Ally99 asked "is it a bad thing to have the soldier fly larvae in your compost?" That depends on your goal. If your aim is to convert a given quantity of organics into as much compost as possible, yep, very bad, get rid of them; they eat way too much. Ditto if you really need to have hot-processed compost. But if you're trying to keep waste out of the landfill, BSFL can be great. They aren't composters so much as waste digesters, and they digest like you would not believe! So your bin won't fill up so long as they're in there. They eat things that can't or shouldn't go into a compost pile, are less fussy about carbon ratios than hot piles, and their end product, while not a stable compost, makes a good worm food. If I had only a single compost bin, I wouldn't want them in it; I want compost to use in my garden, not just a self-emptying trash can that happens to produce fantastic food for the larger songbirds and some treats for my red wigglers. But YMMV. DSF Here is a link that might be useful: bokashislope

my goals were/are \- this is working for me so far as I can tell, but everything's very new. ~~~ go with a cottage rose garden loose romantic style, while using plants that do well in my climate. \- I found plants that I like that are romantic but drought\-tolerant, so I think as I get better at gardening and the garden matures, that this goal will be reached. ~~~ chose plants that are mostly native or drought\-tolerant and if possible hummingbird friendly \- this has mostly worked out. I'm still doing the throw plants and see if they live method, but some things like agapanthus, penstemon and some other things have done really well and the hummingbirds love them. ~~~ herb pot area \- the basil has been a resounding success. I haven't actually used any of the other herbs, but I bought 2 more basil because we use it so much. The pots look cute by the back door, too. ~~~ have two seating areas, one as a rose arbor, the other, some type of simple bench under the sakura tree. \- I have the spot roughly laid out for the arbor, but I'm waiting on buying an arbor. Mostly due to me being scared to spend $200 on an arbor, which is rather silly considering the amount I spent on roses I don't really have room for. ;) \- I'm going to wait until the sakura tree gets bigger to put a bench near it, so... maybe 5 years or so. We'll see. ~~~ I want to have stuff that blooms year round. \- I'm so new I don't really know what plants I have will survive, so this will have to be something to ponder gradually. So far, I'm really loving the roses, nepeta, sakura and irises. We'll see how the other plants do. I could use more fall/winter flowers, but I'm still having problems with camellias. ~~~ eventually I'd like to have a pergola off the back of the house. ~~~ sometime soon\-ish, I want to have some stepping stones from the driveway into the back sideyard,... and have a mostly older HT bed there. (front yard) I think I can do this pretty soon. But I have to get the irrigation in first. I've already bought the HTs which will come this fall and next spring and sit in the pot ghetto till I'm satisfied. ~~~ My next main goal is just to evaluate the roses I have and try to learn better about how to water properly and not kill things. My crepe myrtle looks a bit upset and I think I killed one of my sansaquas... my almost dead camellia in the front is recovering, though. ~~~ gradually trying to improve my heavy clay soil

I'm pleased - but not surprised - that you had a lovely time. That seems to be the usual experience when KT folks get together ... I've met several, and have enjoyed the experience, every time. Some time ago Pooh Bear and I got together at his place, and when people asked for pictures, Pooh told how his camera had been sitting on the table beside his computer (and we'd been sending messages while we were together) ... but neither of us had given a thought to taking any pictures! There was a rather indistinct picture that was taken when we had a get together at Dances ... but the first that showed my mug well was when Caroline/Wes took several at her place near Fargo. Here's a suggestion: make a resolution to get together with at least one KTer, before too long, but with several would be even more fun. ole joyful

well they save cookies..main key words..in her case would be "lawyer", "divorce", etc I know that whatever I write about-any language-I start getting suggestions based on key words. I'm using gmail..all that google thing-very apt in picking just about everything about you. Then if somebody indeed hacks an email-very easy to concoct some story that might fly. Actually to me is somewhat more believable, than going about very sensitive matters like asking for money, and not only money but huge commitment that is attached to such promise, in email. Maybe I'm looking for the bright side here, benefit of the doubt. roarah knows more about her friend and her ways, than us. I wouldn't respond to an email and especially if hacked. I'd rather call..or not. Depends. I wouldn't send a fruit basket either, I thought it's tongue-in-cheek suggestion. When I can help and want to-why fruit basket? If I can't and don't want too-again, why fruit basket?