I understand your frustrations. Before you give up, I would suggest the following: 1.) Not all soils are conducive to gardening. Based on research you need to decide if this is your case. If you consider this to be fact then go to raised beds or containers, or find a more suitable location for your garden. 2.) If you decide that your soil is suitable for gardening then I suggest that you reduce the size of your garden to an area that you can manage fairly easily. Better to have something than nothing at all. As you succeed you can add back a little bit of gardening space each year if you so desire. 3.) Till or spade in compost, rotted leaves, grass clippings, etc. in fall. Organic matter in the soil helps to keep it loose and friable. Till or spade again in spring before planting when soil is fairly dry. Minimize walking on the soil after tilling and throughout the season to reduce compaction - have paths and stick to them as much as possible. 4.) Mulch the garden with weed seed-free mulch or a man-made product. Find something that works for you - there are lots of ideas and methods discussed in the GW forums. If you do not know how to do a site search on GW then check out the FAQ or ask. Do your research - knowledge is your best weapon against gardening issues and problems. 5.) Weeds are a fact of life and they will always be in your garden. Get them when they are young and small. Give your garden the constant attention it deserves to control weeds but also to spot disease or pest problems. Gardening is a commitment. A gardener can not "take time off" and ignore the garden for a week. Get into this habit and it will surely fail and all the work will prove to be a waste of time and effort. 6.) Purchase a few vegetable plants rather than trying to start them yourself. Starting plants is another big step in gardening and requires knowledge and equipment. This seems to be part of your frustration so put it aside for now. If budget is tight, set aside a coin jar to save up for purchasing or barter with a neighbor gardener for starter plants if possible. Just get a few plants of the common varieties in the cheaper multi-packs - again, better to have something than nothing. 7.) Common vegetable varieties available as seeds or plants are common for many good reasons. They are usually some of the easiest to grow. Stick to them for now and experiment later on with more unique or rare varieties. 8.) Post questions in the forums on GW and provide pictures if possible. You are among helpful gardening friends here. I am the first to admit that I do not know everything about gardening. When I have a gardening problem or concern I have always found answers here or at least leads to be able to do some further internet research. Success will bring back the excitement and joy of gardening in you. Give it another try. Good Luck! -Tom

Most of my toms are outside as of tonight: Marmande Rutgers Cherry "Supersweet" Cherry "Sungold" Cherokee (my absolute fav and proven WSer with great-- and early--results) Mortgage Lifter Northern Delight Carrots WS great as well. I did them for the first time last year and got a bumper crop. Still pulling them from the ground (whenever I can dig a path through the snow). Leafy Greens- Spinach, Chard, Kale, Lettuces, etc. all WS great. They are usually the first thing to sprout, while it's still chilly outside. I have harvested as early as May on lettuces in the past from WSing. Last year, once I harvested the third time, I direct sowed more lettuce. Arugala will often come up on its own the following year for me, after WSing it. It really seems to like the cold. Corn- I WSed an ornamental and it did great, but it wasn't to eat. Not sure if it can be harvested soon enough for you from WSing. Leeks and Onions- I just put out Leeks and Scallions tonight. This will be my first year's experience with them. Squashes WS well, sproutwise, but I'm not sure if a Zone 5 growing season is long enough for them. I'm starting my zucchinis indoors, along with sweet peppers and eggplant. (And I just remembered that I did WS green beans last year. I did a combo of WSing and direct sowing. Wound up with a ton of plants. I think I'll still with whichever I have most time for this year, since they do great either way). Linda

I first learned about astrological gardening back in the early 1970s from author Louise Riotte, who was a ghost writer for Organic Gardening. At that time, I was living in Louisiana. She also was the author of many original book publications. In the back of her early books and original publications, there was a section with her home address and phone number. She welcomed letters and phone calls and loved to talk "gardening". I learned much from her back then and I still reference her books. She was such a darling old lady - home-grown and plain spoken. She was such a character - she almost always had her hair done up in pin-curls and even posted her photo in some of her publications with her hair like that. :) Astrological Gardening: The Ancient Wisdom of Successful Planting & Harvesting by the Stars - Astrological gardening has been practiced for centuries, and author Louise Riotte's 40 years of planetary planting have confirmed its usefulness. She identifies ideal astrological conditions for planting and harvesting a wide range of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Here is some information I found about her on the web: Astrological gardening has been practiced for centuries, and author Louise Riotte's 40 years of planetary planting have confirmed its usefulness. She identifies ideal astrological conditions for planting and harvesting a wide range of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. Author Biography: Beloved Storey author and life-long gardener Louise Riotte passed away in 1998 at the age of 89. She wrote 12 books on gardening, companion planting, and garden lore, among them the ever-popular Carrots Love Tomatoes, which has sold approximately 515,000 copies. Her father taught her to believe in and practice astrology, while her mother was a practicing herbalist. Together they inevitably influenced her life and her books, Roses Love Garlic, Astrological Gardening, Sleeping with a Sunflower, Catfish Ponds & Lily Pads, and her most recent book, Raising Animals by the Moon. Her own line drawings are included in all her books. Before authoring books, Riotte was a ghost writer for Simon & Schuster and for Jerry Baker's radio gardening show, and she wrote a number of articles for Organic Gardening as well. Riotte took pride in her garden near her home in Ardmore, Oklahoma, which her son Eugene helped care for in her later years. She also wrote: The Complete Guide to Growing Berries and Grapes; Success with Small Food Gardens; Grow the Best Grapes Grow the Best Strawberries: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-190 Planetary Gardening: A Guide to Organic Gardening by the Signs of the Zodiac and probably more that I don't even know about. Below is a LINK to a website that pays Tribute to Louise. I hope you will buy her books and treasure them as much as I do mine. ~Annie Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening by Astrology

Rollie, nice pics! Very lovely shots of wild A. tuberosa. I will 2nd or 3rd or 4th what everyone else has said. If you broadcast the seed into already existing, dense vegetation I don't think you'll get much for results. It would be difficult for a seed to germinate and grow under those conditions. A tuberosa is very easy to start from seed, as long as the seeds are viable. 2 years ago, I sowed some in April, and it did not even require much (or any) cold stratification. I would start the seeds next Spring (March-April) in pots, or winter sowing containers, grow them on in small pots for the summer, and then transplant early next fall. If you can mow the wild area first, it would probably help with the transplanting. Also, clearing a little planting spot as Rollie suggested, would be helpful.