Thanks for the welcomes. I will have to get pics when I get my new camera. My other found its way into the ocean somehow. The 2 year old does not know how it happened. LOL!

I'm sorry to say that I'm not a veggie grower, I stick to pretty flowers, so I can't speak from personal experience. But other wintersowers grow all kinds of vegetables, with great success. They grow about any all all tomatoes and some don't plant them until spring. You need not feel rushed to plant on the solstice as some of us "wintersow" all year 'round. Basically it involves using the same recyclable containers, the same method, and planting at times other than winter, too. For me, I have only done flowers. Most of us begin in winter with perennials and hardy annuals, waiting until spring for very tender things like zinnias. It works extremely well and in spring we have literally thousands of seedlings. We have our own seed exchange, linked just above the threads on page 1 of the forum. See Trudi's offer listed there Stick around and some expert will come along to help you. Welcome to the forum, we're happy to have you. Karen Here is a link that might be useful: Trudi's offer

it really can. you have to get a fairly big clump of it to really interfere with a healthy herb garden...but basil definately doesn't like the artemesias, much like rue. I tend to plant all the 'astringent' herbs together (rosemary, wormwood, lavander, curry plant) because they like the same treatment (miserable- they're all dry hillside growers in nature) but some of them also make good border plants - a ring of wormwood with a ring of old school marigolds inside will make a decent barrier to most pests.

I can't help much but can try. This type of lilies like almost full sun. Even 6 hours and mine tend to lean. Daylilies will do fine in part shade even in less than 6 hrs full sun, for some and for me anyway. The only lily I have that prefers dappled shade is Mrs. R. O. Backhouse, and she grows straight. None of my others do unless they get almost total full sun. They all lean, some a little and some a lot, stake some of them to make them behave better but can't stake them all. My Regals are on the east side and do not get enough sun at all. They lean all the way to the ground, and I'm probably going to lose them. I stake what I can, and think I risk piercing a bulb when I do, but they are delicate and tops break off too easily, the ones with longer, thin, and feathery leaves, lots of them. In spite of it they bloomed beautifully last year, but very sparsely this year. Deer? I think so but not sure. Other critters will eat the tops off which spoils them for the season, some will eat most of the plant. I use liquid fence on mine fearing squirrels and coons and anything else but see that I'm not going to have to do it for all of them, haven't had any problems that way. Deer are two blocks away, so there is always a chance for that. I will have to see for sure if there is any deterrant short of a double fence, won't have that. I think I know which pink you are talking about because I saw a real beauty, too, but likely it, too, will prefer almost total full sun to grow well. Except when I forgot, I stirred one teaspoon of bone meal into the soil in the bottom, planted all with a bulb planter and not as deep as the Regals for which I used the augur on my drill because I had read that to keep them safer from being dug up by something that wants to eat the bulb, plant them 9 inches. That is too much, and I will not do that again. The only other tip I got was a poster here, and I have done it only once was sprinkle them leaves and all with liquid kelp diluted properly per directions on container. It's organic I believe and safe, but shouldn't apply it in full sun or when it is too hot. I waited for an overcast day. I got mine through my rose club here, so much, don't know how I'll ever use it all up, highly concentrated liquid. I see Burpee has some on their website, but it looks like it might be granular which would be fine so long as you dissolve it completely. I think some use Miracle Gro (regular) on them, but I haven't yet. To get that to dissolve right, I start the first quart with a little warm water, stir well, then add more quarts of cold water, stir again until I have what it says on the box. Then it will keep for a little while if you don't use it all up in a cool place, not in the fridge. Maybe another poster can verify my suggestions, add some more esp for deer, and correct anything I said that was wrong, don't want to mislead you in any way. I would especially like to know myself if there are any more named varieties that will grow straight without leaning in part shade. My sister in MN can't grow this type of lilies at all, not because of the cold, but because no matter what she has tried, something keeps eating and ruining them, and think she doesn't have a deer problem but could. I will remind her again about liquid fence reapplied after every rain or at least regularly, darn stuff is expensive and smells awful but doesn't when dry, worth it to me. Maybe there is something else that would work. One good thing is that some get stepped on or mowed off, may come back anyway, but if the stem isn't totally broken, I stake them and they heal. Don't cut the foliage back until it browns in late summer or early fall. They need it to replenish the bulbs.