Our club has a greenhouse with natural light where we will plant tomatoes in sixpack cells the 7th of March. The cells are on heat mats at 70 degrees. Three weeks later on March 28 they will be transplanted into 5 inch pots, still in the greenhouse, but off the heat mats. Three and a half weeks later they will be sold. We sell 1500 to 1800 per year, with around 50 varieties. I hope our experience may be some help to you. Each cell is sown with two seeds, the excess is snipped off at soil level. We seldom have any vacant cells. As a non profit we get old seeds donated, which work very well. Al

Here, in Coastal S. Carolina, our MG chapter (Grand Strand Master Gardener Assn.) is presently building a "Carolina Fence Garden" (see http://www.scwf.org/articles/index.php?view=43 for more info), in conjunction with a middle school. The kids are doing ALL (well, almost all; we won't allow them to use "sharp tools", or to bust up the concrete left over from the school costruction, etc.) of the work, and did all of the design. The math classes did all of the calculations (area, amout of fencing to obtain, amount of concrete for the fence post holes, amount of mulch, etc.); the language arts classes "articulated" the project and are journaling the progress; the science classes studied the plants/soil/climate/ exposure; the visual arts classes did the artistic renderings, and so on. MGs did the "shopping" and material acquisition. We started near the end of last school year with the "heavy lifting" (grading, tilling, mulching, fence building), and let it "rest" over the summer. This week, we restarted the project, (hurricane season is now over, here) with planting of shrubs, trees and flowers. All of the money for this project came from grants, with a few donations, including an irrigation system by a parent, and the tilling/grading by a MG with equipment. MGs supervise and teach (we held an impromptu class on how to stake trees)and the kids do the work. Usually, there is 1 MG working with a group of 3 - 5 kids, in OJT: plant placement (why this plant should be here rather than there); digging holes for plants (proper dimensions and depth); mulching (amount and placement); backfilling, and watering-in. These kids have been GREAT! Most are highly motivated, and when questioned, express high interest in this project. Yesterday, I worked with Aaron and Vanessa, resetting some fence posts (blown over by the last 'cane to go through here) and they got right in the mud and got the job done! The school administration is SUPERB and 100% with us; they have provided refreshments and lunches for the volunteers, and the teachers are right there with their students. Many kids & teachers bring cameras to photo the progress and kids at work. We have another project in the planning stages - - a large butterfly garden in another area of the school grounds. A successful project depends on ALL of these things, but mostly INTEREST, TIME, and ENERGY of ALL parties: kids, MGs, school administration, even parents.

I keep asking and do not get an answer. When did school become no more important than goign to the corner hang out? All this uniform talk is because students today look like street walkers or hoodlums. They disrespect themselves and their school walking around with all their cracks showing, underwear hanging out, hats on..School is not the mall!! Dress codes are fraught with danger. Who will enforce who will not, what is too short/long/low blah blah blah. A uniform ends all the debate. Back in the day students dressed up to go to school. Now they dress like they are goign to the beach. We just passed a bond to build a new school. Our school will look like several million bucks while our students all look like two bit trailer trash.

Thanks Ceph for bringing up a point that I thought about last night as we were going to pick her up. She does feel anxious about everything that's going on in her life and gets confused. We also discussed that SD may have also been told, "don't tell daddy I picked you up early". Then, SD is going to be keeping a secret, which might make her feel guilty. And that's not fair to her, especially since it isn't a big deal to DH. (or at least not something he's going to call BM on this time) DH is going to let the school know to contact him in the future if anyone tries to pick up SD early. She's in the third grade and part of the reason she's struggling, is because when she was in the 2nd grade, we discovered that her mom was doing homework for her. BM was into taekwondo and signed up SD to go with her. One of the things she was asked to do, was bring in her report cards because they stress the importance of education, among other things in martial arts. BM would "help" her by doing the ones she didn't get so she would have it done. This year, when she started 3rd grade, she was completely lost and I spend at least an hour or two every night working on getting caught up. She's finally getting most of it now, so that is part of why her attendance is so important to us. The only days she's missed this year are due to coming home from BM's sick. I know kids get sick, but BM doesn't make her wear shoes outside or a coat when it's cold. She's also gaining a lot of weight again and her pants are not fitting her. Last night when we picked her up, SD was flopped on the couch eating corndogs while watching a movie. She's constantly saying she's hungry (she said it as soon as we got home) and in our house, she gets three meals and a couple of healthy snacks. We also control her portions and sit at the table to eat. While we don't agree with BM's way, it's her house and we don't say anything. It's just sad that she doesn't care. When SD was in 2nd grade, she was pretty overweight (as in prior years too) and when she moved in here, she would come home from school and cry because kids were teasing her. I made a few changes while she was at our house. I stopped giving her soda and started giving her only milk, juice or water. Her mom promptly called DH to complain about that. I also cook all the meals so I made sure she had healthy meals and appropriate portions. I also took away her video games and gave her toys to play with outside, so she can run around and exercise. Mom also complained about that. By the end of summer, she had slimmed down and was wearing normal sizes. (the prior year, all her pants had to be cut short or capri because to fit on her belly, normal pants were too long) I had weight issues as a kid and I know how painful it is to be teased. Every time she's at her moms for a significant amount of time, she gains a lot of weight. Her mom doesn't cook so they eat out a lot or prepackaged foods. DH has tried to explain to BM that SD struggles with her weight. She's only 8 and this will affect her the rest of her life.