Final report on the spring planting of Cool Breeze: 32 lbs of cucumbers from 12 plants. Put another way, 24 pints of bread and butter pickles, 9 quarts of sliced dill pickles, and a few cucumbers for fresh eating and sharing with family. Every fruit was crisp, juicy, and sweet, even when the plans were under stress. They held very well in the fridge, too. That trait was really useful, since I needed to collect 2-3 pickings to get enough for a batch of pickles. Debby did them in; I've been battling mildew for weeks but after three days of near-constant rain every single leaf is badly damaged, even the newest growth. I'm going to give it a few days to see if any of the small fruit still on the vines will grow to usable size, then yank them. (Also, I need to get more seeds before I can replant.) I had pretty much expected to lose them in the heat and humidity of summer. With the good harvest, I consider them a big success, and will definitely replant this variety in the future. Note: The fruits I had this year were really spiny. I don't remember them being this spiny when I grew them years ago. I even had spines lodge in my fingers and break off in my skin. (The good news is that the spines soften up and fall out after a few hours.) If you have delicate skin, I recommend wearing gloves to harvest and handle them until you wash the spines off, or they soften on their own.

Casey's right on. I'm not 'aligned' with anyone yet, but do favor the cowboys at this moment. They really had an advantage with the cow milking, etc. lol I really didn't want anyone to go home yet. Sort of wish they'd have 3 or 4 episodes with no eliminations, just prizes for being first, and of course in the timing of who leaves first in the next episode. That way I could become better acquainted with each team before they start leaving. Here is a link that might be useful: AR recap for Feb 21st

Received my package today, excited to get some more winter sowing started. Thank you so much Lisa for all your hard work, and thank you for the extar seeds, and thank you Jaynine for the extra seeds I am excited to start my edibles. Happy planting, sowing everyone :) Kim Oh I also received the check back Lisa, I will send you the stamps as requested. Thanks, Kim

Well if josh can't grow melons in Cali not sure why I even bother! What do you think was the issue Josh? I will say that I wouldn't even bother if I didn't have a greenhouse, my season just isn't long enough and since I only have a tiny greenhouse I could only fit 2 containers in there so I still have 3 melon containers outside. I need to harvest my last sugar baby and swap it out for my American melons I think but I want to make sure my sugar baby is ripe first. Our nights are at freezing now at least a couple times a week. Ugh. Sorry some things didn't so great this year habjalokia, that's the way it goes sometimes. My potatoes and corn were a busy this year, which is weird because usually I get hundreds of pounds of potatoes. Here is one of my American melons we just ate this week we have a couple more on. It's was more of a honeydew style, tasty but probably could have been a bit riper. So juicy though kind of like a cross between a cucumber and a melon. And here are the charentais, a French cantaloupe. We have eaten one and it was delicious. Tiny though.