Sending you an email. Interested in succulents. Best to you, Quiltingfox

What variety and species of kiwi seed do you have? I am looking for a large fruited variety of hardy kiwi. I see that you collect chili peppers. I have a very prolific and ornamental that produces very good hot peppers-'Chile de Arbol' that I would trade for the kiwi seed I'm looking for.

Great pics, hostaguy! Thanks for sharing them. Like I said in my opening post, I know a lot of these are really winter flowers, but I like to blur the lines in my mind between winter and spring so I don't feel like a winter prisoner for more than a month or so (January, generally), so it's really fun to hear what you're seeing that seems springlike. I still don't have any colors on my little crocus, but they're trying! Tons of swelling buds now on roses, and some naturalized (?) plums in untended areas down the street. The rain doesn't bother me a bit in winter, it's the slow-down of obvious garden growth that can be disappointing, so I love that we can see new growth looking towards spring so early! Take care, Grant

Kosta D: Tips & Tricks like Epson Salt and Egg Shells are very welcomed and recognized! When growing in containers on a balcony, a lot of "organic" methods won't work well because you won't have the ecosystem in your soil to maximize organic methods. Container gardening, especially in an environment like an enclosed balcony, is almost closer to hydroponics than to in-ground gardening. You won't be able to use a lot of the advice people give to gardeners that assume in-earth gardening. For example, eggshells are almost useless in that environment, because there aren't enough organisms to break them down and make the minerals bioavailable to plants. If you want to use organic substances like that, I suggest you start a worm composting bin. The worms will turn your kitchen vegetable waste and things like eggshells (grind them up fine first) into compost that converts the nutrients into forms your plants can actually use. There's a vermicomposting forum on here somewhere where you can get help with that. And, yes, you can keep a worm bin indoors. Mine, which is small, is indoors because it's too cold for the composting worm species here in the winter and can get too hot in the summer, so I just keep the bin inside all the time. There are no odors, no escaping worms, etc. as long as the worms are happy and conditions in the bin are good. FYI, you will probably still have to use some liquid fertilizers, but the vermicompost will be beneficial in many ways.