Fruitnut, I look forward to your evaluations. Always informative. I was looking at Red Raspberry... Have you ever tried Old Mixon? Here am I Mr. Tart, getting a sweeter than candy white! The world appears upside down!? Here's some historic info on Old Mixon In 1807 Timothy Matlack sent Jefferson cuttings of both the "much boasted" Oldmixon Cling peach and Oldmixon Free, "a fine peach." They differ in the way the flesh adheres to the stone. The Oldmixon Cling ranked second only to the Heath Cling in the praise it received from pomologists. The tree's origin is attributed to John Oldmixon, author of The British Empire in America, 1741, and it rivals the Heath as the oldest named American peach. The Free variety originated very early in the nineteenth century from a seedling of the cling, and by 1811 it was list by the Landreth nursery of Philadelphia. The juice of the Oldmixon peaches is uncommonly candy-sweet. Text adapted from Fruit and Fruit Trees of Monticello by Peter J. Hatch

Welcome, Mogo, and thanx for the suggestions. Advice on overseeding if you like....... 1. Get a soil test. Call your nearest county extension service for a test kit and sampling instructions. It will likely take two weeks for results. If you need to apply sulfur, lime, or any other amendment per test recommendation (that is not applied in Step 5), you can do it after seeding if you don't get results back in time. 2. Mow to within one and half inches, but mow it down gradually. Cut off 1/3 the grass blade and another 1/3 three or four days later. Repeat if necessary. 3. Rake it up 4. Core aerate or cheat and apply Nitron A-35 to relieve soil compaction. 5. Fertilize 6. Sow seeds (slit seeding is best) 7. Topdress 1/4 inch layer compost, peat moss, or clean straw (weed-free). (One cu. yard/1000 sqft). 8. water 15-20 minutes twice a day for two weeks water 20-30 minutes once a day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day every other day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day twice a week for one week move into deep irrigation, increasing the time to provide 1 inch of water all over and decreasing the frequency to just once a week. Starting off, the schedule supplies roughly 1/4 inch of water, then increases that amount while decreasing frequency of application at the same time. Like practically everything that concerns lawn care, this schedule is a general guideline and should be modified to accommodate your specific conditions. The lengths of time should be modified if you have an automatic sprinkler system since that will not take as long to provide adequate moisture. So, decrease amount of water (time) but maintain frequency as is. The tuna cans test is recommended. If it is still especially warm, you may want to irrigate 3 times a day (10-15 minutes if necessary) for that first couple weeks. Your objective is to keep the upper 1 inch of soil moist and not let the seeds dry out. 9. First mowing is when the new grass reaches two inches. However, the existing grass will be considerably taller. To prevent damage to the old and new grass, you'll have to mow down gradually again to the point of mowing 1/3 off the new grass. You do want to get the new grass mowed early at this time in order to promote tillering. Then, you want to gradually raise the mowing height to desired length of 2.5 inches. Higher if you prefer.

Well what a great report from you, pitimpinai!! The last I heard you were still very low in energy and still on a ton of medication and little appetite, and listen to you, helping the neighbor till up a lawn! LOL What a nice neighbor you were to plant tomatoes and Dahlias. :-) I am happy to hear that you've also benefited from a shorter work day. Great that you had all that time off saved up. I bet you really needed it to get your energy back. We have gotten pretty much back to what is normal for us here. The weather has been stupendous in the past month! I have never seen the cover crop in the veggie beds so high. We've also gotten all the leaves mowed and collected in bins, ours and three neighbors. [g] We have gotten somewhat cleaned up for the year in the garden, but I keep adding to my list of what I want to get done before the weather turns. Still have a small amount of bulbs to plant and three shrubs to get in the ground, some pots to clean and put away and that will just about do it. I am actually looking forward to a break from the garden. Not that we don't get outside and enjoy it, but it's nice this time of year, to focus on other things. During the gardening season, the garden seems to push out other priorities. [g] I enjoy the winter garden and by the time spring comes, I am just itching to get back to a new growing season. Glad you are able to enjoy gardening again and hope you stay well this winter! :-)

Thanks RiverRat--she knows that I travel with my chopper. I didn't chime in on this as I don't have hints on even onion slices other than be careful. I do use a finger guard-I can't find the exact item online but it's a thick silicone strip holding the stainless steel finger protectors together. I haven't (knocking on wood) drawn blood with my super sharp slicer, see link below. It's pricey but I was fortunate to get it from a neighborhood garage sale still in the box. For chopping, I use an older version of the Nicer Dicer. It's still kicking and I use it several times a week. Beau loves it because you have to give it a karate chop to cube the onions or whatever is being chopped. A tip is to wet the blades before your first chop. Here is a link that might be useful: Slicer