Hello Everyone, It's been blazing hot down here as well...I started the rain dance but it didn't do much!!! LOL So, I decided to go to Lowes and buy 3 more 5 gallon buckets to keep under the eaves. I have 2 already but I find that I need more with all of this heat. My problem is that my hubby took down all of the gutters several years ago to prevent the wood from roting...This means that during any storm, the rain comes down in strange places. I have figured out where to place the buckets, but I would like to have better control so my neighbors won't freak out everytime we have a storm and watch me run outside to move my buckets around the eaves to collect that good stuff!!! LOL Randy, That sounds like a great idea but the drainage for my air handling units are draining right at ground level and only looks like a few drips per minute. Jim, I like the way you have set up the 35 gallon rubber trash cans..Do you raise the first one up on a table or something first (Then cut a small V) or large V? only to drain into the one slightly (Under/beside). I am curious on how you have yours set up!! Sounds like something I would like to try!!! Could you possibly post a pic or tell me exactly how you set your cans? I would greatly appreciate any help!!! Thank you for your time!!! Laura in VB P.S. My sandals have not left my feet for 3 days now!!! The rubber and my skin are all in one!!! LOL !!! New type of sandals...watch for them on E_Bay!!! LOL!!!

I grow papayas every year. The easiest way is to start the seeds mid summer and when they are less than 4 inches tall move them into large pots, one plant per pot. I overwinter them inside under lights or in my simple hoophouse (which gets down to 40 degrees). The next spring I plant any survivors outside in a mound of potting soil/compost/mulch with lots of slow release fertilizer added to it. Once the summer temps get hot the plants take off and start blooming around now. I've never gotten fruit to ripen fully but you can cook the green ones - tastes like squash. I'm not a huge fan of papaya fruit anyway, but I do like the seeds which taste like radishes. When the weather is really hot and humid you cannot over feed them or over water them if you have them airy compost/mulch-y soil. When you grow them in a pot they can rot if over watered - especially in the winter when they want more intense light and longer days. So I keep them very dry in the winter. You can't let them completely wilt either - they don't always recover. Growing them in fluffy/airy media helps out a lot. Sometimes when mine are first placed outside in the late spring or when first planted in the ground - the leaves will get a speckled look. It eventually goes away with the next flush of leaves. I think it is related to the fertilizer mixed in the water splashing on the leaves. All my tropicals get it that first month outside.

I was trying to get the first book of our new series finished before Halloween. And just made it! FREE on Amazon, today only : ) Hope you all enjoy a wonderful evening of magic and mystery! Maggie McCrae knew her granddaughters were not ready for the legacy she must leave them. The house, the grounds and everything that went with it would now be theirs. She vowed she would do all she could to protect them and hopefully, give them the time they needed to fulfill their destiny. Gabriella and Moira must learn to trust themselves and each other, as they discover the true magic of Burrows Bay. First book in a series. https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Burrows-Bay-Lorri-Moulton-ebook/dp/B01M5G6H3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477943351&sr=8-1&keywords=the+magic+of+burrows+bay

yeah... getting a bit of cabin fever.... with the time change... it's so nice to have light after dinner now! So being 40 yesterday... i decided to turn my compost (4x4x3) bin... Only a few small areas on the edges were frozen. Near the bottom corner when i'm almost done... i get a small scoop of dry material... that was nicely shredded. I've had mice/vole nests before in the compost... but i believe these are moles. I was having mole issues in my front side yard all last year. I caught 2... but one just eluded my trap for the remainder of the year. It set it off too many times to remember... all while making that part of the yard a mess. Then last week my wife sees mole tunnels in the back by the compost... and so here we are. They are living in the grocery store by being in the compost... millions of red wigglers still semi active in the core of the bin. So i stopped turning it... covered the three little dudes back up with a bunch of dry leaves and hope mom comes and takes them away. 'm just giving myself a headache come spring... but these are cute little dudes!