This has been a pretty funny, and interesting thread. It kind of amazes me how different we all are and of course how very different our experiences are on any given day. Raptor, it seems like you have put in some effort and time to try to research how to go about growing these plants but at this point, I would be asking myself if I really wanted to pursue it. What sticks in my mind, is that your original reason to impulsively bring home these plants was to 'save money' growing your own vegetables instead of buying them. I think most of us start out with that intention. Are gardeners really 'saving money' growing their own vegetables? I think I’ll start a new thread on that topic. If you had gotten the plants home and dug a hole in the ground and found great soil then it might have been a piece of cake. Once you dug that hole and found all that thick clay, it becomes more problematic. You can overcome that, for sure, but it will require more effort and time and money. If you have become more interested in the activity of gardening, then it may be worth it for you to pursue it, but if you are only trying to ‘save money’ growing vegetables, it might take an initial investment that would take some time to recoup before you were saving money. I hope you will continue with it and as Lucille said so well, ‘Learning to garden is a process. Chill, read, and join the community here and by next year, you will be ready to grow big bowls of beautiful tomatoes and veggies.’

Speaking of lying in a casket with "all the good stuff" piled around you....one of my favorite possessions is an old concrete water trough that my husband moved here for me from our old place, which had been a dairy. Not exactly an easy feat, mind you. It is just over 10' long and 3 1/2' wide and has 8" thick sides. I love that old trough...was poured with boards for a mold and you can see the faint outline of the wood grain in it, and whoever did it, did a great job and beveled the edge. It is poured with finely crushed oyster shell and green moss grows on it. I go out and lovingly stroke it and splash water onto the moss. Of all my junk, I think I love it the most. I had told my husband I didn't want to be buried when I died...unless I could be buried here on the place. I'm just too "queer", as my mother said about me, to go in a cemetary with all those other people...so I told him, put me in the trough and then pour a layer of concrete over me, and put the waterlilies and water back in. A second idea...put me in the trough, and pile in as much of my old junk as you can, and pour in concrete. Top off with my hundreds of old marbles. What a lovely tomb that would be! :))

I got it immediately. DH didn't get it at all. That's because if I send him to the store and say I want six lemons, he'll come home with three. I know now, if I want three lemons, I ask for six. Never fails, he'll come home with three which is what I wanted. Littlebug, Laughed at the bunch of onions even though it would never happen here. Paula, I've seen that video many times and never tire of it. It's hilarious.

Rosemary, you need to be on Internet Explorer and then download Smiley Central to your toolbar. This is the way it works for me...When you want to add a smilie to your post, find the one you want, click on it, and then a message will appear that says OOPS...click on #2 and then click the button to copy the HTML, I also have to click to allow access to my clipboard, then I use the Ctrl and V and click in my post to insert it. When you do your preview you should see the smilie if you did it right. Let me know if it works for you! Barb