Veilchen, I got an email from you on the 5th of April acknowledging receipt of the Redstart pepper seeds, but nothing after that. With respect to the peppers, it must be something in your soil, or not in your soil. Our garden soil is fairly sandy and well-drained. Do your peppers get full sun? We had a bountiful crop of peppers from only three plants. Peppers definitely can do well here in Maine. Of course, the killing frost ended their productive season. But the day before the frost, we harvested all the good ones and it amounted to nearly half a bushel of peppers that had accumulated after the previous picking. The plants were loaded. We have been picking and eating peppers all summer. Lots of stirfrys. Some in salads and some in slow cooker dishes. A few found their way onto pizza toppings. I'm optimistic about the zinnia cuttings. I do have a 3-shelf fluorescent light setup in the little computer room where I am now, and it can accommodate as many as 12 standard 11" x 22" trays. With its heavy duty 5-inch casters, it is 75 inches high. I have two additional chrome wire shelving units in our breezeway that I can press into service as the plants grow larger. Each chrome wire shelf is 2 feet by 4 feet. I have four shoplights over each shelf and the fixtures on the top shelf are overdriven for the light equivalent of 12 fluorescent tubes for just that one shelf. Overdriving increases the light output by at least 50%. Thanks to them, this room is very well lit. I took 8 trays of cuttings, which should be enough to start with. It appears that those that I took two weeks ago are now rooting. I'm still keeping them under humidity domes until they develop better root systems. I lost a few to bacterial rot, but I am now combating that successfully with Physan 20. I'll be applying a few lessons learned next year. One lesson is: when you first take the cutting, rinse it in diluted Physan solution to disinfect it immediately. MM

I don't think I can answer all your questions. I'm in NH and since we are in a low lying area, we seem to always get a light frost around 9/18. I have a high tunnel and my best tomato and pepper plants are in there. (Didn't realize this was going to be a benefit in summer.) With protection (additional row cover and blankets), they survived that light frost. Last week was summer again and although we got some rain this week, it didn't penetrate much. I see dry dirt in my vegetable beds under a thin layer of moist soil. Last year I have a note that by Oct 26, the flavor of tomatoes was diminished and it was time to let them go. I don't think the ground freezes until much later in the year. I will get my garlic planted before the end of October. I do not expect it to sprout. I would plant bulbs now. I bought 4 shrubs last week at a nursery season closing sale. I think I'm going to put them in a trench until next spring. The new shrub bed hasn't been readied yet. I have a terrible problem with a creeping jenny weed that gets into the vegetable beds if not kept weeded. This means the squash bed is a mass of that weed. That needs to be covered with black plastic. The potatoes were dug last week but I want to save the straw for use in the high tunnel. I'll put grass clippings on the bed. I have a square vegetable bed which essential is two rows plus a path so I plan to dump some kitchen scraps that have been accumulating in a 5 gallon bucket on that bed. I am also increasing the side of some beds by doing some lasagna type layering. Next spring will top those areas with composted horse manure. Need to weed and dig out some overgrown perennials from one bed (or do it in early spring). My circle bed finally got bordered by pavers so I need to finish straigtening out that bed. I have some perennials that need to be planted. I have some tall garden phlox in that bed and they like to take over. I might have the whole bunch dug out and plant the phlox elsewhere where they can spread. Need to think more on this.

Those are beautiful. When I start taking winter closeups like that, I am reminded of how many more words the Eskimos have for snow and ice and winter precipitation. Our language just doesn't do justice to the myriad forms of snow and ice.

Prairie-girl, I know how you feel about not wanting to unpack, because it is easier to maintain a house with breathing room. I'm beginning to realize that if I don't miss it, don't remember I have it, then I can do without it. I never thought of myself as a "collector" or "hoarder" either. But I have a friend who religiously throws out EVERYTHING, and she thinks I keep too much around. It made me self-conscious. So now I box things up and if I cannot remember it, then next time I open the boxes, I weed things out. Most folks could live in one of our smaller homes, and do not need to add on to their home. That was the case with my mother, who added a 20 x 20 building for her craft work, then filled it up and had everything in the house packed too. It sure detracted from her enjoyment of her living spaces. So when I watch DESIGNED TO SELL or the other show with Sabrina Soto on HGTV, the first thing they do is DECLUTTER. But that is to make the home more sellable. It does give a sense of spaciousness. What I'm wanting to achieve is a nice balance between storage and function. I want space enough to store the things that I like to USE, and have them within easy reach. I like to sew but have no good spot to keep projects out unless the house looks ugly. And I like to paint with acrylics and also paint furniture, but you cannot put those things back into a cabinet if you have limited room. When you took the pics of your house and it was cozy and warm, it was probably between projects when everything was put up. Looking nice and working on a project make us all walk a fine line. Hmmmm, I have an idea for a thread, and I'll post it pretty soon. Thanks for giving me the idea, Missy! :)