]" We all know that earthworms accelerate the breakdown of trash materials into fertile components of soil; and that plants can only absorb nutrients after they've dissolved in water, which can just as easily wash away if there are not enough plants to take it in, or absorbent materials to hold it. The argument that worms degrade the forest environment is usually from the standpoint of a forest without worms or understory growth, and lots of floor debris. Inclusion of worms will change the forest floor just as they do in your worm bin, but you also need to bring the plants that are compatible with the worms. If you don't, the nutrients and soil will very likely wash away. If the worms got there artificially, then the plants that take advantage of them may also need to be brought in. Since worms tend to speed up the breakdown of materials, they support fast growing plants, and animals that go dump in the night. Scientific papers are generally written on very narrow subjects, as it's harder to get published if they include broad statements and subjects. In contrast, a journalist gets their papers published by being interesting, shocking, and scary. Neither publisher benefits from giving the whole story. Though I haven't read the paper on dirt causing global warming, it sounds rather straightforward. I suspect the average gardener would agree that dark soil is preferred for food crops, and that plants require porous soil so the roots can get fresh air. ...well, dark soil - when exposed to the sun - warms up fast, and the dark compost releases carbon dioxide. It sounds like common knowledge that has been republished in a scientific paper and then republished by a journalist, each time exchanging some scientific integrity for political bias. Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia: Humic acid