Hi Al and others, I would appreciate advice on saving sick/dying Picea glauca, in pic.1, please. I bought it on post Xmas sale and it was ~50cm tall, looking healthy, with very bushy top. I repotted it without much root cleaning to keep most original soil with fungus, which I read Picea, like other pines, needs. I planted the rootball with old soil into gritty mix, mostly pine bark fines with seramice, with a bit of gravel, see in pic.2 very "gritty" indeed :); trunk is ~1/2" at the bottom). I used a biggish pot to let it grow freely for a year or two. I also cut the top to encourage lower branches growth but it never happened. Water it when the pot feels light, ~ weekly (it is early autumn here in Sydney) by bottom watering in a bucket, then drain well by keeping the pot at ~45 degrees for a while. Use diluted Nitrosol liquid plant food every two weeks. Keep it on sun for 2-3 hrs, then half shade. Despite all my care (or coz of it ? :), the picea never showed any new growth but started developing warning signs for last 2-3 weeks. Those few thin branches started dying. Their stem turns from brown to greyish-green and gets soggy before dying. See in pic 3&4, that branch in front which is dying now, with grey stem. Other branch died a few days ago. Only three normally looking branches are left. But I am afraid they are facing same fate. Anything I can do to rescue my future picea bonsai at all? Thanks and cheers, Sergey

Hi all, I've seen a lot of tomato and pepper swaps, and "edibles" swaps here on GW, but I think it will be fun for me to host one focusing on Greens & Salads for St Pats!! I've done a salad swap on GW before, a few years back. Rules: Newbies welcome, but if your email address is blocked, you won't be able to participate in this. Your seeds must arrive by St. Patricks Day (March 17). I won't hold up the swap for late seeds. They must be in a bubble mailer big enough to hold all your seeds, with a little extra room to spare. Please enclose a return address label and also enough return postage to get your seeds back to you... Whatever it costs to send it in, please include that much in the way of stamps so I can send it back. If your package winds up more than .15 short on postage I won't be able to send it back to ya, cause I live on a tight budget! No more than 3 packs of the same kind of seeds, please. Minimum 5 packs, maximum 20 seed packs per person. Seeds should be no older than 2007 unless kept in a refrigerated seed bank. Heirlooms and hybrids are both OK. If hybrid, they need to be commercial, not saved seed because otherwise they may not grow. The seeds should be for things you might use in a salad or its dressing, such as lettuces (NOT Iceberg though please). Purple cabbage, mesclun or "baby greens" mix, arugula, watercress, radishes, salad-dressing herbs like oregano, sage, parsley and marjoram, green onions, garlic and chives also are all good. Also welcome are cooking greens, including Asian greens like tat soi and choi sum, spinach, broccoli raab, kale, turnip greens and mustards, goosefoot, asparagus, etc. In this swap, MILD salad peppers (no hots!) are welcome too, as are cherry tomatoes (no big tomatoes, we want salad-specific bite sized ones.) Edible annual flowers that can be used in a salad like borage, salad burnet, fennel, violet, pansy, calendula, etc are welcome too. (No perennials such as roses!) Please include a list of what you are sending, so I can hopefully avoid sending you too many seeds that are identical to what you sent in. Include a wishlist of the 3 things you'd most like to get. Send packets with at least 10 seeds per pack, more is better but 10 is ok. Seeds must be clearly labeled (variety name, year packaged, and your GW ID so I don't send you your own seeds.) Growing info such as sun/shade is good too, but not required. If we don't get at least 12 participants signed up here by March 7, this swap will not "make". But I think we can get 12! :) Let's all March into some Green fun together with this swap! Post here if you'd like to join and make sure your email is not blocked. :) Thanks, grovespirit

These are the instructions i have for a possible solution. a. Open Internet Explorer. b. Click the Tools button or press Alt key + X, and then click Internet Options. c. Click the Advanced tab, and then browse to the Accelerated graphics section. d. Click to select the Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering check box. e. Click Apply, and then click OK. f. Close all open Internet Explorer window and then test the issue."

Hate it. Had to get it last March after XP computer toasted itself. Just this past weekend I received an e-mail from HP asking if I wanted to extend the warranty - with the ability to call a tech for assistance. I took it. I called them a lot during the early days since Best Buy sold me a printer and a flash drive for factory back-up that were compatible only with Windows 7 and the key card for Word 2013 - and I hate it - could only be used once and of course it didn't work the first time. Best Buy was useless and there is no way I should have had to pay the Geek Squad to hook up a basic printer - I didn't, I called the printer manufacturer and HP. HP had already sent me a warning re making sure my computer could handle Win 8.1 - I decided to just not even try it. The tech I spoke with when I bought the extended warranty suggested I not do it. Our Internet provider does not support Win 8 or Internet 10 so that is another problem. And if your problem is anything other than the Internet connection failing they transfer you to a "specialist" and charge you. Cdns. already pay a lot for basic services. Then there is the e-mail issue. My husband's office is going to stick with Win 7 and Word 2010. I can't pay to switch back to Win 7 because I never had it. But the difference between Win 7 and Win 8 is great - same with Word 2010 and Word 2013. All I use the computer for is Word, Internet and e-mail. I don't shop or belong to Facebook etc. I use a keyboard - and HP added a few keys so I am making mistakes that I never did before despite typing 120 wpm! I helped a friend book an air ticket using her tablet - I don't want a tablet - I need a real mouse. The future is looking grim computer wise. Then there is the cell phone issue. I don't have one - did for 2 years. I don't text. I would just like to have a plain cell phone that functions only as a phone. I have the phone that I used for the 2 years but it won't accommodate a pay as you go card. I don't understand how people can watch TV on a tiny little screen while driving yet need a 60 inch screen at home. I guess I am just too old!