GardenMan, I created an account on PhotoBucket and when I want to show a picture in the forum I just cust and paste into the Message the entire line that is in the "HTML Code" row. (You will see how your photo shows when you click Preview Message.) Goatster, I have continued to put bagged leaves collected between Thanksgiving and Christmas over my entire garden. I till these in when they decompose. My garden is full of earthworms as a result. To feed, I do have to add an occasional "tweak" with 13-13-13.

ginny, 40's will be cold enough to winter sow. If you were sowing perennial seeds that need a period of moist chill before they will germinate indoors and not outside, you'd be using your refrigerator, which should be set somewhere between 35 & 40. The fluctuating temps between day and night doesn't hurt them one bit, in fact it can help. I'm a wet zone 8, and we don't have snow every year - what I can count on is plenty of rain. My day/night temps over the last week and forecast for the coming week will average out to approx 40 - works fine. The difference I see is where I never have to worry about moisture (but the opposite, my drainage in my containers has to be top notch), you may find yourself watering your containers in your climate type z8 to make sure they don't become overly dry.

I've seen a big bag of perlite at Ace Hardware but that's in Dallas. Call them and find out. I'm not too fond of vermiculite though. Another alternative is NAPA store #8822 product which is diatomaceous earth. Surprisingly light for a rock. Have to filter out fine stuff though.

I'm in one 7b (Raleigh NC) and my pineapple guavas freeze all the way back to the ground when the winters get down into the single digits (the last two winters have). So you can't expect a decent crop every year. Some years they don't even bloom. I have one planted up against the brick wall of the house and it does much better and fruits every year. I have both fuzzy and hardy kiwis and they do fine. My fuzzy vines when they get big and thick will sometimes suffer damage in the spring when the temps are frozen but the sun is shining on to the exposed bark. Don't plant them if you don't enjoy pruning. I prune mine hard every month during the warm parts of the year.