Di, stop judging your adequacy as a person by your productivity, dammit! Just be. You're not in denial. Nobody is going to think you're "all better now" just because you're working in the garden, and any guilt you have belongs in the bottom of your compost heap where it can rot into something better. Easier said than done I know. But I do wish you'd be less harsh on yourself. Rant over. You are as beautiful as you are loved, and I hope that the nurturing of life around you helps you to continue to heal. You'll never turn off the grief like a switch... it's just a new part of you... As for gardening activities, I'm going a bit frantic myself. Mostly because spring and early summer are make-it-or-break-it times for those of us in colder climes and there are certain things that just need to be done. But they mostly got done. My fingerprint is now clearly visible on our yard. It has come a long way from the 30-some nasty spirea, 5 unkempt and gianormous pontentilla, and swaths of rock and landscape cloth that greeted me when we moved in. The perennials I planted are really coming into their own, and I beam with pride when people stop to ask me about plants or for advice in their own gardens. I almost typed that I had hardly planted anything at all this season... and then I realized that I've put at least 500 individual plants into the dirt, and have no clue how many seeds I've planted. I suppose that's "hardly anything at all" compared to what I've been doing the last few years though... I'll always have a bit of grass because the dogs (ours and the neighbors who come over daily to play) need space to poop and romp, but I'm using Steve's love affair with his ridiculously oversized riding mower to justify a nearly constant expansion of my planting beds. As much as I dislike that mower, I owe many a bed to its lousy cornering capability! ;o) I am well pleased with last year's rain barrel project, and would heartily recommend them to anyone who is struggling with feast and famine rains. I have a total of 220 gallons of capacity, and a half an hour's worth of rain will fill my barrels to the brim. The drip irrigation system I built for them last year made watering a couple beds completely effortless. I can't say enough nice things about them and am grateful to Leaveswave for the guidance. Of course my neighbor is laughing her butt off at me for my planting idiosyncrasies. I have a bad habit of "not wasting" seedlings. Who is she to say that 45 hot pepper plants is too many (for a woman with a low tolerance for "hot")? I think I showed restraint by not planting all 150 that I started! (She's also laughing because my labels washed off when I was hardening the plants off and I have both "Bulgarian Carrot" peppers and "Tequila Sunrise" peppers... they look nearly identical and now I don't know what's where, so I'll be playing Capsicum Roulette come harvest time!) And I "only" planted sixteen eggplants, ten tomatoes, and who-knows-how-many beans, peas, cukes, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuces, spinach, radishes, and chard... I planted so much in my raised and expanded beds this year that I decided herbs can grow just fine in the flower beds. I'm not sure if that's a form of denial, or a nod to French Potagers... (I'll probably claim the latter, but know secretly it's due to my lack of horticultural restraint.) I have several plants each of rosemary, thyme, sweet marjoram, basil, parsley, oregano, cilantro, dill, and mint (the mint lives in strictly-policed holeless, sunken pots). But I hardly grow any vegetables and herbs at all. I'm mostly a flower gardener... (sigh... restraint is for sissies...)

Thanks, everyone, for the encouragements to plant now if my soil is ready! Connie - from reading this board over the past several months I was led to your blog and discovered all you are up to just down the road from me. Back in the spring I think you were going to be giving a talk that I even considered attending --- but I didn't. My spring was very unexpectedly interrupted by my husband having to do a business trip to Hawaii, so I spent all of May and part of June with him there. This definitely set me back time wise in my yard work and I'm just getting back into it. (I'm only complaining a little bit). My new house is surrounded by woods, and I don't have very many sunny spots available to grow the "thousands" of roses I'd like to. I have basically a couple of spots in the front to greet my visitors, and two in the back - one smaller one (100 sq ft) is already "gardenized", and waiting, and the other "main" spot is the one I've been working on, and it's prominently visible from my back windows. It backs up to the woods, but gets full southern sun shining on it. It's been weeds and unkept, so I've been getting rid of the overgrowth and bringing in truckloads of top soil and compost. It's about 350 sq. ft, with about that much more available when/if I want to spread the borders later on. My main concern - other than getting enough sun - has been deer. They act like our very own outdoor pets. I've been experimenting with Liquid Fence on the other deer food plants in the garden, which has been working well ... and I just bought Sweeny's dried blood disc-things, but haven't put them out yet. I'm kinda scared about this aspect of wanting to have a yard full of roses. QUESTION (to all who have masses - hundreds or more - of roses): When you plant so many - the DA garden you planted last year,and your field of roses - do you put thought into "what goes where" design wise (co-ordinating colors? sizes? types?)? Or do you just "plant", and it all just looks great ---- because they ARE roses after all! I've bought these so far: Therese Bugnet (hoping to put them in some of my semi-sun places) Living Easy Buff Beauty 1 Crepesecule 1 Garden Sun 1 Compassion Since Heirloom is having a free shipping sale right now, I took the opportunity to order these, and they are on their way to me: Easy Does It Peace (Have mostly gotton away from HT, but this is a special love of mine) Martin Frobisher Heritage Julia Child (simply based on so many recommending it) Others I plan on getting first thing next year are: Borderer Belinda's Dream Bonica Well Being I ordered 1 - 3 of each, to "try". As I figure out which ones work best here in the yard I hope to follow up by ordering more for mini mass plantings. (Also - I am afraid of the deer overtaking my plants and best efforts). Back in the late '90s I first started growing roses - all were showy HT. I got my feet wet with them -- and learned some basics about fertilizer, blackspot, JAPANESE BEETLES!, etc. But, we moved away from that house soon after, and weren't living where I could have my own gardens. Now I"m resettled, and hope to bring Rose Love back into my life. Thanks for asking! (For my shady areas I'm concentrating on planting either Rhododendrons or Hydrangea).

