WOW where are you that you're finishing up your summer stuff? I'm just getting tomatoes, cukes, zuks etc now! I'm in zone 8ish, No CA. Our season is running about a month late, but I have at least 3 months to go. I usually have one raised bed that finishes in time to clear for a winter bed. Usually the squash/cukes. I also have a perenial bed that I put winter stuff in just cause I don't do very much winter stuff. I also do things such as lettuce and radishes in boxes on the deck where I don't have to go out in the mud and muck during the rainy season. I haven't done seeds for a winter garden yet, but I'm thinking about a month fom now is about when you start from seed in my area. I think I have a site that tells you when to do what. I'll look for it. Happy Gardening! Nancy

Mary: Don't worry about the rototilling, concrete, or any disease issues either soil or airborne between veggies and fruit trees. The road salt might be a problem but probably not. So that leaves spacing which can be pretty close. With proper pruning you can hold a peach pretty small. Apples are even easier on M9 or M26 rootstock. I've grown both peaches and apples in 15 gallon pots. So even if you prune a lot of roots with the rototiller, you will still have 10 to 100 times more soil volume. The Fruitnut

My journaling has ebbed and flowed with the times, sometimes I am a prolific writer and cataloger of my life and gardens, other times, not so much. This year I ran out of room in the journal I have been keeping for five or six years now, I just checked and the last entry was June 6 of this year when I said I was running out of room in the journal! I guess that would be a good thing to ask for as a Christmas gift from someone. Wow mariannese, 28 years of journaling! What a lovely history for you, and perhaps family members who would love to see those memories and knowledge for the future. What a treasure. Some years ago I took a class in Women's Journals and Memoirs. It really honed my writing skills and dicipline to write daily. I learned the things you write about don't have to be life changing or monumental, just daily musings about what you experienced and saw and felt that day, nothing more. That's what great about journaling, you aren't out to write the Great American Novel (or Danish or Chinese or any other nationality) but just documenting your life in a way. I tend to mix personal feelings in with garden notations, I think the two are often intertwined. I love to throw in sketches in my journal as well, sometimes plans for a new garden, sometimes just a quick drawing of my dog lying on the porch, or whatever inspires me at the time. Some of the plans in my journal are invaluable to remembering where I planted what! I tend to list new plants I bought and where I planted them (thankfully) so I can find them later and remember their names. In essence, I keep most of my personal thoughts and ramblings in my handwritten journal, but I am also a relentless cataloger and organinzer of plants which I do on the computer. I have lists and charts galore of roses and other plants with photos in my own personal database that I can reference from time to time. It also keeps me busy during the winter months when cataloging and organizing is my only garden chore. Here are some random excerpts from my journal 2009: 2/28 I've ordered 21 roses (eek!) and now I have to figure out where to plant them all... "Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts" 4/23 Zandi's 16th birthday! 4 eggs in the bluebird nest. Going to be a warm weekend, temps in the 80s. Pruned back all old canes on Maggie - she's put up 3 new thick basals so we'll see how she does... There's a Carolina wren nesting in the garage amid the spray bottles...good thing I don't keep toxic chemicals! 4/28 Cardinals have a nest in Knockout. Now I can't SP it. 5/1 Happy May Day! Ugh, its raining - again. 6/6 I'm running out of room in this book...ripped out KO today (yay!) and replaced it with Earthsong... Happy journaling everyone!

I put a free sign out by the street. Most goes that way. I also donate to the food shelf. I just got myself a freeze dryer so that I can store food without taking freezer or canning space. I planted about 60 crowns of asparagus a few years back, so I'm expecting a huge harvest season soon. I've heard that it freeze dries well, and when reconstituted, tastes as good as fresh. I'm eager to try it! I also have over 50 kinds of fruit growing on the property, so it will be nice to have that freeze dried for consumption through the winter. I have about 50 blueberry bushes alone...I had no idea how many blueberries that would translate to, so I invite friends to come pick. It's great because I see people I wouldn't necessarily otherwise see and they are thrilled to go home with gallons of blueberries for free. I'm thrilled because I didn't have to pick them all, and I get to see friends and catch up. We also have a town-wide community forum where people post things like lost cats, furniture for sale...whatever. When I become inundated with too much produce, I plan to post free/inexpensive offerings. I finally divided my rhubarb plant and made 14 more; I'm assuming that will be one of the things I'll have plenty to give away! I've got tons of herbs, too. How much sage can one person use?!