Morning, Tiff..I know what you mean. Dh goes to work, comes home. I serve him dinner, he takes the dog for a walk then sits in front of 'his' tv w/head phones until bedtime. Plus my family and I had an argument, so I no longer call them, or accept their calls. And winter is just, plain depressing. Going on a week w/o sunlight. It seems the most exiting thing I do is go to the grocery store and doctors..and the docs isn't very entertaining..I despise going. I ended up taking most of my TC's and potting them in a hanging basket..several stems broke, so doubt they'll produce more flowers this year. See what boredom does??? End up doing stupid things like repotting budded TC's!!! Tiff, can you, your dh and dk's move w/your mom? Please understand I'm not trying to nosy myself in your business, just a suggestion. You do need others to talk to. Adult conversation, or at least people who enjoy plants, kids and any other hobbies you're into. There are many here who like talking to you, so if you ever feel blue, sign into GW.. :) Marjie..I didn't know you had twins..Oh you poor thing.. :) Twin babies? Oh Lord, when do you find time to think? God bless you, girl. How old are they? Ha, your Sadie sounds like our dearly departed, Mastiff, Sam..Forget tennis balls..they lasted two seconds..when dh took Sam to the woods, Sam saw a cute dog playing w/his tennis ball. Sam ran over, stole his ball and chewed it to smithereens. The owner laughed, but his poor dog lost so many tennis balls because of Sam. I bought a bag of tennis balls for the man, or rather his dog to replace those destroyed by Sam..lol. I love Labs..How much does Sadie weigh? Is she high-strung? I worked as an asst vet. When it was time to spay Black Labs, 'not so much neutering males,' the females needed extra sedation. Their breed was so much fun to work with..lol. j/k. Labs are extremely intelligent, loyal AND beautiful.. After surgery, Labs couldn't wait to see mom, dad, brother or sister, ready to take them home. lol. Yep, rubber rings last longest. Even w/love to chewy-teeth dogs, and mid-extra large breeds. Sam had a rubber, U-shaped band called Pull & Tug..One toy he couldn't chew to pieces. lol. Marjie, if you're serious about running away, I'll go along. As long as we can bring our pets, children and plants! We'd have to buy a couple buses though. More like five. lol. Hey JoJo..wow, a chicken named Hawk hanging around you..You should go to YouTube, seach for chicken sounds..Wonder what Hawk would do?? lol. How nice. What a lucky chicken!! AWWW, why are the other chickens pecking on her? Are they plucking her feathers? Funny she hangs with the dogs..maybe she thinks she's a canine...lol Poor kitty..wonder what's going through his mind??!! I can imagine..no wonder he seeks a higher level. lol. JoJo, only the best for our feathered/furred family, right? Bet your zoo pets are as spoiled as ours..lol. Don't blame you for investing in a jeep..Can you imagine trying to haul all that food in a Fiero? lol. I don't know much about quail. How do they behave and what do they eat? Are they in or outdoors? I remember you said you got a new turtle..how's he/she working out? I forgot, is he/she a water or land turtle? 3 dogs..wow! lol. Does your gecko have an English accent like the commercial? lol. The gecko commercial is one of a few I don't mind watching...makes me laugh. JoJo, I know you addressed to Marjie, but I too bred Betas. Wasn't it amusing watching the male spitting a nest for babies? But, poor moms. JoJo,, what type of plants are you looking for? Wow, you wake before the roosters..lol..Toni

The difference in success from year to year involves so many variables. I've been WS for 6 years now, and even with that amount of experience, the differences from year to year, do vary every year. My success rate has always been at least 95%; success defined by me as germination of any kind in a container, not the number of seedlings germinated in each container, I do try to keep records as to where the seeds came from. Such things as trades, commercial seeds and what co. they came from, my own collected seeds. From year to year, not all seed will germinate the same, even for me. I always put out the perennials first. Being in New England, I do have a few months to get them out and get the cold that they need, BUT, 2 years ago we had the strangest winter. 60 to near 70 degrees in January and I know people that had WS their seeds in Dec. and had seeds germinating in January because it was so warm. Those plants didn't survive. I had a late start that winter and ended up not getting my seeds out till mid February and they germinated fine for me, I didn't have any germination too early. So for me, I learned that I can start in mid Feb and it won't be too late for me. BUT, I've also had some serious cold snaps as late as mid May and if I had not covered my tender annuals several nights in a row, I would have lost all of them. So variables are major things to deal with. Weather is a real problem. One year I had 8 inches of rain over 2 days and all my containers where floating in the backyard and the ducks where swimming right beside and around them. Most survived, but there where some that survived the floods, only to be eaten by the invasion of slugs that I had never had before in 29 years living in my home. When we sow seeds that we traded for, we take a risk. Where the seeds collected when they where ripe or where they too early? If too early then the seeds will not be viable and will not germinate for you. The same thing can happen with commercial bought seeds as well. I've had my share of "no shows" in containers from commercial purchased seeds from big name seed companies. I've gotten my money back, but still had no plants from the seeds I planned on. Watering can be a problem, which goes with the weather. this year has been the craziest weather I have seen in 28 years living in my home. We've gone from freezing temps to 80's and 90's, with temps not staying stable for more than 2-3 days at most. 80's and 90's in early April are not normal where I am, but we've had them. We've had frosts long after it should not be happening and may happen again tonight. I've never had to water my containers before the last week in April to the first week in May at the earliest. This year I have had to water every other day since the first week in April. Germination for me has been very eradic as well. Same seeds, same kind of containers, sowed the same day from the same collected, traded or commercial packet and containers are germinating days and weeks apart. My datura are usually about 4 inches tall now, and most have not germinated yet. They need steady 70 degree soil temp to germinate but they haven't gotten it. And, we have not had a lot of rain. lots of days with rainy showers that moisten the top of the containers but not enough to soak into them. Over 6 years of WS, I've learned to just go with the flow. Always expect good germination in terms of container numbers, sow more seeds than I will need in more containers, which usually will cover the beds planted. Assume that some will not germinate and that's just the way mother nature is. Remember that no matter how you look at it, you will have more plants than you would have if you had to buy them and just WS next year and keep going. The only way you will have a sure fire way to have every plant that you want, no matter what, is to buy them. That's far too expensive for me to deal with, considering the number of beds that i have to fill and keep filling. WS does it for me and I wouldn't do it any other way. Fran

