Like others, my masdies struggle this time of year. My grow room can hit upper 80's to low 90's if it is really hot outside and I keep all of the lights cranking all day. We're currently hitting our first really hot spells of this summer and I have started turning off some of the hotter lights at noon on brutally hot days (+85F), I figure they'd do better with a little less light than the 90+ temps. FWIW: I grow all of my masdies in fine bark in clay pots, which are then put inside of larger clay pots. I then stuff spagh in between the 2 pots and soak the spagh 2x a week and mist the outer pots and root zones once a day, this really seems to help keep the roots much cooler in my environment. Brooke, I have a Angle Tang that is 6-7 years old that has at least 100 leaves and has had as many as 15-20 blooming spikes at a time. It is the ugliest plant; black tipped leaves, half dead leaves, etc... but it really puts on a nice flower show throughout the year, I'd be ashamed to take a picture ;-) My 4-5 others masies aren't quite as bad and my tovernasis (sp?) doesn't show much sign of the fert burn that the others exhibit. I'd reckon' it probably depends on the particular variety as far as how well/much they can take fert??? Bob

Marion and Iris jupiter plants is bringing 3 Kat Ginny Fern and ( hubby?) Gayle and Lee Sharon Jerry and maybe friend Sylvia (are you still on?) WHO am I missing?May have a neighbor or two or .......

I'd want to live near to my work so I could bike or walk there. That is, unless I'm telecommuting or even supporting myself from my garden (the best, of course, but with my back may not be practical). My house would be made of cob and be solar powered or powered by a mini-watermill. My water would come from a natural spring. All the runoff would be collected and used in the summer, and I'd have composting toilets that would also be used in the garden. A greenhouse would be attached to the house so it would share the heat of the house (if the house was heated, that is), where I'd grow as tropical of edible plants as I could (mainly lemons, ginger and bananas). I would have wormbins near the kitchen door for scraps and compost bins for garden waste. I'd love to have a shredder, but I'm not sure how I'd power it (solar, biodiesel, or petal-powered?). The vegetable garden would make up the central part of the yard. It would be broken up into 1/3 legumes, 1/3 leaf and fruit crops, and 1/3 root and grain crops that would be on a 3-year rotation. I would also try to have it 70% seed crops, 20% root crops, and 10% other stuff. And of course rotating the botanical families as well. Sounds complicated, but I think it could be done (or at least approximated). It would be managed in an organic, intensive, low-till way. I would try to keep it pretty clean, however, to discourage slugs. It would be bordered by a perennial edibles garden, including fruit, edible flowers and herbs. Plenty of edible natives would be included for myself and for the birds and bees. Both the perennial edibles and natives would be left messy to encourage a diversity of insects. A separate bed would have medicinal plants and other useful plants like ones for fiber, dyes, soap, and preservatives. Another small bed would have plants for fresh and dried bouquets. Since these aren't edible, they would be separate from the edible part of the garden. I would not allow weeds to run rampant, and I'd be careful what I plant, because some are very invasive and endanger native species. Invasive species (both animals and plants) have endangered almost 40% of endangered species in the US. Most of them were originally deliberately introduced. St. John's wort and comfrey are two very invasive plants that are commonly used in permaculture books that I would never plant or encourage. Having shade in the perennial areas and keeping the vegetable beds covered with crops would keep them to a minimum. A few weeds would be allowed though, if they were particularly useful and were not very aggressive. I would also have chickens near the house, which of course I'd use in the garden in chicken tractors, and sheep or goats in a little pasture (perhaps under fruit trees) for their meat, milk, and fiber. Who knows how much space this would take up...I'd try to make it as small as I could...

Terri, Thank you for your reply and I have added your favorite garlic to my list for next year. I received an email from one of the CF members who very kindly sent me a wonderful link that I had not found in all my garlic searches. I was blown away by all the different varieties of garlic available! I have already placed my order for this year and it will be shipped this week. I look forward to having really fresh garlic for the very first time. I hope it is as juicy as the beautiful garlic that ann-t posted earlier. Jessica, I have several times planted some of the sprouted garlic and was disappointed when it just disappeared never to be seen again. I was surprised that even the stuff I tossed onto the compost never grew as I have had herb, flower and tomato plants pop up in the compost. I finally decided I needed to get a totally different kind of garlic if I wanted to grow and harvest it successfully. I posted here because I read the cooking forum on a fairly regular basis as I donÂt get to spend much time on the forums and I spend even less time on the garden side. Most of my computer time is at night and it is limited. Today I just have about 30 mins for this gardenweb visit before going to work. So the cooking forum is about the only one I visit. Thank you both for your replies. Kat