Thank you jonhughes and jrslick. I'm surprised at the size of the broccoli. With the 18 inch spacing I have done using Green Goliath, I only put out seven plants (would have been eight but the last one didn't grow) - and had 12 pounds, 13 ounces total - or an average of 1 pound 13 1/4 ounces per head. So this does bring up a good question now. As of right now, I have space to put 10 broccoli plants in the garden using the 18-inch method; two in the front garden and eight in the garden that is beside the house. If I change to 12-inches per plant, I can put three (maybe four) in the front garden (where there would have been two) - and put 24 (12 in two rows) in the garden by the house. Provided each of the plants produce one pound each, that would more than double my previous yield - but would almost halve the output per plant. If I do the same spacing with the cauliflower, I could put in 12 (6 in two rows) where I have four. Will be a good experiment this year. Now.. just as long as I have that much space under my 'germination station' to put that many plants. Thank you all.

If you have a 5 gallon bucket and know how large the area is that needs to be watered, it's not too hard to get a time that will accomplish your goals. First, time how long it takes for your hose to fill up a 5 gallon bucket. This gives you the rate at which your irrigation system puts out water. Then, do the math contained in #1 and you're all set. "How Much Water - If nature has not supplied water as rain applying approximately 1 inch of water is a general rule of thumb. This will give deep penetration of the soil to a depth of six to eight inches. One inch of water or rain is equivalent to 623 gallons per 1000 sq. ft. Water should be applied no faster than the soil is able to absorb it. If water begins to run off before one inch is applied, stop sprinkling until it is absorbed and then resume. How long will applying 1 inch of water take? This depends on the size hose, pressure and type of sprinkler being used. There are several methods for determining how much your are applying. 1. Do The Math - Find the gallons per minute (GPM) flow rate of the sprinkler being used from the package of the manufacturer. Multiply the square footage to be watered by .62 gallons or 1 inch of water per square foot. Example: 1000 sq. ft. x .62 gal. = 620 gallons. This tells you how many gallons of water you need to apply to the lawn. Divide that number the GPM of your sprinkler and you can figure how many minutes to water. 2. Collect The Water - Place a cup or glass in the middle of the area covered by your sprinkler, turn water on and watch the time. Measure water in the cup until 1 inch is collected. This is the time you need to sprinkle. The best accuracy is obtained if you use several containers at different places in the sprinkler�s coverage pattern and average the results. 3. Buy A Flow Timer - Often called water timers, these units actually measure water flow. They are calibrated in 100 gallons and can be set from 100 to 1500 gallons to give you the water necessary for the square footage covered by the sprinkler. Use the formula in #1 to figure the gallons needed. 4. Test Soil - Test the soil 6" or more below the surface to make sure it is dry. Turn on your sprinkler and periodically test the soil 6" down until the water has penetrated to that depth. Keep track of how long it took and use that as the time you need to water. Here is a link that might be useful: Watering Needs

.. I've got a bunch of shredded office paper stockpiled. A nearby base is a handy thing at times. A bin of just shredded office paper and grass clippings will reduce to almost nothing. When I get a lot of grass clippings, I'll blend the two at approximately one to one ratio by weight. Great oder control. If you're concerned about a high carbon diet, consider a slow, no turn bin that induces fungal activity. Once you see mushrooms in your bin, you can expect some serious volume reduction and mushrooms really breakdown the high carbon stuff more effectively than strict bacterial action. I don't think you can go too far wrong if you don't stray too far from the 10 percent rule when mixing it into your compost bin. Yeah I know a lot of shredded office paper makes that hard and I stray. As finely shredded as you get, I think you can afford to stray. One thing you'll need to settle for yourself on shredded office paper is the toner. Shredded office paper means laser printers and photocopiers. That means no ink but toner. Toner is a finely ground plastic that behaves nicely to a static charge and then a fuser section in the photocopier or laser printer melts it onto the paper. I've gone through over a hundred Xerox MSDS sheets on toner and they are all non-toxic. However, when I asked Xerox whether they thought it was safe to compost or not, I got a very brief email: 'the paper will breakdown but the toner will not'. I don't like plastic but have made a conscious decision to accept it in shredded office paper. I don't think everyone else would necessarily make the same decision. You need to decide that for yourself. Another thing you may encounter in this shredded paper is if they decide to shred old files, you could end up with some old acetates or those clear plastic sheets they used to use for overhead projectors. That's quite rare now, if at all, but if they have a bunch of boxes that have been sitting around and it's time to to get rid of them you may find some of that junk sprinkled in the big bag of shredded paper. Again I've decided to accept that level of plastic but you may not. Works fine for me. If I had a line on manures, I wouldn't have an excess. I also know that I never know when that resource might just dry up. I use what's on hand as opposed to try and work the best mix possible. two cents ..

you can do... whatever you want to do.. with your plant ... really??? ... whats to lose on a rescue tree.. given up for dead ... e.g. if it dies ... how would you ever attribute said death to the topping.. considering everything else it went thru??? just play with it ... you will learn something.. along the way ... im not sure what at this point what you will learn .... but you will .. lol ... ken