Pam, "My" recipe is just my adaptation of Al's 5-1-1 mix from the Container Forum. I've tried to tailor it to the kind of conditions I have here, as well as to my wish to largely avoid peat as much as possible. I even vary what I put in it and in what proportions depending on whether I'm expecting a year that is wet, dry or average. For example, if we were expecting an El Nino spring with heavy rainfall, I'd mix it so it drains better but if I was expecting a drier year, I'd add coir to help it hold moisture. When it is very hot and dry here, even 20-gallon and larger containers often need to be watered twice or three times daily in hot weather so my container plants suffer in a dry year if the mix drains too quickly. As far as the ProMix, that's a lot of peat. If I was going to grow regular plants in it, I'd add pine bark fines for sure. If I was growing acid-lovers like blueberries or azaleas, I'd still add pine fines, but less of them. I can only dream of growing anything here that likes acidity because my soil and water both test at about 8.2 to 8.3. I can modity the soil and lower its pH pretty easily but not the water, so I don't grow anything that prefers highly acidic conditions. Peat is so peculiar. When it is wet, it can hold moisture forever, and that's what I don't like about it. And, when peat gets really, really dry it is hard to rewet it. In climates where the weather can swing from dropping several inches of rain in a few hours to virtually no rain at all for weeks or even months, I feel like mixes that have a heavy peat component underperform compared to mixes that have only a moderate amount of peat, or no peat at all. I do agree that pine bark fines improve any mix heavy in peat, and would drastically improved most any mix you can buy. The heavier peat component in starter mixes is necessary for great drainage, but I don't like that heavier percentage of peat for growing plants beyond the starter stage. Pine bark mulch seems controversial in terms of being used in a veggie garden and I suppose it might not be helpful in every situation and every climate. However, I have used it in years when I couldn't find much hay to use as mulch, and I loved it. It looked wonderful, didn't wash away in heavy downpours and didn't cause me any problems. I read a magazine article once that I think was written by a Texas gardener who was coping with high clay content...as in almost pure clay. Defying the conventional wisdom, he routinely rototilled huge amounts of pine fines and pine mulch (the smaller pieces, not the gigantic ones) into his clay and had huge improvement in a pretty fast time frame. He didn't even state whether he added additional nitrogen to compensate for whatever nitrogen is depeleting as the bark decomposes, but he had enormous soil improvement and was very pleased. His article made me smile because I had started adding some pine mulch to my soil about 3 years before and hadn't noticed any problems and also had huge improvement. For me, the amazing thing is how fast the mulch rototilled into soil breaks down. If I rototill it into soil in January or February, it is largely gone by the following winter. Only a few pieces that were larger than average to begin with will remain a year later. I started adding the pine mulch because so much of my compost was disappearing every year (as the old saying goes, "heat eats compost") and it seemed like I just couldn't add enough to the red clay to fix it. And, I should add, that my red clay is flower pot clay---I believe I could wet it down and work with it and make flower pots---so it takes massive amounts of improvement to make it workable. I wouldn't necessarily add pine bark to fairly normal soil. Having never had fairly normal soil, though, I use lots of pine. This year I added vast amounts of pine fines and humus to one 8' x 4' raised bed that had amended clay that just was not well-amended enough for potatoes. I then immediately planted the potatoes. That was probably in late January or very early February. Those potato plants are growing incredibly well and are about to flower. By contrast, the four long rows of potato plants planted at the west end of the main garden are 1/3 their size and a lot way from flowering. Those were planted in an 8" deep trench and I covered the seed potatoes with a couple of inches of soil, and then continued to add soil as they grew until the trenches were filled in. It really isn't even fair to compare the performance of potatoes in a raised bed to those in grade-level beds, but it is such a striking difference that I cannot believe it. I do think heavy, heavy rain that filled those trenches with water for several days likely had a negative impact on the potatoes and slowed them down. Clearly I need to add a gazillion tons of pine bark fines and compost to the west end of the veggie garden before next season. It is a sandier-clayier loam than the rest of the veggie garden, but no matter how much compost I add to it, it still seems like it isn't as improved as the heavier clay. I usually grow either sweet potatoes or potatoes there, but then find the soil rock-hard at digging time. It probably is the least-improved soil in which I grow veggies because it started out in better shape than the clay, so I kind of ignored it and didn't amend it nearly as much. Now that the rest of the soil is so much better than the west end, I need to work on the west end a lot to bring it up to speed. Susan, I'm sorry you couldn't get the soccer goal. That would have been so perfect. I find so many interesting things at garage sales that can be used in the garden. I got a wooden ladder for $3 once, painted it a medium purple, and now grow purple hyacinth beans on it. It is just the coolest-looking thing when you see only hints of the purple ladder peeking out through all that bean foliage and flowers. Mommyrosalyn, You're welcome and be sure to let us know what you end up with and how they do for you. That's how we all learn from one another. I did forget to list one favorite (not hard to do when you have 100 or 200 favorites) that doesn't get a lot of attention but which does produce very well in our climate, and it is one called Fantastic. There's also an improved version of it called Super Fantastic. I actually prefer Fantastic, which I have to raise from seed myself because I usually don't see it in stores, but I see Super Fantastic in stores pretty often. When you are tomato shopping in chain stores or nursery chain stores watch for tomato plants from Chef Jeff. That particular line carries oodles of heirlooms. However, if you can shop at The Tomatoman's Daughter or at any of the festivals where Duck Creek Farms sells heirloom tomato plants (see link to Duck Creek Farms website below---their schedule of farmer's market and festivals is available there), then any variety they sell likely would please you. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Duck Creek Farms

