You will likely get more response to the details of planting your herbs on a forum dedicated to growing herbs, or maybe it is not a question anyone on a forum can really help you with. Trial and error is still a rite of passage in the internet age! But with respect to the landscape plants that you have in that bed, what you have here is sort of a choice between form and function. Functional beds like vegetables are usually not in really visible spots because their purpose overrides their appearance, and to some extent the same is true of herbs. So if you want to grow herbs in this bed for use, they may or may not enhance the look of the bed. You will have to experiment to see which herbs look good and grow well in this setting. It depends on sun angles and soil, among other things. Landscape plants like the shrubs you have there do outgrow their spaces after a while; that point usually being when you can't keep up with the pruning - their root mass is so big that it puts out an amount of new growth every year that you can't keep within the confines of the space. But one does not lightly remove established greenery because it may take ten years before you have something this substantial again. I do think the hedge is providing a good backbone and I'm not sure I would remove it. At least, not yet. And when you do, you might actually want to just replace it with a new, smaller one. And it might be an easier transition to make once you have your herbs or other plants established. That said, be sure to consider access to those shrubs for pruning when you plant your herbs. Maybe some stepping stones in the bed would be good, and also help you space your herbs nicely (and help the soil retain moisture). KarinL

Sorry everyone! Was on vaca for a bit up in northern Maine, and I stayed at a friends home that had the largest south facing windows and skylights you could dream for. I was so jealous. You all know why!!! Right in the middle of corn fields mind you. You could here a fly winds flapping as it went by a hundred feet away, it was so quite and tranquil. No paved roads to get there.Miles of dirt road to get to his home. Does anyone here live like this? lol So what, my citrus would of loved to sit in that house all winter,, Anyways here is a couple of pics I took today of the tree.. Nancy, thankyou for directing others to the older pic..:-) Tsmith, thanks for the info and instructions! Everyone else, thankyou for the compliments and support. You are all such a great bunch of people..You make this forum alive and fun! Love you all! P.s...Luckyladyd, I wouldn't have a clue. I always buy my trees labled, usually have no problem caring for them, especially with all the help I have learned from others here. So sorry. I would post a pic of it, and so someone would recognize it, someone like tsmith, rhizzo, or anyone else who knows the citrus much better than I do. I would start a new thread. Give it a shot..Good luck! Thach, let's work something out k... Phone number is 978-376-6561 E-mail is mikerno_1@yahoo.com

I used to start about 200 tomato and 200 pepper plants indoors. One year, I was anxious to put them outside as they were started indoors way too early in March. The tomato plants were over 3 feet tall indoors, and were all moved to my small greenhouse about May 10. They were getting used to strong sunlight and my greenhouse could reach 110 degrees inside if I left the door closed. I used fans and a small electric heater for about a week, and then started to transplant into the garden area about May 22. About two days later, we had a sudden frost and I lost about 3/4 of all the plants. The frost lasted only about 3 hours and I was outside all night spraying water on the plants in hopes of preventing any from freezing. I recall the terrible sound of the water spray which was like tiny hail falling on the foliage. I only had a small piece of heavy weight plastic cloth to protect maybe 20 plants. The rest were all lost to frost. Obviously, that year, I had very few tomatoes and was forced to buy some plants that were types that were just too watery for making canned sauces. After that major lost (about 12 years ago), I decided it was too early. Most local nurseries also lost many plants that year.

Hi Sheila, The pots are wrapped in black builder film. That helped a LOT!!! But apparently not enough. Maybe watering them twice a day would have done the trick. >>>The water could be running through without absorbing. This actually happened. I once saw a puff of dust come out of one drainage hole!!! I have since then adopted the leaky bucket way of watering. Got a 9 liter bucket. Made 3 holes on it on one side. Balance it on the rim of pot on a plank of wood. Fill it up. And forget it. Has worked wonders till now. But will need to fix a watering system. Especially since I got other plants in 511 mix. However roses being roses, they are still putting out some new growth. Hopefully they will escape as temperatures are going down now. I should really cut down on plant food. Maybe they are not as heavy feeders as everyone says.