I'm lucky to live in a climate where I can have fresh herbs all year round, so I rarely dry them. But when I do, I simply spread them over a paper-towel-covered cake cooler and leave them on my dining table - which is near my back door, so it gets a good air-flow. It can take several days for some herbs to dry to crispy stage, so for the first couple of days I change the paper-towelling, which in the early stages can get very moist. You can also dry your herbs in the oven. Heat the oven to lowest possible temperature, spread the herbs onto a baking tray in a thin layer, and leave in the oven until the herbs are crispy-dry. It is important to leave the door of the oven ajar throughout (I use a thick oven-mitt to prevent the door closing), and to check the herbs and given them a stir, from time to time. Then there's the microwave oven. This can take a bit of practice. Place some paper-towelling (3-4 thicknesses) onto a suitable flat dish, cover it with herbs (piled up is OK), then zap for about 1 minute on HIGH. Check the herbs, and stir them around. Change paper towel if very wet. Repeat, reducing the time gradually between checking, until the herbs are nice and crispy-dry. Once they're out of the microwave, stir them around while the excess steam evaporates, to help them cool quickly. When quite cold and still crispy, bottle and seal (and date!). OR you can tie your herbs into small bundles and hang them in a cool, well-ventilated, dry place. OR you can put your bunches/herbs into a brown paper bag and hang the bag in a cool (etc) place. Pierce the bag in several places to make small holes for air-flow. This is a good way of keeping both dust and bugs off your drying herbs, and the bag prevents any bits and pieces dropping to the floor.

Great discussion topic... Makes me feel less bad about my place. After all, I have a traditional no-name lilac which blooms quite tolerably in spite of being squeezed in between some other bushes. My hill is actually chilly , windy and shady, so the lilac likes it. My background makes me want to grow edibles though. This does not work. Vegetables that grow like weeds in normal gardens - radishes, squash, carrots, potatoes, dill, - it it a good thing nobody ever sees what becomes of them here. Tomatoes and peppers succeed occasionally, with much care. Yes, I have been searching constantly for varieties that will agree to grow and fruit here. I am quite depressed about it.

Thermador is selling a zoneless induction cooktop. They announced it way back at CES but just started shipping it a month or two ago. The cooktop is 36" wide and can handle up to 4 pots. It auto-senses the pan locations, lets you move them around, and so on. There are some catches, though. The two halves (left and right) are kind of, sort of zones, since you can only have two pots on each side. And if you have a big pan in the middle it counts as one each on the right and left, so you can only have one additional pan on each side. And 4 pots/pans is itself a limitation: most of the 'zoned' 36" units have 5 positions. Another issue for me is that I haven't seen one of these units anywhere and haven't seen any forum posts -- here or elsewhere -- from anyone who has one. I definitely wouldn't buy something this new and expensive without trying it out first. A showroom near me says they may get one later this fall, so I may get a chance then. Finally there's the price: about $5,000 USD MSRP. Wow. I can get it for the dealer price, but that's still a lot of money. I'm thinking of getting one anyway, but fortunately I don't have to decide for a while. Being able to put a big griddle on one side and a couple pots/pans on the other side is attractive. As is the ability to use huge pans anywhere on the unit rather than just on one special burner. And I suppose I could use the griddle as a sort of french top if I wanted lots of little pans on one side. I hope other companies come out with more zoneless models by the time I need to order mine (5-6 months?) so I have more choices. I've heard rumors that Gaggenau may release one, but since they're owned by the same company as Thermador and Bosh I'm guessing it won't be much different from the Thermador model. Laura Here is a link that might be useful: Thermador Freedom Induction

