I'm glad you're enjoying the walat - walking around the garden is always one of the day's pleasures. Especially this time of the year when so much changes from day to day. It's also an essential activity to keep the tree seedling under control! It is very clear that one year's worth of neglect is all it would take to have a forest of ash and maple seedlings take over the garden! PM - failing a flock of sheep, bagged composted sheep manure from just about anywhere that sells bagged soil will do...:-) Eden - don't forget to post an ivy swag picture... Kathy - yes, the pea poles are 6' bamboo; 8' is needed for pole beans though. I did post the pea list before and have now lost track of the specifics of this year's plantings but it was likely: Spring (52 days to maturity) Progress #9 (60 days) Lincoln (65 days) Sundance (70 days) Mr Big (72 days) or maybe Rondo (74 day) I select the varieties to give me as wide and continuous range of maturities as possible. The white tulips are Ivory Floradale. They start off a creamy, sunny yellow and fade to the creamy white. Yes, they are good naturalizers (I'm lazy - I don't plant any that don't come back on their own :-)

If you ever find Biozome at organic nursery, try it out on compost. It doesn't cost much. I paid 18 dollars for 2lbs jar and it seems to go a long way on everything. Anyway, I read that it helps break down compost pile at 3 time the normal rates for little bit of Biozome on the compost pile and you don't have to turn the pile over. Thought I'd let the word out for anyone interested to try it out for the heck of it. My brother used it on seed germination and he said it helped seed germinate pretty fast compared to control test he had to see the comparison. I bought for that reason and to control stem rot/damping off problem hopefully to see if it makes any difference. Also, it helps clean up oil/fuel spill in the ground (primary usage all over the world) and improve soil compaction. It doesn't look like it's something you get from ordinary compost so why not try it and see how they do for plants.

Are you kidding? Hide the CC,I have just kicked off the season with early order of snaps,pansies and violas(already sewn,already up and will be first out to very early spring market). We're not doing vegetable market garden any more so ...LOOK OUT!Mo'Money for prudy flower sales at market a few to sneak into my flowerbeds. I'm waiting for the start date on co-op to Summer Hill Seeds. They're restocking now and we have to wait until Nov. 5 to be able to get to order. I'm feeling withdrawal already...Sweaty palms,nervous twitching,darting eyes,drooling and slobbering....ya know...the usual symptoms P

PM2: There are eagles and vultures in MA, too. I've seen both of them here (turkey vultures and bald eagles). The turkeys definitely connect me with food - if I look closely, I often see a turkey scout in the driveway next door, or across the street, or in a tree. Soon after I put food out they'll come sauntering over to grab a snack. Sometimes I try to outlast them so the smaller ground-feeding birds can eat in peace, but just when I think they've gone to roost and put food out, they come right back. Yet every once in a while they'll disappear for a week or two, which I think is their normal routine in the wild. Feed for a few days or a week in one area then move on to another. I also don't see them much during the breeding season when the big flocks split up and there's food available in the woods. I put mixed seed out so I'm not sure what they prefer, except that they really like nyjer. I had a low-hanging nyjer sock for a while and the turkeys discovered they could peck a hole in the sock and the seed would spill out onto the ground where they could easily slurp it all up. That sock is now encased in a metal feeder. The best thing I've read that they eat is ticks! In fact, I haven't seen any ticks here for a few years, although the other birds could be eating them too. I don't know if everybody is willing to keep a flock of turkeys in their yard for tick control (sort of like keeping goats to eat the poison ivy) but it's an added benefit. I've been thinking about that Ilex "Honey Maid" for a while - do you know if the Ilex "Blue Stallion" will pollinate it? Claire