Hi Edie........I've never fertilized the cucumbers. Maybe that's the problem. What kind of fertilizer to they need?They are outside for the bees to come around. I think I do have flowers without little cucumbers attached. I have 5 plants in a large pot. One plant was started inside and did OK for the transplant. The others were put in later. It's the transplanted one that's having the problem. It is the biggest of course. I've been removing the sickly looking leaves from the tomatoes. I'm not getting many flowers. I have Roma and Cherry. I think it's the Roma that have a few small fruits now. They are also in a container. I'm concerned that I've put too many plants in the container. I think there are 3 roma and 3 cherry in there. The container is 1.5 to 2 feet diameter and about as tall. I'm also concerned I have been watering the cucumbers too much. I thought they needed lots of water. The tomatoes get less water. Every day or two I water the cukes if there has been no rain. Not as much for the tomatoes. Thanks for your response Edie. Every little bit of help is good for me. I haven't had a yard for years so this is the first year I've tried to plant. My seedlings got pretty leggy due to lack of light I think. I got a light for them after they were well underway. I'll know better next year and start everything with a light from the beginning.

I think a lot of it comes down to why we "need to know" whatever. To advise of the tragedy is newsworthy only in its exceptionalism, and that could have been summed up in a 1-sentence soundbite repeated ad infinitum, ad vomitum. And that's pretty much what happened. More info can be categorized: who did what to whom, when and where. And let's be honest - "Why" is invariably speculative, becoming informative only well after the event -- consider the news reports about Hitler at 1-year intervals. "Why" has no place in the immediacy, and is of use only to those can study it after the event. The general public does not have the training, skills, knowledge or interest to actually make use of any determination of "why". Unless we are in the vicinity and have the needed skills to assist the authorities, we certainly don't "need" to know tragic or horrific details on a minute-by-minute basis. And if we do need those details, news teams are unlikely to provide am acceptable means of communication of the required information. The rest of us fall into the categories of being involved and/or being an observer. Involvment means you are personally connected to one of the victims -- and I don't mean living in the same home state, I mean you actually know the person. People who are involved would have been grateful for specific information regarding the victims, both in learning who was injured or killed; or confirming that the known person was safe. In this category, public media could have been useful, but I found the publicized information was scanty and late in being delivered. Non-involved observers do NOT have a "need" to know. The media can pander to their morbid curiosity and demands, but catering to inquisitive ghouls is sensationalism and neither admirable or necessary.

ssfkat, I am doing seeds for the first time in my life (pretty much newbie to ALL gardening except for house plants), and my seeds are doing the same thing. Some of them started sprouting in just a couple of days, to my great surprise and delight. I'm in California's Central Valley, and we've had some very lovely sunshine-y days and nighttime temps in the upper 30s and low 40s. I have the tray in our sleeping porch - LOTS of light and sunshine, with windows all around, and I can open one window up during the day. It's been getting really warm out there in the middle of the day, although we're supposed to get a cold storm tonight or tomorrow. My seeds are all from Seeds of Change, an organic mail order company, except for one row: lobelia, which I found at Lowe's and planted just the day after the others. It hasn't come up yet, but there's still plenty of time. I planted them all in one of those trays with plugs in them (composted bark fiber "inoculated with beneficial microorganisms") that I ordered from the same place. I keep telling myself "So far, so good", because I've been reading about "damping-off", etc., and realize that there are still a lot of things that could go wrong. Also we had a terrible and prolonged cold snap earlier this year, very unusual, so I feel like anything could happen weather-wise. Nevertheless, I got SO EXCITED when I saw them coming up! I have to restrain myself from going out there every hour on the hour to look at them. Hurrah for Spring!!

It has been beautiful here the past few days,but too hot for tender seedlings and old widowed women. I sat some plants out by the front door (purchased plants, WS seedlings, and bulbs that didn't quite get the care they needed during their stay in the garage over winter)and to my dismay, or shock, when I stepped outside they all looked like they had been plopped down in the middle of the Sahara Desert not the middle of the Appalachian Mountains! It's hot. And let me add, I am one that has been whining about how cold it has been lately. So we go from what felt like freezing to this?? They are calling for rain/thunderstorms starting Wednesday, and that is fine by me. I only wish I had my plants out in the garden before then, but doubt it. Somebody pass me the Pina Colada, or Margarita, or whatever the popular beach/hot weather drink is!