Another spinach lover here. We most often cook it the way Althetrainer mentioned, sauteed with garlic. I often buy the spinach pies at our Middle Eastern bakery but have never made them at home. Since I rarely buy tomatoes out of season, we eat a lot of spinach salads during the winter. Ive posted this one before. Its on the lighter side and a good complement to heavy dishes like lasagne. LEMON SPINACH SALAD 1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms 1 lb. young spinach leaves, washed and stemmed 6 Tbs. olive oil 2 Tbs. lemon juice 1/4 tsp. salt 1 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese 1 clove garlic, slivered Finely grated rind of 1/2 lemon 1 hard cooked egg Freshly ground black pepper Wash mushrooms and combine with spinach. Chill. Mix oil, lemon juice, salt, cheese and garlic. Chop up egg and sprinkle over salad. Add lemon rind to salad and grind pepper on top. Pour dressing over salad right before serving and toss. Note: Best if dressing is made about an hour ahead of time and garlic pieces removed before pouring on salad. Crumbled bacon pieces can be added if desired. ------------ Vegetable timbales have always been one of our family favorites for meatless meals. Its common to find recipes for them in early 20th century cookbooks. SPINACH TIMBALES 2 (10 oz.) packages frozen chopped spinach 4 eggs 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice Cheese or hollandaise sauce, if desired Cook spinach according to package directions; drain thoroughly. In small mixer bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Stir in cooked spinach and remaining ingredients except sauce. Divide mixture between 5 greased 6 oz. custard cups. Place cups on a rack in a 10" pot or deep skillet. Fill skillet with hot (not boiling) water to 1/2". Put a loose piece of foil over the cups, shaped so that the steam drips back into the pot instead of on the custard cups. Cover with lid and cook over medium heat for 18 to 22 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Loosen edges with knife; unmold. If desired, serve with sauce. Makes 5 (1/2 cup) servings.

Yum to everything mentioned! I am waiting for my husband to get home with takeout, and this thread it not helping my patience! My comfort food is usually something warm and soft. Soup. Mashed potatoes. No specific recipe -- I think I tended to eat things that were warm and easy on the throat when I was sick, and that temperature/texture is what defined comfort food for me. I'm not sure that this is quite the same thing as comfort food, but I also get a warm, family sort of feeling from sharing fresh fruit. Stems from my father's immense delight at purchasing fruit/hearing that we enjoyed eating it. His family was quite poor growing up and could not afford much fresh food, so my whole life, my dad's always been immensely pleased to see his family eat well. Drives my mom bananas (pun intended) because she thinks he spends to much on food, but it makes him SO happy. The fruit basket at my parents' house is probably the best stocked in the country. Since that was normal for me growing up, I also always have fresh fruit in my house, and my husband is usually so delighted to help me eat anything I've washed/cut up. It's all very homey.

2many, my dinners sure don't look like AnnT's and sometimes I forget to take pictures until after I have started eating, LOL. I think jasdip has taken a lesson from me in that way too, sometimes. It doesn't always have to be pretty, it just has to taste good. You don't even have to take pictures, lots of members just tell us what they had, it's all good. AnnT, Elery thinks he would like an espresso machine, I sure don't know where the heck we'd put it. Sleevendog, your sesame noodle bowl led me to my own supper tonight, which was certainly not pretty, but it was good. The recipe called it an "egg roll noodle bowl" and that's pretty descriptive. Ground pork, ginger, soy sauce, cabbage, carrots, rice noodles, and Elery and I both enjoyed it. I also started some lamb marinating for gyros tomorrow. I'm not a fan of lamb, but if I chop it up really finely, marinate the heck out of it, cover it with a ton of sauce, I can eat it. Elery loves the stuff, so I sometimes just cave in. Anyway, I was out of dried oregano, so I went out and dug some out of the snow. It was still green and aromatic: Over the weekend Dave and Elery were installing a pellet stove here, and so everyone had dinner here. (Everyone being Amanda and Dave, Makayla and Bud, Elery and I) Saturday we had baked ham, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, brussels sprouts, garlic rolls and gluten free brownies. Sunday we had pork loin, baked potatoes, green beans, fresh beer bread with sorghum molasses and gluten free shortbread squares. . I didn't take a picture either day, of course, because...well...I was busy and I forgot, LOL, except the shortbread: I baked some beer bread and this loaf of Harvest Wheat, filled with dried cherries, dried cranberries and pecans: I had some ripe bananas, so made banana muffins and drizzled them with caramel glaze: My dear helpful grandson was "in charge" of the dessert, and managed to stir the chocolate into the hot cream for the ganache just long enough to justify licking the whisk! Yeah, his sister was here too but she was too busy making mocha with my coffee and playing with the cat to help much in the kitchen. Yes, she's 14 and is already a veteran coffee drinking. I didn't start drinking coffee until I was nearly 30, but she's got a jump on that habit already! Annie