Have you ever seen the big tall poles with a propellor on them. They produce energy and for most people who put them in they produce more energy then they use and they start getting a check from the electic company instead of a bill. Problem is for most people the amountof money they are saving is not even close to the cost of the generator. (Est. $10-20,000_ With a bill of $500 dollars a month it would pay for itself in four years and then your electric is essentially free. I don't know about electric heat, but I would imagine you may still need more power than a single wind generator can produce. If you plan on staying in your house for a while it may be a worth while investment. In my case (or my fathers case) it would take too many years for the generator to pay for itself than is worth while for us and we don't have that kind of money upfront. It is easier to pay for the electric bill each month which is a smaller cost than the wind generator even though the long term costs are higher.

I dragged one more plant into the garage last week. It's a Jatropha curcas (a.k.a. physic nut) from which I've been expecting flowers for the past two years. Instead it has concentrated on growing into a 5-foot tall multistemmed tree. I had to hold onto it, though, since according to folk medicine it is "abortifacient, anodyne, antiseptic, cicatrizant, depurative, diuretic, emetic, hemostat, lactagogue, narcotic, purgative, rubefacient, styptic, vermifuge, and vulnerary, physic nut is a folk remedy for alopecia, anasarca, ascites, burns, carbuncles, convulsions, cough, dermatitis, diarrhea, dropsy, dysentery, dyspepsia, eczema, erysipelas, fever, gonorrhea, hernia, incontinence, inflammation, jaundice, neuralgia, paralysis, parturition, pleurisy, pneumonia, rash, rheumatism, scabies, sciatica, sores, stomachache, syphilis, tetanus, thrush, tumors, ulcers, uterosis, whitlows, yaws, and yellow fever" Chances are one or more of those afflictions will come my way eventually (excepting parturition and "uterosis"), so it's good to have a cure on hand. Besides, the seeds can be processed into biodiesel fuel. Hopefully the plant will stay dormant in the garage until spring.

I'm not sure if you were talking about fibrous begonias or tuberous begonias, but I use a trick of having way more begonias than I can plant...I always end up with lots to give away. I purchased a dragon wing begonia and a few six packs of fibrous begonias a few years ago and planted them out. Right before the first hard frost I dug up the little ones, which were now gallon sized. I knocked some of the dirt off, cut them into manageable sizes and sent them to bootcamp...I cut all their leaves and stems down to stumps. Then I stuffed (I mean Stuffed!) them all tight together into flats. No extra dirt...just what is clinging to their roots. As many as I could squeeze together into the flat. Watered them good and stuck the flats on a shelf in my shed which I keep at about 35*F all winter...just above freezing. I hung one flourescent light bulb over them, an under-counter type. I watered them about once a month when I noticed their leaves starting to turn transluscent. About Feb they just started to grow by themselves. I didn't add extra light, water, heat, nothing...somehow they just knew it was time to wake up and they started to put out leaves like mad. By the time they were ready to go into the ground in May, I had super-healthy, large vigourous plants 4"-pot-sized, that took me almost no effort. Every year since I do that, my shelf holds 4 flats of them. Plus at first, they grow a little spindly, I cut those off and they root like mad. For my dragon wing: in fall I sent it to bootcamp too, but then potted it up in a 10" bulb pot. Big around, but not too tall. This is my mother plant that is my permanent houseplant. She grows gangly all winter, and I keep giving her haircuts all winter and rooting the babies. By spring time I have at least 25-30 teenaged dragon wings for almost no effort, ready to go into a flower bed. So, to make this short story long...for the price of 1 dragon wing, and a few sixpacks of little ones, I've more begonias than I know what to do with, and they are sustainable over the years.

What's sad is I have 2 other gardens amended ready to plant in !! But on the s. side of my yard in full, direct, all day sun.. ugh! dahlias won't survive here - they need afternoon shade in my heat :( My hubby said just dig the holes - I knew better!! but thought how I will be pulling weed & grass clumps out of the area for the next 2weeks before I dare to plant one tuber in :( even after digging up the top area of sod. I feel stuck :( I dont want my tubers to stay out of the ground another minute but also know what it's like to do something half @s$ in the beginning and regret it until I fix it ! Now that u have me thinking ab it !! It's harder work to go back n fix it verses doing it right in the first place. I have 47 tubers waiting to be planted - my fear is, if I go ahead & do the bed right, it might take a while. I dug individual holes bc I've been physically sick lately & haven't had the energy to do my normal gardening - I counted 4 bags of black cow & 3 bags of potting Mix - far from enough to amend this area. But I can use soil from one of my open gardens I only have some kelp & bone meal in it - I'm an avid gardener. I know amending a small area for a plant does nothing good for it - I honestly think it's better not to ammend at all unless enough area is amended to accommodate the root zone @ maturity. I was trying to convince myself it'll b ok this way & I'll fix it this winter. Do u have any ideas for a quick solution ?? I wish I had the money to hire help to get this done asap!! Ugh- So how far apart on center should the tubers b planted ?? and in between rows ? I went by online recommendations. I'm beyond upset with myself I didn't start this early march!! Grrr !!!! Very upsetting... Along the south side of my house there's a hillside that stretches out past the right side of my back yard & circles behind it. The hill dips into a valley, which is were my "immediate" backyard is. The lowest point of this " valley" is behind the area I picked for my dahlias 2b planted. My backyard is a little valley but the ground closer to my house is higher than the rest of this valley area. I chose to plant my dahlias in this area closer to my back lanai for afternoon shade & higher ground. Bc the dahlias are at a higher point than the rest of the " valley" if it rains & floods, my dahlias won't be sitting in it. My yard is weird & uneven. I'm upset I waited way too long to get this started!! Do u think I will have blooms this fall if I get them in within a week ? Sorry for flooding u with questions but Im not familiar with dahlias like I am Roses & other flowers :) thanks cici