I finally got around to doing an inventory of who's poking their heads up. I'm thinking beginner's luck really applies to me (like Hykue already mentioned for her garden), since almost everything seems to be coming back. My garden is in Whitehorse, Yukon (Zone 1a). Here's what made it: Delphiniums - 'Summer Skies', Pacific Giant 'Guinevere', and assorted miscellaneous ones that were here when we moved in. Re-blooming Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Catherine Woodbury') Asiatic Pot Lily 'Mt. Duckling' Primula cortusoides - coming up like crazy and now its blooming, one of the earliest ones in the garden, came up at the same time as the Delphiniums Columbine - Aquilegia vulgaris plena 'Black Barlow' and A. flabellata 'Ministar' (Blue Angel Fan columbine) Dianthus deltoides 'Confetti White' (White Maiden pinks) and Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Tiny Rubies (Cheddar pinks) Campanula cochlearifolia 'Bavaria Blue' (Bavaria Blue Fairy Thimble) - came up a bit later than everything else so I was worried about it but it looks like itÂs doing fine Rosy Pussytoes Cutleaf Anemone  another one thatÂs growing like crazy. Goat's Beard Sempervivum 'Emerald Express' Tanacetum coccineum Robinson's Mix (Single Painted Daisy) Subalpine Daisy Baby's Breath - a transplant from my mother-in-law's garden last year Speedwell - Veronica allioni unknown var.; Veronica RedFox; Veronica spicata 'Sightseeing Mix' (all are coming up like crazy) Aster alpinus 'Dunkle Schone' (Dark Beauty Alpine Aster), and Aster alpinus 'Pinkie' (Pink Alpine Aster) - the Dark Beauty has tons of growth, the Pinkie is slower but alive Double-flowering Almond - I really had doubts about how this one would do when I planted it last year but it's flowering! Icelandic poppy  just about to flower. Peonies 'Sword Dance', 'Sarah Bernhardt', and 'Sorbet' - I was worried about them but the ÂSarah Bernhardt is coming up like crazy and the others are alive, too. I had thought the Sword Dance was dead last year so stuck it in the ground in a patch in the middle of nowhere, pretty much ignored it, and now itÂs coming back. IÂm amazed. Common Bleeding Heart  survived but I planted it in what turned out to be a poor spot last year so IÂll move it as soon as I can this year. Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) - planted it in a very bad spot two years ago and I'm amazed it's still hanging in there. I'm going to move the poor thing this year. Potentilla nepalensis (Cinquefoil ÂMiss WillmottÂ)  another one that I planted in a really bad spot two years ago and it survived. IÂd actually forgotten it was even there and so wasnÂt watering it or anything but then went to dig up a spot for azaleas and found it! So IÂve moved it to my new shade bed while apologizing to it profusely. Hosta undulata ÂMediovariegata' is slowly coming up; still no sign of Hosta fortunei Âaureomarginata Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis ÂRoseaÂ) Lilacs  two unknown varieties that were here when we moved in Chives - these were here from the previous owners. I accidentally weeded a bunch out when we first moved in and then discovered more the other day. A few other odds and ends  raspberries that we transplanted from my mother-in-lawÂs garden last year, rhubarb that was here when we moved in, two Ashleaf Spirea that appeared out of nowhere, tons of JacobÂs Ladder and Yarrow and Oxeye Daisies, and a mixture of wild and domestic strawberries that are all in bloom now. The casualties (what doesnÂt appear to have survived or are iffy): Dwarf Arctic Iris (Iris setosa var. arctica)  two donÂt have anything but I just noticed that one has a couple of green shoots Phlox divaricata ssp laphamii ÂChattahoochee Johnny Jump-ups  maybe these will come later since they did fine last year Blue Marguerite (Felicia amelloides) Nepeta faassenii ÂDropmore Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla ÂJack FrostÂ)  I think IÂll try this again but somewhere else in my yard. Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea ÂDouble MixedÂ)  not surprised these didnÂt make it, I didnÂt really expect them to but thought IÂd give them a try False Spirea (Astilbe taqueti ÂSuperbaÂ)  another one that I planted before I knew what I was doing and that probably would have done fine if IÂd put it in a better spot. Poor thing. IÂve got some other Astilbes in a different spot this year.

interesting - the Ball book has a very similar recipe and theirs calls for adding acid to it. Some of those listed on the PDF in the link call for it, some don't. Maybe some are newer and others are old that have not been retested doing things a bit differently. I can't add lemon juice as DH is allergic to sulfates and they are a preservative in bottled juice. I add powdered citric acid, but I'd rather process the tomatoes a bit longer and leave out the acid all together. I did find something interesting in the PDF file, it says "When any of the tomato packs, tomato sauce or tomato juice directions have options for both boiling water and pressure canning, then the two alternatives are equal processed to boiling water canning. The Pressure option is not additional heating that would allow for leaving out the acidification step. However the stewed tomatoes only has PC times. I wish someone would publish times for plain tomatoes or sauce for PC that did not require acidification.