It depends. In some soils kalium washes out about as fast as nitrogen, and needs to be added regularly. Liquid seaweed is great for the roses, but needs to be added several times a year in soils where nutrients easily washes out. A foliar spray is not enough at all, it needs to be added to soil in sufficient quantities. Your soil will hold nutrients better if you add seaweed meal (ground dried seaweed) and other solid organic fertilizers like chicken pellets. Some chicken fertilizers are composted before pelleted and have a higher kalium ratio than others. These are probably the best for your soil. Any solid, fertilzer with about as much kalium as nitrogen will be good for your soil. I prefer the organic ones.

Even though we do get a little colder than you do in the bay area (I'm in the San Joaquin Valley), our fall colors are just showing up as well. Our trees don't always go completely decidious. Crabapples and Liquidambar for example, rarely go through winter without holding many green leaves. i don't have any large trees, but I do have some "fall colors", although they aren't the typical colors we immediately think of when we think of falltime. Arbutus Marina Lots of citrus! I had to use forked sticks to hold up the branches because they are so heavy!

It's not so much that there are herbs that won't survive, it's just a bit late to be sowing, I would think. I haven't tried a whole lot of herbs, but I do have oregano and thyme that overwinter fine, and I'm sure there are other perennial herbs. I will say, though, that I've never tried to actually harvest them in the winter. I cut some in late fall and dry them for winter use. Hmm, maybe this year I'll do a bit of experimenting... I have overwintered parsley in a cold frame, and harvested that throughout the winter, but it was definitely started much earlier than now. (Pardon a bit of promotion here, but the Plumb Library in Shelton is presenting a speaker on cold frames this Wednesday. I see you are in Redding. You could certainly come down and see what you can grow through the winter in cold frames, if you are interested. If so, just be sure to register.) Otherwise, if you really wanted to start them now, I would do as Deb says and bring them indoors for winter. Good luck! :) Dee

What great ideas for using my electric roaster-which I haven't even used yet!!! Yes the liners are great. The only place I have been able to find them is at a resturant supply store and you have to buy a case. Our church buys a case and then sells them to whoever-$1.10 each for the 18# roasters.Works good for me. Again I want to thank all you good people for your help. Now, I have a question-why do I have to type in my password and user name every time I want to post a follow-up here? Yes, I check the box to keep it on the computer.