I think you're getting into the ideas behind succession planting. Particularly the type of SP where you sow another group of seeds every couple of weeks to get a continuous supply of a certain crop. Lettuce in particular springs to mind! I agree with jwstell42 that as long as your days to maturity are less than your days to first frost, you should be fine. Down here I do worry about being "too late" with heat-sensitive crops like peas and broccoli. Up closer to you, my Mom worries about being "too late" with anything that needs a long season like winter squash. And to answer some of your questions, yes, they likely are selling short-season varieties. You can get them too, especially if you order seeds. I actually use a number of quick-maturing varities here because I do a different type of succession planting (small yard, long season) where I grow cool crops first, the pull them out and plant hot-season crops (and sometimes pull them out and do cool season crops again). I get my seeds for those from a company called Pinetree Seeds. I get a really late first frost down here and the only other thing that can have a "too late" effect on certain crops is the fact that the trees to the south of my yard are fully leafed until sometime in November, so there's a lot more shade in the garden than in spring. So even though the temps are good for things like tomatoes, they stop producing due to lack of light. So, too late? Who says? :) Cheers! Sunni

Oh! The lilacs! I stare at the photo for a few moments, look hard at the little heart shaped leaves and the individual florets of the blossoms, then close my eyes. For a moment, I'm I child again and recall the fragrance of an armload of lilac branches, my father's favorite flower. Can you tell I don't live there any more and the lack of chill here doesn't allow lilacs? Thank you for sharing that photo. Nell

...when one of your shower doors explodes! No joke, last night a minute after Cathy stepped out of the shower the door exploded. She has quite a few abrasions and one significant laceration on her left shin that's going to leave quite a horse-shoe shaped scar. I'm sure glad it didn't happen while she was still in the shower or we'd probably be at the hospital today. Fearing the other door might do the same thing we had a handyman come over and remove it this morning. Rather than taking it to the dump he wrapped it in a blanket and took a sledge hammer to it so we could also put it in the garbage can. Danged if he didn't have to give it 6-7 good wacks before it would break. Go figure!

I agree with asolo's comments that guaranteed temperatures are a good thing to have even if the temperature setting iof the cycles is somewhat low. That one the main reason for me to get the Bosch washer. I am aware of the actual temperatures of the cycles and that the warm cycle is just 90 degrees (rather cold), but I can adjust the cycle selection accordingly. The sanitary cycle offers 170 degrees (for three minutes, then 150), the kids cycle reaches 150 F and the hot cycle 120. It would be nice to have a few more options, but I can definitely find an appropriate cycle for all my clothes, bedding and towels. jerrod6, the European FLs sold in Europe (220 V, 5-7 kg capacity) coldest cycle is a 30 degree Celsius wash, except for maybe the delicate cycles. So all those washers should heat the water to approx. 90 F which is still below body temperature so the vast majority of clothes won't get any damage... I am not sure if the smaller European washers offered in the US are exactly the same, I guess you'd have to check the specific manuals or call the manufacturer. To the OP, yes, I do think that tap cold water is too cold to get anything clean. It might work on clothes that are very slightly soiled or smelly, but for dog bedding or dish rags I'd always choose a much higher temperature. In our old TL we used the "hot" cotton cycle and the dish rags would still be smelly. The enzymes of the detergents are not active at temperatures below approx. 90 F and no bacteria or fungi get effectively killed at anything below ~140 F. Rinsing your dish rags in the kitchen sink with hot water will most likely get them cleaner than washing them at tap cold temperatures in a washing machine. One thing you can do to kill the germs in dish rags if you really can't or don't want to do hot washes is to put the wet dish rags in the microwave for a minute. Afterwards you can wash them and they should be fairly clean.