I called Starbucks last night and just said "Hey there I was wondering if there was anyway I could get your used coffee grounds for my garden". The guy on the phone was like "Sure when do you think you'll be by to pick them up". I told him and gave him my name. Just swung in and grabbed the bag and gave them 5 bucks for their tip jar. Least I could do to help them out. I tried calling Dunkins in my area but I either got "It's too much of a hassle" or "I have to check with my district manager". I'm trying to find other locations that will give me as much as they can as a couple years ago I dumped about 3 small barrels worth and the outcome was major growth in the garden; a lot of tomatoes and zucchini. My house doesn't go hungry when we have fruit trees and fresh vegetables at our fingertips. I just wish more places could accommodate the need, I'd be dumping more in the garden.

We've had a rainier than normal summer here as well and a few of my plants have defoliated badly. I started off using a sulfur spray at the beginning, but switched to the Bayer Disease Control for Roses. Not the the 3 in 1 or the one with the fertilizer, just the fungicide. I just sprayed the day before last and yesterday they were already perking back up. Then it rained, and rained, and rained some more yesterday afternoon. The stuff had plenty of time to dry, but I just don't know. My roses are not happy with all this moisture, or maybe they are but the fungus is doing the Marcarena and having BBQ's. My grandma uses a Garden Safe product that has Neem Oil I think? I'm not really sure, but she swears by it and her roses aren't defoliated like a few of mine. But then again they are knockouts, so I can't really say if that's a good testimony for it or not as I don't grow those yet. As for fertilizer, I just bought Mills Easy Feed liquid. I've added the link. Haven't used it yet and with all the rain, will probably wait till things dry up a bit. I have plenty of Rose Tone to keep them happy until then. It doesn't get cold in my neck of Florida until December so I have so extra wiggle room. I've also used Neptune's Harvest Fish/Seaweed emulsion. I used it on everything in my garden. Here is a link that might be useful: Mills Easy Feed

This year, I started visiting a local nursery (which is about a 3 minute drive from my house... why didn't I look there before?), and they've given me some freebies: - A free coleus, after they had already given me 3 coleus for half the normal price of one. - 8 free lily bulbs that were leftovers from the spring planting season (probably dead). - 24 free gladiolus bulbs, also leftovers, but still alive. - Permission to "snatch" some daylily seeds. - 3 free ears of miniature indian corn. - Today, they gave me a free mum. They also gave me some other unexpected discounts throughout the year: - a daylily that was supposed to be $2.50 for $2 - a 4-pack of dusty millers that was supposed to be 75¢ for 50¢ - a pot of lilies that was supposed to be $5 for $3 - a pumpkin that was supposed to be 75¢ for 50¢ - twice, they didn't make me pay sales tax I guess they know how to keep bargain hunters happy!

Sorry, I was thinking that the zip code would be pretty recognizable to people who are local enough to be interested. But I didn't think about the fact that there are enough zip codes around here that it doesn't really cover a wide area. Thanks for the tip! So: 60118 is the west suburban Chicago area. I live in West Dundee.