yiorges - thank you for the tips. I'm going to better adapt the environment according to their needs. oilpainter - sorry for the confusion and I'll try to explain better. To be honest I'm not sure I'm even in the correct zone for a start! It may be more like Zone 9b or something. I'm in South Africa and this particular area which is down south is about 50-60km from the sea, we're quite high up in the mountains (1000m+). We get mild frost only occasionally (15 days in a mild year - 35(ish) in a heavy year). It is also the tail end of winter over here at the moment (southern hemisphere). So you think I'd be better off bringing these seeds indoors where I can provide the warmth easier and make sure the temperature stays stable? My worm bin is located outside (its one of those homemade converted bath types) and it is currently bursting with germinating seeds) even the old carrot tops have started to sprout and grow! Seeing all that germination going on in the total darkness of my worm bin is remarkable and is why I wanted to add some castings to my seed trays to see if they made any difference whatsoever. I have been soaking some 'Ekebergia capensis' seeds overnight in warm water to soften the bits of fruit still covering parts of the seeds. I read it helps when cleaning the seed before sowing. Cheers again for the tips. PK

Well, if my mother in law were in a retirement home with a postage stamp yard and used a powdered fungicide every 2 or 3 weeks, in zone 6 (?), and she liked pink-lavender, I'd get her Caldwell Pink (Pink Pet). I'd plant the rose next to the fence and I'd also plant the hardy Geranium, Rosanne, on either side of her, close in so the all-summer-blooming geraniums could send their purplish-blue blooms scrambling up to the top of the 4 foot bush. The bonus would be the rose is as carefree as the geranium, no spraying necessary, and just as hardy, no winter dieback even in my zone 5 garden. Helpmefind has some good photos of Pink Pet(as well as a gravely erroneous comment that the plant is hardy only to zone 7b - perhaps that's why many northerners have never tried the rose). Here is a link that might be useful: Pink Pet at HMF

Looking at that picture I can just hear him saying "I am not an animal... I'm a feline being!" When I first saw the title I saw Smudge's escape, and all of a sudden the Mission Impossible them started playing in my mind, and probably his as he told Roxie, "I'm breakin outta here baby, ya with me or not?" He was shopping for the *real* "Tender Vittles". And don't underestimate cat vs. rabbit. A big boy like Smudge can pounce and a good chomp can handle a rabbit, especially a young one. Oh and you probably just don't have yours trained yet. My cats have always done what I tell them... Eat... Sleep... Ignore me... How big is your balcony? You could get some of the kennel pieces that made from chain link and put around it or even fashion your own and it would let them enjoy the outdoors a bit. I've been thinking of doing something like that out my front door.

It's really simple. Purchase white kidney or loin beef fat from a butcher. It's inexpensive. Now for the larger woodpeckers you can stop right here. They'll eat the raw chunked fat. To render suet, and make cakes to attract a wide variety of birds, ask the butcher to grind the fat. Put it in a big pot; you don't want to fill the pot any more than half full of the fat, less would be better. Heat it over medium-low heat until all the fat melts. It took a couple hours, or more, for me to do the six pounds of fat. Watch it closely; the fat can flash into flames if it gets too hot. As the fat melts, there will be bits of "cracklings" floating in it. Strain the fat to remove all the solid bits. Let the suet solidify, and then do the process over again. The rendered suet will keep for up to a year in the freezer. I mix the finished product half and half with peanut butter. Then add any combination of hulled sunflower seeds, whole wheat flour, oats, chopped corn or chicken scratch, peanuts, raisins, whatever you have on hand that birds like to eat. Pour it into molds or a baking dish until it hardens, cut into blocks that fit your feeder, and serve. You can search the web and find hundreds of "recipes" for ideas of things to mix into the suet.