there is a plant propogation book i have wherein the author describes his own mist system. that author has a large black coil of hose in the roof of his greenhouse so that water can be heated before reaching the mist nozzles. that's at least one vote for using warm water and keeping the cuttings reasonably warm as they root. just thought i would toss that in! lol. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mosaic z8 LA (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 11:59 With such a setup you could probably root roses under mist all winter here in Louisiana. And then as an added bonus, you could save on your power bills all summer by using it to steam your veggies :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: tammyinwv z6/WV (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 16:05 i have been unable to find the mist heads even within an hr from my home.Someone mentioned here they found them for .50 each.would anyone be willing to get me a couple and mail them? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: wild_garden virginia z6b (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 16:32 at my lowes store the mist heads where in the indoor gardening area next to the register, i doubt the people at lowes would have even know what to look for. it was with the drip irrigation supplies, as i said in the indoor gardening area next to the big outdoor area where they sell trees and things. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mist heads supply source Posted by: RoseHawke 7b AL (My Page) on Mon, May 12, 03 at 10:37 For you folks that haven't been able to find the heads locally, try going to this site: Dripworks or here's a direct link to one of the pages with some heads:Misters . I just a couple of weeks ago ordered some irrigation supplies from them and received them quite quickly. About 4 days if I remember correctly. Haven't had a chance to put it together yet, which is probably just as well as the flood we had last week would've probably washed everything down the creek ;-). I also have the Melnor timer, and it does seem a bit confusing about its ability to do a mist cycle, but what you're doing is programing it to do one cycle (on in the am; off in the pm) and punching in a choice of watering pattern, in this case the off for 10" on for 2" pattern. I believe the idea behind the pattern was/is actually to help prevent water run-off when doing overhead watering by allowing the water to soak in between the on phases. I bought this particular timer though because when I looked at it my mind said "Ah! Mist!" (heh), even though the reason I bought it at the time was to keep a new patch of zoysia sod watered until it rooted in. My batteries did last all season last year, but it was only opening that valve 4x a day for 3 weeks, and then 1x every 4 days for a couple of months. I can see where a misting pattern of opening and closing that valve many times during the day may eat batteries, but as ShamanSherpa pointed out, it's still cheaper than a $100+ misting timer! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: patclem z7 (or 6) TN (My Page) on Fri, May 23, 03 at 8:32 Regardless of how much water it wastes, etc, I decided to experiment with misting. I am TERRIBLE at rooting cuttings. I've tried baggies. I've tried jars. I've tried special cutting trays with plastic domes. I've had one rooted cutting out of probably 50. I had the same problem finding true super-fine mist systems in the south. None at Lowe's, none at HD. They're not popular here because they don't have the same evaporating effect they have in less humid areas of the country - they make you wet here. Here's where I found mist heads. They didn't charge me anything for shipping. They were super-good to deal with online. Web Page - Phone/Fax 888-693-0578 Local/Fax (719) 495-2266 Qty: 4; Sku: 6W401; Product: Monarch Misting Nozzles M-1; Amount: $7.40 Qty: 4; Sku: 6W519; Product: Reducing Tee for Monarch Misting Nozzles; Amount: $4.40 You have to go to Lowe's or local hardware store and get a hose adapter, timers, 1/2" PVC, PVC caps, etc. I have mine set up with 2 mist heads, and about a 6' diameter section of my grass is soaked! I don't have mine on a timer yet. Results? I don't have any yet, except none of my cuttings have turned black yet. PS - I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH THIS BUSINESS IN ANY WAY! Here is a link that might be useful: Mist Heads -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: fuselighter 7/WA (My Page) on Thu, May 29, 03 at 21:41 I am so excited about the misting bed. I went out and bought all the supplies today. Total cost was about $15 (my husband had PVC and elbows left over from installing the sprinkler system). I would like to go to an intermittent system eventually, but for now I am going with continuous. The water bill is not an issue because we have an irrigation system (there is an annual fee but it is not based on usage). I set the whole thing up in about an hour. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: debbinard Z4CO (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 10:54 Shamansherpa -- I could not open your picture! I live in Colorado, it gets very warm middle of June (up to upper 90's) and stays low humidity. We are on outsidewater restrictions 2xweek, so I'm not sure this method would fly. Am wondering how visible this is, or if inside is an option under lights. At any rate, I would like to propigate some rose cuttings now (is this a good time?) My daughter in law is moving and would love some plants from a rose with sentimental value. Is the rooting hormone used just the usual or special for roses? Thanks Deb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mytrid Zone8b Florida (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 13:48 Deb, Maybe you could call your water extention office and see if you can get special permission, exsplain to them how little water it uses. Yes you use rooting hormone, there are many available. Dip and grow I here is supposed to be really good. I got some of the more exspensive stuff from a friend whom bought it threw rose imporium on line. But you can always use something like dip and grow. Deanna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: rose_enthusiast z7 TX. (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 15:47 Hi there Deanna! It seems to me you've managed to help a lot of people with your invaluable info. And I would like to thank you for inspiring me to start a misting bed to root my cuttings. I have one question to add to the many others you've been getting though... What rose company is it that you get your rooting hormone from? Is it Rose Emporium or the Antique Rose Emporium? I would like to purchase this product as well, since you and this company are using this to successfully root your cuttings. Thanks Again, Carlos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mytrid Zone8b Florida (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 03 at 1:31 Carlos, Thank you but we should all thank AngieAnders, she is the one who did all the research and work to discover this method and then post it here for us last year! She truly diserves all the credit. I just wanted to keep any new people aware that have just started rooting this year. Best of luck all and don't forget to post your sucess! Deanna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: epiphany z5b PA (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 03 at 9:28 I found the Arizona Mist system which is by Orbit as mentioned at Wal-Mart. It has 12' of tubing, end cap, six misting heads and hose adapter for $14.95. Of course, it is once again cold and wet here,......all of a balmy 56°. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: auntnana 6 TN (My Page) on Thu, Jun 5, 03 at 13:06 I ordered the misting heads mentioned above from Dripworks last year and they don't put out a fine mist as much as they do a fine spray/droplets. And even though I had a pressure regulator on there, I kept having a problem with the heads blowing off! (Their drippers work perfectly by the way so it's nothing against the company) I ordered foggers from Misty Mate this year and they put out a super fine fog. Perfect for propagation. They are a litte more expensive than the ones from Dripworks but worth it. And if you ask they will ship the misting heads for $1.50. I went to HD and bought a 10-24 tap and drill set (3.00) and drilled holes in my 1/2" cvpvc and the heads just screwed right in! I bought a Melnor timer at HD for $39 and it has 1 minute spray options so I've got it set for 1 minute every 10 minutes. Can't remember the model number but it's not the one on the HD website. I hope to finish my new propagation box soon. I built one on a stand this year so I can move it around easily. Wouldn't you know, HD has plastic sheeting made just for greenhouses that I used! It's not the real thick heavy stuff either. It's only 4mil and is crystal clear see-thru! Hopefully I'll be finished this week!