Hi Joel. I've been wondering why we haven't heard from you. I hope your wife's injury is not too bad and that she has a full recovery. My last batch of dip was the best yet. The beans were German Red bush limas and I used almond butter in place of tahini but I also added some fresh sesame seed. The German Red lima is a very tasty and productive bean that I have grown for two years and I plan to grow it, along with my BJBBs for the rest of my gardening years. My main problem with it is I'm an old man (85) and it is really tough for me to pick bush beans.This past season I just let most of them dry on the stalks and then pulled them up, took them under a shade tree, sat on a stool and removed them from the vines. The downside to that method is you lose a a lot of immature pods. I've had another plesant surprise. I planted three Doc Martin's limas in June and the vines really loved this Texas heat. They grew like crazy and bloomed profusely but formed no pods until the high temperatures dropped down to the eighties. So far we cooked a large pot full and I have two quarts of dry seed. We had our first lite freeze three days ago with a heavy frost that burnt the new growth. There are still lots of almost mature pods that I can dry and harvest ( NOT BAD FOR ONLY THREE PLANTS IS IT?) I'm going to plant a few early next spring to see if they will set some pods before the weather gets too hot and see if they will continue to grow thru the summer and produce another fall crop. Harry

You need to find a good spot for the garden. It needs full sun and good drainage and at least a six inch depth of decent soil. Clay loam can be amended; impenetrable clay subsoil is usually hopeless, and needs to be removed and replaced with good topsoil. Or you can pile topsoil on top of it. Your garden needs a source of water. If it's pretty far away from your outside spigot, you will need to buy some hose. If there are big trees next to the garden, they will suck up ALL of your water and fertilizer. I'm not exaggerating. So no big trees near the garden. You will have to prepare the soil. This isn't a good time. It needs to dry out somewhat before you can till or dig. So you will need to be patient. If you have some plastic film, clear or black, you can put it over the area where the garden is going to be, and it will help the soil to dry out earlier. If you use black plastic, it will also kill the weeds and grass. The next step is to improve the soil. If you don't do this, your crops aren't going to grow well, and weeding is going to be miserable, especially if you have dense clay. I always do the same thing when I'm making a new garden: I till in about one inch of sand and one inch of organic material, such as compost or rotted bark, along with a generous sprinkling of lime and superphosphate. The lime corrects the soil acidity (our soils here are always acid, as far as I know). You will notice that the dollar bills are starting to flow now, right? If you want a successful garden, you have to make an up-front investment. If you don't do it right, you will end up like many (most?) new gardeners: with a garden full of weeds, and no desire to continue. You will definitely not save money the first year, because of the up-front costs. You will get the investment back over several years of gardening, assuming you get pretty good at it. Are you sure you want to do this? Most people badly underestimate the amount of work involved. Also, are you in town or in the country? If in the country, how are you going to keep the bunnies, raccoons and deer out of your garden? More money. Slugs may well be your worst enemy. You will have to terminate them with extreme prejudice. Choose your weapon: bait, scissors, stale beer? Bait works best, but has negatives. So let's say you've improved your soil, and it's late May, and time to start planting. Are you going to grow from seed, or from plants? Since you didn't grow your own plants, you will have to buy them. I recommend that you do everything on a small scale the first year, until you learn the necessary skills. Try some lettuce and tomato plants, and some green bean, radish, pea and red beet seeds. You will need support for the tomatoes and peas. I use big tomato cages, the ones you find at real nurseries, not the itty-bitty ones at Home Depot. If your soil is well prepared and at least 8 inches deep, try some carrots. I wouldn't try peppers, melons, or eggplant; they're likely to fail for a novice. The cabbage family is not hard to grow, but tends to have bug and worm problems. Try some easy flower seeds, like marigold, zinnia, and sunflower. Kids love Mammoth sunflowers; they get about 9 feet tall. And it's fun to watch the blue jays fight over the seeds in the fall. You will need fertilizer. The easiest is to buy some balanced fertilizer such as 5-10-10 or 16-16-16, and forget about doing a soil test. If you find out in a year or so that you are really cut out for gardening, that might be a good time to get a soil test done. There are two ways to use fertilizer. You can mix a teaspoonful into the soil where you are going to place a plant; or you can apply it to the surface around existing plants, and let your irrigation water wash it down to the roots. As soon as you start fertilizing and watering, your new garden is going to explode with weed growth. You must control them when they're small, or your garden will be lost. This is when you will be grateful for the sand and compost. The soil will be loose and workable, and it will be easy to pull the weeds. The good news is that next year and the year after that, the weed situation won't be nearly as bad. However, if you let the weeds go to seed, your garden will be a weed nursery forever. You must not let this happen. There are lots of learning experiences along the way, like learning to identify pests and how to control them. The best way to learn is to find a really good gardener in your neighborhood. They are getting rare. Let them teach you. Next best is Gardenweb. Approach gardening books and mass-media garden gurus with skepticism. There's a lot of BS out there. And ignore advertising. Don't buy anything that says "miracle" on it, or that costs a lot of money. Check with your local expert first, or ask on this forum. That's all I know.

Several possibilities. Tofu can substitute. Get the soft stuff and whip it through a blender. If necessary, add a little cream to thin it down. Try draining the yoghurt. Line a collander with cheesecloth and pour the yoghurt into it. Let it drain until the thickness you like. Do not let it go overnight, or you'll have yoghurt cheese, and you'll have to thin it down again. Cream cheese thnnied with wither cream or the soured cream you have available. Let the cream cheese come to room temperature before whipping it with the cream. You can also thin the cream cheese with mayo if you like that sort of thing. BTW, don't they still sell clotted cream in Jolly Olde? Check that out as a possible substitute.

Here are two that I really like. FRUIT SPREAD 8 oz. cream cheese 4 oz. crushed pineapple 1 peeled and grated carrot (sm.) 1 peeled and grated apple (sm.) Combine all ingredients. Cover and chill. Serve with sliced fresh fruit or Ritz & Wheat Thin crackers. PINEAPPLE CREAM CHEESE DIP 2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened 1 8½-oz. can crushed pineapple, drained well (put between two paper towels to absorb excess juice) 1½ C chopped pecans, optional ¼ C finely chopped green pepper 2 T finely chopped onion 1-1½ tsps. Season Salt In medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add drained pineapple. If using pecans, set aside 1¼ cups to roll the cheese ball in and add the remaining ¼ C to cheese mixture along with the pepper, onion and Season salt. Mix well. Shape into ball and roll in pecans. Wrap in foil and refrigerate overnight. OR just spoon mixture into a serving dish and sprinkle with some chopped pecans and use as a dip. (I prefer this way.) Serve with crackers, bread sticks or raw veggies of your choice.