if you are new to the garden you may want to check your seed packets (you probably saved them) and find out if your plants are annual or perennial or biennial. If they are annual and most vegetables, they will bloom the first year, but don't be disappointed if they are perennial and or biennial and they don't bloom the first year..some of them take at least 2 years to bloom from seed..and biennials will die after they bloom, but they make tons of seeds so you can replant those and get blooms every 2 years from them. For blooms of those every year, plant seeds every year for a few years, and then you'll have them blooming every year..I have done that with mine, esp the hollyhocks bloom every year for me now, but some of mine still only bloom every other year..still need to get seeds to put in in the inbetween years for those.. My favorite black hollyhock called "watchman"

Agree also about God's will. Plenty happens that is NOT His will---because WE have the free will to do as we please. It is the discernment of His will that is the difficult part... trying to figure out which path or action would best serve that will.... and those are usually found by following the commandments, the golden rule, etc. By acting in accordance with those tenets we have a better chance of placing our actions in God's will than by doing whatever we damn well please, regardless of the consequences. I know many people think religion useless, but I am a pragmatist and think quite the opposite. If a person is truly trying to live in accordance to God's will, by looking carefully at his or her actions in the light of the commandments and the example lived by Jesus (or Buddha, or other revered prophets), that process makes the person a better citizen and improves our society.

Dingy whites. I think it's better to figure out the cause before you execute a "cure". Dingy whites is often from not enough detergent, too much detergent and a build-up from not rinsing out of the clothes, and/or a combination of hard water and detergent build-up. Since using Charlie's Soap, I don't have a problem with detergent build-up, so I don't have dingy whites. You can check Charlie's Soap web site for tests done on detergent build-up in fabrics. It's pretty interesting.... If your whites are dingy from soap/detergent build-up, here's an "old-fashioned method" to whiten dingy whites I found in a Cooperative Extension Service laundry guide sheet from New Mexico State University. Wash the dingy whites in HOT water (NO detergent) adding enough water softener product to make the water feel slippery (about 1-cup in a TL). If the water becomes sudsy, the clothes were not rinsed enough, causing the whites to become dingy from soap scum build-up. Wash them again adding ONLY water softener. If the clothes do not whiten, add soap or detergent and rewash. Hanging whites out in sunshine will also whiten them, without the need for harsh chemicals that can damage fabrics. Sparkling white clothes - yet another benefit from line-drying clothes outside. Hydrogen peroxide is another add-in for whites, but I never use it. On rare occasions I have added some Cascade Dishwasher Detergent to a load of whites as a laundry booster for the enzymes and phosphates found in the Cascade. I've successfully used this method, and a long soak, on really dirty laundry from yard work, including ground-in dirt and grass stains - especially on white cotton socks. I can't use bleach in our water because the minerals react with the bleach and causes whites to yellow, and it's really hard on fabrics. Add-ins, like bluing, are only an optical illusion and actually don't whiten anything. That shade of blue tricks the eye into thinking the color is vibrant white. I'm the white T-shirt queen, some are REALLY old, and still worn daily for work-out clothes, gardening, etc.... All of them are all nice and white - just using Charlie's Soap. -Grainlady

Thanks sandn and everyone else who sent good wishes!!!! The Johnny Letter skit -- quite apt! I've always been this tiny little woman with glasses and an English degree -- if someone were playing me in a movie it would have to be a cross between Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Emily Dickinson -- I could identify with Johnny Letter . . .Thanks!