Ok, It's way better than that. Folks, as well as the end result, it's always the process that is so much fun. Now that I have drip irrigation, keeping up with their h2o needs is a lot easier. The granualated sulfur is doing it's thing, and I'm figuring out where my sweet spots are. Previous burn piles. I sulfur the hell out of them and give them some ammonium sulfate/kelp/and mollasses and water it in I'll be eating for a while. The Blue Jays are the sweetest. Dukes are sort of bland. Bluecrop is still a lil tart, Draper is very different, almost perfumey. Mmm. My Elliotts will be ready soon by the looks of it. September berry in July? I'm spotting some marks on my green berries and see a little maggots. I guess I could spray w/BT, but I'm just resorting to visuals for now. I only have 300 plants, so as I munch I watch.

Charleney, I'm sorry to hear about your illness and ailing roses and hope you are both better soon. First thought here is that you might not have done your roses a favor by putting coffee grounds on them. I once did that to a healthy azalea and it _suffered_ very noticeably. If you want to use coffee grounds, I'd suggest doing it only for plants in the ground where its impact would be less concentrated, and also not putting very much at all at one time on any one plant. I know I've seen threads where people rave about coffee grounds on roses, but I'd go easy, easy on that, given what I know for sure its impact was on my azalea. I may have overdone the coffee grounds thing here when I tried it; perhaps just a thin scatter thrown out once or twice a year would have caused no harm at all. Anyway, you might consider scraping off some or most of the coffee grounds if what you put there was a heavy application. Grs An Aachen will do well even without enough sun, so your overcast weather is probably not responsible for its problems. It's a little leggy with too much shade, but nothing like a one-cane thing, and still very healthy. And the cold probably doesn't account for its problems either unless your winter was a lot worse than ours was; all three of our Grüss An Aachens have been absolutely cane hardy here with temperatures down to 11, 12, 13 degrees this exceptionally cold winter. They look wonderful now and I already see at least one flower bud. I don't know what MMM clone is, but would guess that just making sure the soil has a good organic component in its composition would be all that you'd need to do if it's acidic enough. We had something like your problem happen here when a rose was planted in a spot that was elevated but not nearly enough for our low clay soil in that area of the yard, given the unusually wet year we had last year. With really wet soil starting just maybe 8-10 inches down, there's so little dirt at a level where the roses' roots can function that the rose doesn't have the strength to send up a normal number of canes. Perhaps your wet weather was a problem because the growing spot is less than ideally elevated for good drainage in wet times? If that's the problem, just getting the roses into a well-drained pot situation ought to fix them up very soon, if you don't do anything to the soil in the pot to stress the roses further. Of the two roses we had in an insufficiently elevated spot, the one ailing the most recovered quickly as soon as it was moved to a pot with nothing more than normal organic materials incorporated into the dirt. However, the one that seemed less threatened didn't get moved right away, and with one thing and another, we didn't get around to moving it until a couple of months later, after it was too late. But the one we moved quickly enough recovered beautifully and survived the winter in perfect condition. It looks wonderfully healthy now. Fingers crossed for you now that you have that good luck with yours too! Best wishes, Mary P.S. The roses are counting on the few leaves they have remaining to get the strength they need for sending out new roots; don't cut any of that growth off now! You can always trim them later, after the roses recover, if you want to shape their form then.

Hahaha...poor Ill-Man! Glad you were able to handle the problem. Catbirds and Mockers (their cousins) do LOVE fruit, for sure. If it is any consolation, the catbird should be gone soon. April is about as late as they stay in this part of the state...usually. (I'm adding that disclaimer, because lately, birds seem to be disregarding the rules now and then!) Catbirds winter here, where mockers stay all year. Yours should be handing his fruit patroling duties over to his cousins any day now. Marcia

Here ya go Carol.... Chipotle Lemon Chicken Source of Recipe CF-Marigene 2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts ½ teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper ½ teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika ½ cup flour 4 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup olive oil 1 cup dry white wine Juice of ½ lemon 1 cup chicken broth 8 lemon slices Chopped fresh parsley for garnish Place chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap. Gently pound with a rubber mallet until quarter to half inch thick. Combine salt, ground chipotle chile pepper and paprika. Sprinkle evenly on both sides of chicken pieces. Dredge seasoned chicken in flour, tapping off any excess, so it is lightly coated. Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat until hot. Add butter and olive oil. When oil is sizzling, add chicken and cook until lightly golden on each side, turning one time only. Set chicken aside and keep warm. Add the white wine and lemon juice to the pan juices, scraping all of the browned bits and bring to a boil. Cook over high heat about 3 minutes until reduced. Then add chicken broth and reduce again, another 3 minutes. Return chicken to the pan along with 4 lemon slices, burying the lemon in the sauce. Simmer an additional 5 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with additional lemon slices and pan gravy. Note: Next time I will add either more of the chipotle powder or add 1 chopped canned chipotle to the sauce. We like heat. Nancy