I've used mine every year since buying it and it has held up really well. I bought more but am still using the original stuff as well. It will rip if not careful - even tension is best. I use bricks to weigh it down, but have also discovered that long lengths of rebar work really good, too. It's good not to let it flap around in wind that could create a hole and that's where a rip could start. Make sure it's dry before folding up and putting away - I had some mould grow on a few pieces that I put away damp. This year I planted an early crop of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages, and another bed of lettuce and put them under row cover. I took the row cover off on the weekend and within a day the flea beetles were after the cabbage. Grrrr. I took the row cover off the snow peas and within a day or two the birds were eating that. Grrr. A much better situation would be if the birds ate the stupid flea beetles. I now have low hoops and row cover over a newly transplanted bed of corn that I started in the greenhouse. I will also use it when I direct seed the rest of the corn. I used the row cover last year over the corn seeds and got 100% germination in some not so nice temperatures. I'm also planning to use it this year for squash, melon, cucumber, and tomato transplants.

Hi Please...tell me that a bunch of these are ugly, invasive, impossible to grow etc. Well, here's my list so far! Also, if anyone already has (hopefully) some of these that you might be interested in trading/sharing/splitting seed orders, whatever. Please just let me know. T & T Page # Item # Name Description Height Quantity Price 3 A360 Morning Glory Sunrise Serenade Ruffled Cherry Red 20 3.95 24 A44 Amarathus Early Splendor Crimson / Chocolate foliage 50 1.95 25 B103 Begonia Dragon Wing Pink 15 5.95 26 B123 Coleus Wizard Coral sunrise Tri Colour Sunny 50 2.50 27 B82 Gaillardia Sundance Bi-colour Mahogany red/ylw 50 1.95 29 B189 Isolepsis Fibre Optic Grass 15 4.95 B192 Wind Dancer Lover Grass 15 4.95 B68 Rudbeckia Maya Dwarf double 25 2.95 30 A260 Lavatera Novella Bright rose 14" 25 2.95 31 A193 Hollyhock Queeny Purple Powder Puff 40 4.95 33 A425 Phlox Grammy Pink 6" 25 2.95 37 A520 Sweet Peas Mammoth Collection 7x50 10.25 A503 Crimson A506 Lavender A509 Rose Pink A510 Scarlet A511 Salmon 37 B324 Vinca Pacifica Burgundy Halo Bi-colour pink & white 12" 50 2.50 B321 Vinca First Kiss Blueberry Violet blue/lavender 12" 50 2.50 38 Zinnia's A640 Magellan Coral 15 4.25 A650 Zowie Yellow Flame 15 4.95 A630 Swizzle Cherry & Ivory 10 3.95 38 A365 Rhodochiton Purple Bells 10' 15 4.95 50 6295 Acidanthera White/mrn 10 4.95 Total $78.30 Shipping $5.75 10% Off $60.00 by Feb 15/08 Free Candytuft Pink Flash Free California Ballerina Poppy William Dam 67 1345 Aster Hulk Green Bracts/ylw disk 35-50 2.45 67 1407 Bacopa Snowtopia 18" 8 3.95 67 1420 Balsam Topknot Mixture Fully Double 8" 35 2.25 68 1427 Bupleurum Griffiti Lime green/ylw 28" 150 1.65 68 1404 Begonias Non-Stop Hybrid Mix 13 Colours 35 4.25 68 1604 Begonias Panorama Mix Pendulous mix apricot, ylw, pink, scarlet, white 20 3.95 70 1440 Campanula Meteora Light purple star shaped 10" 50 1.95 70 1467 Cardoon Grey foliage / purple 60" 40-80 1.75 70 1487 Cisanthe Brightness Blue grey foliage / magenta 30" 500-800 2.25 71 1507 Coleus Giant Exhibition Formula mix 15 2.65 72 1509 Convolvulus Royal Ensign Navy blue/ylw white 8" 90 1.65 