It just helps in getting a higher germination rate, which is critical for the nursery grower. For the home gardener it simply means over-plant your seed flats if you don't have liquid smoke or some other stimulant. GA3 can help with CA native sages too and so can 3% peroxide for an hour, or immersion in 200 degree F water and allowed to sit overnight before planting in flats or in situ. This last method is the one that's allowed me to best germinate open-pollinated S. mellifera, S. apiana, S. clevelandii and S. spathacea. I boil the water and then let I it cool to that temp. The seed coat while get gelatinous and make the seeds sticky for handling, so I use toothpicks or popsickle sticks to handle them. I'm not familiar with your climate, but in CA we would typically germinate in Sept/Oct or in early spring. Rooting cuttings in spring is about as easy as growing from seed, I find. If you are going to just wintersow, I'd say no treatment is necessary, but you better have a lot of seed to toss out. Anything you start now will likely struggle through the winter unless you have a greenhouse or growing set-up with heat and w/o too much humidity. You would really have to baby them until it's warm enough for you to plant out. Of the sages native here... Salvia apiana Salvia brandegeei Salvia carduacea Salvia clevelandii Salvia columbariae Salvia dorrii Salvia eremostachya Salvia funerea Salvia greatae Brandegee Salvia leucophylla Salvia mellifera Salvia mohavensis Salvia munzii Salvia pachyphylla Salvia sonomensis Salvia spathacea Salvia vaseyi Salvia verbenacea I'd say vaseyi, eremostachya, pachyphylla, mohavensis, and funerea probably won't grow for you and the rest of them will die if allowed to sit in water and get any sort of rot. Planting on a slope will help with that.

she's noticed that the kids notice the presence or absence of goody bags, and is trying to be a good mom and hostess. FWIW. If goody bags are "expected" in your area, she should try to do something. It depends on the type of kids in the area Niece is crazy over the Jonas Brothers (heaven help us), and will be getting a JB pinata, and the kids can carry home whatever candy they collect in little bags. We're also going to look for the aforementioned pinwheels, or something equally inexpensive and relatively entertaining for the kiddos to take home when the party ends. I love the idea of crafts - in fact, on niece's last birthday, the kids decorated crowns and took them home (it was a princess theme), but there probably won't be enough time. The party will be scheduled for only a little over an hour, though, during which time cake and ice cream will be served and the pinata will be the primary entertainment. Don't the JB's wear 80's style sunglasses? I think they wear vests too. Maybe adding those to the party, take digital pics of everyone in their JB shades & get one vest that everyone uses for their shot, print them out and give on in a pre-decorated JB frame? Too bad the party isnt longer, she should be able to find cardboard type frames.. they can paint their names on them or something JB.. maybe glue JB pics to the frame? I have seen parties where one of the activites was their take away gift - like painted t shirts, decorated wooden frames (take pic of whole group to include), wooded vehicle sets you put together (Michael's has a bunch for $1). I love this idea For her, it isn't just a party bag -- it's a thank you gift to the friend for attending her party. If you ask her opinion, she probably think it's totally uncool not to have party bags. That's how I've always looked at goody bags as a thank you for coming Wow...never would have crossed my mind to give out goodie bags. My kids didn't, and I honestly can't remember them getting them. But then, my kids quit having kiddy parties over 10 years ago! haha. I can tell you that its a different world these days. My son is 24, gift bags weren't a big deal but these days it's all about the gift bag. I think we have Hollywood to partially blame for this.. Think Paris Hilton, star parties where they get gift bags with the latest phone or video game system. Lots of celebrity mags talk about gift bags, win the gift bag from such & such party, it's like a status symbol to get the best gift bag.

I'm glad the recipe surfaced again because we LOVE pecans for a snack food, and this one is all "dressed up" and ready for a special occasion. BTW, the Kentucky Derby is May 2nd this year - so I have plenty of time to give it a pre-Derby test ;-). I soak all nuts overnight in salted water (a la "Nourishing Traditions" method), to partially sprout them, as well as reduce the tannins and the numerous enzyme inhibitors. Then I dehydrate them until they are crispy/dry in the dehydrator (8-12-hours). The nutrients are also more readily available if you use this method. The salt in the soaking water activates enzymes and neutralize enzyme inhibitors, so don't skip that part of the soaking. (Four cups of pecans + 2 t. sea salt and enough water to cover by 1-2". Stir to dissolve the salt. Cover with a cloth and leave out on the counter for at least 7-hours and up to 12-hours. Dehydrate in a single layer until crispy dry.) You will end up with buttery-tasting pecans, rather than those that leave a "bite" in the back of your throat, and a bellyache if you over-indulge. Your pecans will also last longer in storage if you use this method. I usually do 8-cups of pecans (also almonds and walnuts) at a time. Walnuts are the only ones I store in the refrigerator/freezer after treatment because they contain large amounts of triple unsaturated linolenic acid and are more susceptible to rancidity than pecans and almonds. This recipe is an all-in-one recipe (soak, sweeten, and dehydrate) I keep on hand at all times, and I think the same technique will work with the original recipe Sushipup posted above, and that's how I plan to make them. Sweetly Spiced Crispy Pecans 4 c. raw pecans 2 t. sea salt 5 T. (coconut) palm sugar 1 t. cinnamon Soak pecans in a large bowl with filtered water and salt for 8-12 hours. Pour off water and allow to drain well in a large colander for 5-10 minutes. Place back in the bowl; sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon mixture and mix well. The moisture from the soaked pecans will create a light coating over the pecans. Place on dehydrator trays. Dry at 150°F for one hour and reduce the temperature to 125°F until completely dry. To test the nuts for doneness, allow to completely cool before testing by snapping them in half and then eating them. -Grainlady

Wow, this "discussion" is kind of going off the rails. What I said, Lloyd, was that "As in, you squeeze it and a stream comes out." That's what your "Composting for Dummies" reference smartly said. I suspect a lot of compost piles are thus not too wet. Mine sure aren't. Compost is indeed revered for it's water retaining capability. What we're talking about is squeezing a stream of water out of it. No, it isn't revered for that. The pile should drain freely specifically in order to avoid getting piles that are so wet that you can squeeze liquid out of them. We're not talking about wanting leachate. We're talking about allowing aerobic decomposition. It occurs to me that snowpack is probably important in this regard. That is, snowpack on a compost pile will (1) compress the pile and make it less permeable, (2)make the pile less accessible for proper turning and ventilation, and (3) dump a load of water on the compressed and impermeable pile. That being the case, I guess I would say that if you live where you get a lot of snow in the winter, yes, it probably would be smart to cover the pile then. That doesn't apply to me, and that's probably why I've never seen the need for it. Gumby, I most certainly didn't first bring up the "too wet" questions. Go back and read. Lots of discussion about compost wetness. I was just trying to get some information on the table. The only thing I'm challenging here is your comprehension. I have a bunch of posts here because I find this an interesting topic. My apologies. The title of the OPs post was "Covering a compost pile...is the tarp really necessary?" That's precisely what we're talking about. But I'll bow out and leave everyone else to figure it out.