OM89, that makes sense for what you're actually growing, your area must be much more like Silvia's. I've given up on growing squash in containers, they don't do well and I've come to the conclusion that although the roots don't appear substantial they are runners and need lots of space so that would account for them not doing well in a SFG. Also, what Lou says about the squash is true and I have to be at work by 6:00 A.M., by the time I get home in the afternoon all the morning flowers from the squash are already too spent to hand pollinate. The last two seasons I've tried two varieties of parthenocarpic squash but they didn't do well either. Now, the parthenocarpic cukes were another story, they did very well inside my swiming pool cage where I didn't have to spray for pickleworm, the quick nemesis of my garden cukes since the garden is only 8' from the lake...very buggy down there until we finally get a cooling off period overnight. I keep my tomato plants well spaced from each other due to the gardens proximity to the lake, extremely humid too, and I never have blight and rarely other fungal diseases because of good air circulation around each individual plant, so for me "less is more" but I do see Silvia's plants up against each other so for you that might not be a problem. Tom

Woodland Park rose garden in Seattle has grown full-sized delphiniums. Many others are sold and planted here. Surely they have them at Butchart Gardens, in Victoria. Maybe someone at your nearest town has nice ones as well. I'd ask about cultural methods at a place like this. Doubt many home gardeners are liming theirs, but it could also perfectly well turn out that if you conducted your own little survey you would find out the people with the best ones were, in fact, doing this! The thing about changing pH is it takes a huge amount of lime to change it even one point, each point representing a major gradation. If you put on enough to make such a change all at once it is hard on the soil system, so you have to do it gradually, over a period of years. Meanwhile, if your plants are growing without the altered pH anyway, maybe they don't really need it that much. Maybe there is actually another factor that is limiting them, rather than insufficient calcium.

Hi Dawn! Oh my... to catch up on the kiddos! My oldest is now married and lives in Marlow, OK. She has two babies (eeek! I'm a Grandma!) and a wonderful husband that provides for her to stay home with the boys and be an amazing Mom. The younger daughter decided to join the Navy. We dropped her off at boot camp on Mother's Day last year (best/worst Mother's Day ever!) and in December she got orders to Japan as well. She is stationed at a base about 30 miles away from us. It's been so nice having her close, and it's incredible how much she has matured since joining the Navy. She gets promoted to E4 in a couple weeks, and a very good friend of ours that we were stationed at Tinker with will be "pinning" her new rank on her. The planets all aligned so that our friend's ship will be in port that week. The friend is also female, and is my daughter's Navy Mentor, so it's makes it a very special event. My son just turned 9, spoiled to the max since he's an "only child" now. He's adjusted so well to living in Japan. He has several Japanese friends, and is learning Japanese in school, so I sometimes have him translate for me when we go off base. He's learned how to properly bow, and the older women giggle at him when he bows and says "Domo arigatōgozaimashita" (thank you very much). He's also figured out that he gets reward with a piece of candy for it sometimes. LOL Winters are not harsh here at all. This year was considered wet, and only once did it get below freezing. I have a Bruugmansia that lost it's leaves, but it's recovered well, and is about two weeks away from blooming. So lucky to have it, the previous residents were told to remove it before we moved in, so he cut it to the ground and covered it with dirt for me. It's at least 8 feet tall now! So beautiful! Glad to here Ok is finally getting some decent weather! I was so distraught to see the damage in Moore in May. That was very close to where we used to live and it took awhile for me to get a hold of some family in Yukon and Tuttle areas to make sure they were all okay. My husband I often talk about where we want our "forever home" to be when he's done with his Navy time, and over and over we talk about coming back to Oklahoma! There's so much to love about OK, but the strength of the community as witnessed after the storm is what makes Oklahoma so special! The local garden center started selling starter plants in Feb/March. I bought what I could recognize buy their leaves. The labels are all in kanjii. I need many more years experience before I'll be able to read kajii. LOL If it was in romanic alphabet, I could pop it into "Google" and figure it out. I think the size of the vegetables I'm seeing are related to the amount space most gardeners have available to for growing. We are in a suburb of Tokyo. Having a yard is rare here! Most people have an area about 3'x3' to work with, but the large marjority of people live in high rise apartment buildings, and have a very small balcony area for potted plants. They also use the balconies for drying their laundry, which is quite odd when you're not accustomed to see a 10 story building with every apartment having clothing and bedding hanging on a balcony. A little google research has shown me that seeds for commercial growing are extremely regulated. Obviously they want to avoid cross breeding and disease, so they require a "Phytosanitary Inspection Certificate" at the growing site when the seeds pass through customs. I will check with our local post office though. Since I'm not a commercial grower, and all my mail is received through the US Postal Service, I might not have the same restrictions. Thank you for bringing it to my attention! I will do a little more research and if I find out it okay without any problems, then I'll let you know what seeds I'm interested in.

Finally! Let's get this party started.