72 1514 Cosmos Double Click 4' 50-100 2.65 73 1517 Cuphea Starlet Royal purple (mice) 18" 15 3.25 74 1530 Didiscus Madona Mix Lav, blue, pink,rose,white 20" 150 1.75 75 1536 Euphorbia Kilimanjaro 50 1.85 81 1557-6 Sunflower Jade 36" 25 2.75 82 1553 Heliotrope Benary's Marine 18" 100 1.95 82 2623 Hollyhock Queeny Purple 30" 45-85 1.95 86 1690 Monarda Begamo Fragrant rosy-purple 24" 50 2.25 88 1711 Nigella Exotic Deep blue/purple 300 1.65 91 1957 Poppy Hen & Chicks 30" 375-625 1.65 93 Salvias 2000 Salvia Sahara Bright scarlet 10" 40-50 1.85 2001 Salvia Picante Purple dark 18" 50 2.75 2003 Salvia Marble Arch Rose-deep pink 26" 100 1.75 2004 Salvia Lady in Red 26" 25 2.95 2006 Salvia Fairy Queen Saphire blue/white 18" 50 1.95 95 2020-4 Statice QIS Rose 32" 100 1.65 2020-5 Statice QIS Lavender 32" 100 1.65 97 2104 Verbena Imagination Violet 12" 80-90 2.25 102 2858 Morning Glory Sunrise Serenade Ruffled Cherry Red 15 2.75 104 2966 Hyacinthe Bean Ruby Moon 10 2.75 104 2943 Thunbergia White Sunrise BES Vine 15-20 2.95 106 2533 Aster - P Summer Ruby Dark red 4' 100 2.25 106 2538 Bergenia Red Beauty pink flowers 8" 35 2.95 108 2575 Delphinium Blue Mirror mid blue 18" 60-80 2.65 108 2576 Delphinium Summer Colours Dk blue, Lt blue, white,pink 12" 30 2.25 110 2620 Heuchera Firefly 16" 1000 1.75 110 2622 Heuchera Melting Fire PVP 18" 35 2.75 115 2618 Scabiosa Blue Diamonds Dwarf 10" 35 2.95 115 2735 Thalictrum Meadow Rue 85-150 1.95 Shipping $6.95 Total $95.20 Vesey's 77 2048A Pavola Dk blue 45 2.95 77 2039A Aster Milady Scarlet 50 2.45 77 2040A Aster Ostrich Feather Crimson 100 1.75 101 2414A Rudbeckia Cappucino 18" 50 2.95 105 2452A Sunflower Jade 35 2.45 105 2450A Sunflower Double Dandy Red double 2' 30 3.15 117 2687A Jacob's Ladder Apricot Delight 20" 10 3.25 Shipping $7.95 plus a list of starter plants $18.95 Stokes 65 942F Gazania Daybreak Pink Shades 15 2.25 65 942G Gazania Daybreak white Shades 15 2.25 65 947G Gazania Kiss Yellow Flame 15 2.25 65 947D Gazania Kiss Rose 15 2.25 67 978D Sunflower Moonshadow 20 2.75 70 1095A Mesemaryanthemum 6 colour mix 700 2.25 70 1095M Mesemaryanthemum Harlequin Mixed 700 2.25 74 1143 Nierembergia Purple Robe 250 2.25 74 1143C Nierembergia White Robe 250 2.25 Shipping ?? $20.75 Dominion N.5 61-6728 Castor New Zealand Kiwi 7 2.99 N.2 61-5268 Petunia Shock Wave Purple 20 9.99 S.3 60-3866 Kale Toscano palm 50 2.99 2 60-0690 Argyreia Nervosa Wolly Morning Glory 300cm? 15 3.99 4 60-2195 Calandrina Ruby Moon Violet-rose 15 cm 200 3.99 11 60-7664 Gaillardia Sundance Bi-colour 75 1.99 11 60-7666 Gaillardia Red Plume 40cm 75 1.99 16 61-0831 Laurentia Axillaris Avant-garde blue 30cm 30 3.99 18 61-6266 Mirabilis Jalapa Red Glow 40 1.99 19 61-3569 Nigella African Bride White 200 2.99 12 61-8839 Sunflower Jade 50 2.99 14 61-0275 Impatiens Hyb Victorian Rose 15 4.49 plus a whole bunch of plants on PG's N13-N19, 91-96, plus....shrubs on 106, like all of them! $44.38 Free Shipping seed orders over $40 my Mar 3/08 Grand Total $257.58 Plus Shipping Someone please stop me! good grief... I can't wait to start wintersowing, but I usally wait till the end of February. The wait is going to kill my bank account..lol Anyway, I'm looking for any input on my selections. I am a little concerned about some being reseeders or invasive... p.s. Hi Marcia...I will have pictures to show you of the work in progress by the weekend. Could use some input. Thanks, Kelly