I'm not sure exactly what you are implying in your reference to ethanol free fuel and spark knock. Whether the fuel is formulated with ethanol or not, it is the octane rating of the fuel that one needs to be cautious of (regarding the need to control spark knock) if you have a choice of buying ethanol laced fuels, or ethanol free. I have doubts about a 1980s engine having a compression ratio high enough to require use of anything above 87 octane rating. The real concerns of ethanol blended fuels is that some rubber parts of the fuel system components might not fare very well in the presence of ethanol, plus the fact that ethanol blended fuels DO tend to collect more water vapor from the atmosphere (through tank vent respiration) and precipitate that out later on. Your vintage of engine might in fact benefit from keeping ethanol away from its rubber fuel system parts as ethanol blended fuels were well below the OEM radar back them days. Most of the issues due to ethanol attacking certain rubber parts has been addressed by OEMs improving ethanol resistance in the latest rubber compounds they use for making their parts. As to the extra water..........about the only way to guard against that becoming a problem is to not store large amounts of fuel for extended periods of time. One way to keep from having extra fuel on hand for the OPE fleet is top off the fuel tank as far as it can be filled at the time of dead-lining the machine for the off season. A completely full tank respires less volume of atmosphere when ambient temperatures fluctuate. After doing that, any fuel you have left over should be poured into your car or truck fuel tank for daily driving.

Jill-- I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties in maintaining this garden. For sure, one of your upcoming challenges will be to figure out how to care for and maintain the garden in the long term. Are you considering forming a trust for it, or what will you do if you have to sell? These hard questions are probably even more pressing than your current maintenance woes. But, about your current concerns...have you put out the word that you need help? You might try contacting your local garden club. I used to belong to a club that was affiliated with Garden Clubs of America. It was a service organization and so did take on community projects of different sorts. One year, a grant was offered, I think by Shell Oil, of matching funds for the restoration or renovation of a historic garden. Of course, the club had to justify the importance of the garden and the project had to pass a screening process. Just a thought. Also, although it might not be financially viable to save the property, you might find solace in moving some of the plants to protected homes--share them with friends or relatives who are avid gardeners. If there is an heirloom seed company near you or a botanical garden that would be interested in heirlooms, they might like to save, propagate, and distribute the seeds--thereby ensuring the life of some of your treasured plants. My advice is to get on the phone and let people know you need help--people feel weird about asking, especially when doing so might sound insulting. Check out the yellow pages for garden clubs--there will be several, all affiliated with different national organizations. Will your local historical society help? Many communities and bigger corporations host clean-up days during which volunteers go out into the neighborhood to do chores for for those who can't--make sure they know about you. Good luck. I hope things look up for you.

Sorry for the delay, John. I've been away. I put a couple cap full of FP in my watering can. I haven't been consistsant with frequency of using it, I suppose once a week for a while. Ran out of FP at the moment. I haven't been using it quite as strong on the tomatoes as the peppers. I recently sprinkled a little granular fertilizer on the plants. The only plant that hasn't produced anything is ozark giant pepper. A dud. The 2 fushimis in one pot has worked out fine. Lots of peppers. I would do it again. The birds and something else are going crazy over fushimi and Jimmy nardello peppers. Just as soon as they turn red and ripe, they eat at the bottom of the peppers. I'm having to pick them early. Also, some critter has gotten almost every chocolate stripe tomato. Found a half eaten one in the driveway last night. The animals are winning this year....

For me, I don't see #1 as plantaginea at all. Besides the color of the flower which rules plantaginea out, the hosta is way too yellow. I know the sun can change the coloring of the hosta, but it just seems too drastic a change. Gardencool, I am thinking old time hostas too. I thought for sure there would be undulatas. My friend used to tell me that #1 had huge leaves. I thought it to be S&S without even seeing it. But then when we did visit, I thought it looked so small and got confused about its identity. Isn't it amazing how a hosta can look with a lot of sun exposure? Peren.all, even though I am so surprised to see the size of my friend's S&S, I do see a lot of resemblance to it. I have cropped the photo to see the hosta a bit closer. ConnieMay, I think #2 is looking very good also considering it was mid August when I took the photos. I rather like the different coloring and variegation in the leaves. The third is I can't tell what it is. I also cropped the photo. I would say there is no variegation in it. Just bleached out. Here's one even closer: Gardencool, you think #3 could be lancifolia. I don't know if my friend's hosta has the right shape of leaves for lancifolia. I have lancifolia and I find the leaves are longer and narrower. And I thought it would be a breeze to identify her hostas! It will be really interesting to see what these look like in the spring! I'll ask her if she fertilizes or has ever fertilized!