I am new with this as well. I love Kabocha squash and I had saved some seeds from one I bought at the health food store a few years ago. I was late in planting, probably late July and it took them about a month to really get going. The male flowers came first followed by the females about 3 weeks later. It is now August 2 and we just hand pollinated our first female flower this morning. I am so excited! We don't have many pollinators in this area and I had read before that if you want to ensure you get fruit you should probably hand pollinate, so, that is what we did. I planted only two squash this year. We have about 10 more female flowers that are not mature enough to open yet. I check them every day because the flowers are only open for a very short time, so, the window of opportunity is very small. I can't wait to watch the babies grow. I am hoping I can get about 10 squash off of the two plants. I have read you are lucky if you get one per vine, but, with hand pollinating I am hoping for at least two. I now have 5 vines growing. They are very aggressive and seem to take over whatever is in their path. I have a second year carrot growing for the seeds and the squash seems to be taking it down, literally. I also have spearmint growing to the side and so far I have been able to detour the squash by simply picking up the vine and moving it away from the spearmint. If you move them as they are first growing outward they seem easily deterred. I didn't have to move them much, maybe only 5 inches. I love these plants and have gotten a lot of joy out of watching. I water them every night when the sun goes down. I planted them in a manure enriched soil I bought at Walmart. I have not used any other fertilizer on them and they are growing great. However, I did read that the key to growing these squash is Patience, patience, patience. They are not something that grows overnight. Also, don't be too anxious to harvest them. They are suppose to stay on the vine until the vine dries up and falls away from the fruit. In the end they stem looks like that of a pumpkin. I hope you are enjoying your plants as much as I am mine. I am planning to plant a lot more next year and in a place in the yard where they have lots of room to branch out without worrying about them taking over any other plants. Good luck to you. :)

Hunter, a good technique is to cover the pots with plastic wrap to keep the soil moist and air humid. Place them in a warm place like in the hot water heater closet or on top of the refrigerator. Check them every few days to see if soil is still damp (not wet ) or for sprouts. Seeds don't need sunlight to sprout, but warmth is key. Be patient. Palm seeds often sprout roots first and can take longer before you see a leaf push up. After they sprout, move them into a bright spot. Direct sun may burn them, so acclimate them slowly. In the future do some research on how to sprout the type of seeds you acquire. There is alot of good info on this site and Google. Basic tips: clean seed of all fruit or pulp. Soak seeds In warm water for 24 hrs, changing water regularly. Plant in peat pods or potting soil. Cover as suggested and place in warm spot. Good luck and be patient.

What you are saying makes sense to me +oM about the thinning of trees and that they "will fight you back if you try to change that ratio too much." And I see that you understand exactly what I mean when you said that you had a large silver maple in your backyard and that the "hostas grew a little each year.....smaller, that is! So that is an issue." Absolutely, right on! That has happened in my backyard with almost everything I have tried to grow. Also, if I think about adding raised beds, my husband says that I am blocking the drainage flow. And if I were to remove my grass and add spin out material, that would be expensive and would perhaps damage the root system of these Sugar Maples. Seems like I can't win. So my solution has been to use pots. Now for certified arborist #2 who came today. He stated first of all that he was not able to do any thinning for us due to the proximity of our hydro wires. He said that I would have to get a company that had a special permit to do this and said that I needed to ask whether that company was insured. He said that since he was here anyways, he would answer questions that I had. Question #1: What are the chances that the city would allow me to cut down one tree? Answer: He said it was hard to say because the city has granted approval to cut trees that he thought they never would. If they did allow one of these trees to be removed, then he thought they would require one or maybe even two to be planted as replacements. I forgot to ask about the crown dying on one of them. Darn!!! Question #2: Can these maples be trimmed and thinned out? Answer: Now this was the interesting part for me. He said that there were some dead branches to be removed and that a bit of thinning could be done. But he also said that each of these trees had a water sprout---I had never heard of that before---and that those could be removed and would probably allow a bit more sunlight into the yard. So I googled water sprout and took some pictures for you to see. Do you really think that removal of this water sprout would be a good idea? It's not that small of a branch anymore. Here is Tree #1. The water sprout is the limb on the right. Tree #2. The water sprout is the limb on the right. I would love to hear some comments!

Timothy Wood, HERE is a great youtube video showing commercial production of softwood cuttings, in this case elm. Unfortunately, quality demonstrations about propagation of trees from cuttings are nearly impossible to find on the internet. There are some "old wives tales" about rooting tree cuttings in water which are mostly nonsense. Your magnolia can be rooted in NC in late June/early July. We usually cut the leaves of magnolia in half to save on space in the prop bed. Since you likely do not have a greenhouse you can make a cold frame and put a sash over it, do not locate in direct sun. Fill it up with cuttings, mist by hand a couple of times a day and keep sash closed 'till they root. One final note, when you take your leafy cuttings they are very perishable, place them in a plastic bag and in a cooler. Stick them within an hour or two after you take them.