Secure row covers can definitely work (secure being the operative word!), I use this on a small scale for rocket grown in tubs. It just depends on your situation - in my in-ground garden I intermingle my broccoli, kale, pak choy etc with flowers and other veg, so I don't have large blocks of brassicas that suit row covers, so I use Bt there. Also, I like to be able to give the plants a quick check without having to open up the row cover. The horticultural fleece I have is quite opaque, as is the insect mesh. One thing that I find reduces pest pressure from the Cabbage Whites is planting nasturtiums near the brassicas. I use the climbing ones and run them up trellises or over a fence so they don't take up too much space. The Cabbage Butterflies seem to prefer them. Plus the leaves and flowers are edible, they look pretty and have a nice fresh smell to them.

In this economy I think many folks will be staying home more and will look to ways to save on food. Vegetable plantings is a great way to go. I learned many of my techniques simply watching shows like Gardening Naturally (thanks for helping me recall the name of that show Marg). In that show I learned more about proper composting, the use of manure, seaweed of all things, and other stuff. Sure it certainly may not appeal to all audience, but it was very imformative. Too bad we no longer have such shows. The new Victory Garden - well it's simply rehashed segments with a new host - Jamie Durie, a well known garden designer/landscaper from Australia. The show focuses mainly on designing on a grand scale - although it does emphasis green techniques, water conservation, etc.. It does have a small segment with Kip as the actual gardener and Chef Michel cooking the organic way. However it just doesn't have that 'Organic feel' to it. It seemed too Hollywood or too New Age. In my opinion -- good eye candy, not much on substance. There is good show on PBS - called Cultivating Life. While it is short, it does have everything, from building trellis, to planting, to cooking. It's good enough - although not close enough to the shows of the past. I've pretty much given up on watching shows on TV. There's hope however, and it exist online. Look at such places such as Youtube and someone is most certainly going to upload a specific gardening technique. Ianna

As I read thru these posts the majority of you seem to dislike places that don't care for their plants but it is OK as long as they will sell some of them to you at below cost of production (what it took for the plant grower to produce it and get it on the store shelf). The big boxes have been in one form or another been doing something like this since they decided this helps the rest of their business. AKA, I can use this department as a loss leader if I have to because I bring in enough ancillary business to justify this type of business practice. The plant growers respond by getting bigger and being more efficient. AKA less types of plants and less quality to meet the big boxes demand for the practice they created that now the consumer demands. Typically these types of operations don't staff with qualified employees or enough employees to care for the product (aka plants) in their charge. A warehouse type of operation is predicated on volume and minimal input and big boxes don't know how to do this yet with a live product so they make up for it by volume agreements with corporate plant growers to get the product cheap enough to get a customer into their store. Even when this part of the business (live plants) only breaks even, the rest of the goods (non-perishables) makes up for it in profit. A food store is much the same persishables bring people in and can be a break even or even a loss-leader and the food store makes a profit from the non-perishables you buy while you are getting your milk, eggs, cheese, and veggies and bread (all of which are heavily subsidized by our government aka Joe consumer) We have done this since at least the depression and it still is one of our biggest hidden costs that we as consumers fail to recognize as the cost of what we consume. Back to our topic, plants are now becoming subsidized to some degree by the biggest growers that have deep pockets and ties to the farm subsidy feeding trough. As this continues as with most of these other aforementioned perishable products we will see a bottoming out of pricing that will inevitabley go back up to the the breaking point where consumers rebel but by the time that happens we will be stuck with exactly what we asked for. "Cheap" homoginized plants produced by a handful of companies that recieve a subsidy to grow certain plants and not to grow other plants as supply and demand dictates but is controlled by big corporations supported as a business by our tax dollars as to provide us with these perishable products that can no longer be produced at a profit by a free market system. How many corporate farms were there before farm subsidies began and how many are there now? How much of america's farms in 1930 was owned and run by a family and how many now? What portion of farm acreage is now owned by a family and how much is owned by a corporation (non-family)? How many independant (family) nurseries or growers were there when the big boxes (corporations) started to offer plants less than 20 years ago and how many are there now? In less than half the time it took for corporate America to control and profit and dictate what we eat we are seeing the same thing happen to the last living product that we consume (yes we consume plants, they are cheap so its alright if we throw the excess away (big box and us)after all we all got what we wanted a profit for the big box, a "cheap" plant for the consumer and a guaranteed subsidy for the grower everybody wins "right". 20 more years and the shift will be so firmly entrenched that we as consumers will have no choice what we pay because a bottom price (subsidy will guarantee a profit for those large enough to provide for our NEEDS). Already almost all the seed we americans consume each year for our gardens are offered to us by a handful of corporations several outside the U.S.. This was much easier to bring into the corporate fold then live plants because it is less perishable but given time and the trend is already firmly established the same will go for live plants. How hard is it for you to find a good tomato in the store? How abot seed that will grow in your garden? It gets harder every year to find regionally appropriate plant seed because volume. Regionally appropriate seed just takes too much effort for the return on investment. The same is true for live plants but the trend is still being shaped and maybe be reversed but by what I read into these posts I am not as hopeful as I once was 20 years ago when I started in this profession. WOW! I didn't think I would ever finish!! TALK ABOUT GRUMBLING it is time for me to shut up! Sorry for the ranting but I just needed to get this off my chest. Besides, it is time to get ready to go to work and see if I can help someone to create a beautiful, healthy garden or landscape. Happy Growing David

That's pretty spectacular. And so close to a block wall even if the tree is on the east side (if I have that right). Lots of new leaves tells me this is doing well. Here in Phoenix people's concept of doing well varies a lot so I like to see the plant to know what they mean. The surrounding plants give me a good concept of how this is working. Do you remember how large it was when you bought it? Based on this I think I will try some J maples. I'm still a bit skeptical they could be used as a focal point or as a main element. For an 8 year old tree it's still very small which I assume is due to our climate. Don't get me wrong you two growing these here is an amazing feat, and the tree looks great. But to be in a Japanese garden means lots of pruning to shape and a lot of growth is needed for that. It doesn't look like they could do that here. I'm trying to avoid the trap of putting anything in the garden just to check a box, that announces to everyone . Lantern, basin, bridge, wall, bamboo structures, etc. Even having Koi I'm resisting (but probably will). If I could have a focal point J maple, pruned in a Japanese style, I would. But I don't want a J maple just to check a box. Hope that makes sense. So maybe in the background. If I get several and try different spots, see how they do. Thank you very much runs_with_scissors_2. You've taught me a lot today. And hopefully I'll learn more by trying some. Who knows maybe they do grow enough for pruning.