You're welcome. Green beans are popular, easy-to-grow and the flavor of fresh snap beans is so superior to that of canned or frozen beans that it isn't even funny. Bush beans would give you a pretty rapid harvest---some of the earlier varieties begin producing a harvest about 50 to 55 days after the seeds were sown. Sugar snap peas are the same way. Pole beans are trickier in terms of getting a harvest early. Some years, our heat here cranks up so high that you find the heat causing blossom drop almost as soon as the plants start flowering. In that sort of situation, there's nothing you can do but keep the plants watered and happy and wait for temperatures to drop in the fall. I usually plant bush beans for a spring and summer harvest and pole beans for a fall harvest. I cannot remember if any of us mentioned summer squash, but those also are relatively easy, at least until the squash bugs and squash vine borers find the plants. I love summer squash, but some people don't care for it. We like to grill zucchini outdoors when we're grilling meat for a meal. A lot of people hesitate to even plant squash because of all the pest issues, but I grew winter squash of all kinds and summer squash as well for a good 5 or 6 years before the squash vine borers and squash bugs even discovered our garden. It is a lot harder to get a good harvest now, but to me it is still worth it. I think my husband would be perpetually happy with the garden if all it ever produced was peppers, tomatoes, onions, melons and lettuce, but he'll eat just about anything I can grow. Once you get used to the superior flavor of vine-ripe food brought in from the garden to the house to eat the same day, you'll find it harder and harder to purchase produce at the grocery store. Once we got used to home-grown melons, we completely stopped buying melons at the store. Now we just eat our own fresh melons in season and rarely eat them the rest of the year. You mind find that y'all develop a taste for veggies that you think you don't like if you give them a chance. So many vegetables are so much better fresh from the garden that some people who don't like veggies suddenly discover they like them after all. I would have suggested sweet corn, but I wasn't sure how much space you have. Sweet corn from the garden is so yummy! I try to grow enough plants to harvest at least 200 ears per year. We eat all the fresh corn we can stand to eat, and freeze the rest the same day it is picked. I grow 3 or 4 varieties every year, choosing varieties with different DTMs so that the harvest is spread over a longer period. If I plan it well, and if Mother Nature cooperates, we have fresh corn for at least 2 months. Potatoes are one vegetable that a lot of people don't grow. Either they don't want to do all the digging involved in harvesting, or they feel like potatoes from the grocery store are so cheap that they'd rather buy them. However, the flavor of fresh potatoes is so incredibly earthy and good that they'll ruin you forever---you'll never want to eat another store-bought tomatoes. You know how much better home-grown tomatoes are than store-bought tomatoes? Well, home-grown potatoes are the same way. The first year I grew potatoes, their fresh flavor knocked our socks off. I think the trick is to try things your wife and daughters might like, and just continue to try something new every year until y'all figure out what it is you like to eat fresh from the garden. Everything I've tried has not been a success. Eggplant is an example. I love growing eggplant, and the fruit are available in so many interesting colors and shapes....but no one in our family (including me) cares for eggplant,so I don't plant it any more. Kohlrabi is another thing I cannot get anyone to eat, although it is easy to grow and looks interesting in the garden. Part of the fun of garden is experimenting and finding what you like. If you've never grown Sungold (or the similar Sun Sugar) cherry tomatoes for your family, I think y'all would like them. Everyone to whom I've ever given a Sungold tomato has just raved about how flavorful they are. Sungold and Sun Sugar have a sort of tropical fruitiness you don't find in any other tomato. Fruit is my favorite thing to grow, but the results can be a lot more erratic than those in the veggie garden. Partly it is that recurring late freezes experienced in our climate often kills the flowers or tiny fruit on fruit trees early in the season. The other issue is pests. Because fruit is so sweet, you really have to fight the pests, birds and varmints some years in order to get a harvest. I generally grow blackberries, plums, peaches and figs. I have citrus trees in pots I carry inside in the worst weather. Right now they're out in the greenhouse just loving these sunny days. Strawberries have been erratic for me. They do great in a cooler year with lots of moisture, but then along comes a hot dry summer like 2011 and kills the strawberry plants. I'm in a part of OK that gets less moisture and more drought than central and northeastern and eastern OK, so strawberries are hit and miss here. When you have the right soil and the right weather, though, they are delightful.

I'm in my mid-40's and only married 3 years. I met DH when I was 40. I like to tell him that if I had to wait this long for him, he was worth it! 1.We match up very well personality wise (though he is introverted and I am extroverted--like islandgal said we balance each other out). 2. We have similar modest family backgrounds, and we both put ourselves through graduate/professional school, so when we met it was almost like we'd known each other. 3. We have similar interests in music and love to go to live music events together. 4. LOL, he was right when he said white for the paneling in the kitchen without realizing there are literally 100 shades of white. He also insisted on granite slab for the countertops. 5. He's not handy, but he at least knows that. We are happy to call professionals for things beyond our capabilities, which is pretty much anything beyond painting. He never had pets and took on me with three cats after we got married. He was at my side when we had to put one down a couple of weeks ago due to kidney failure. He truly loves me for who I am. He likes a woman with curves. Enough said.

I am a Biomother and stepmother. So I have perspective from both sides of the fence. First off- your wife had an affair. You need to accept it or forgive her. There is no grey area. Trust me I know! My first husband had an emotional affair with a woman, and I was so angry and could not move past it. So hence, my marriage ended. Now please don't get me wrong, but I know now that it was not the affair that ended my marriage. Because looking back on it I should have solved the real problem. Which was what was I not giving my husband that he felt the need to stray. I am not holding him blameless, but he ended it. He was sorry that he did it. It was my bittereness towards him for what he did that I accept responsibility for. SO therefore, like I said, you can either work on your marriage and the adtermath of the affair, or you can make her miserable until the point that she really wants to leave you. The choice is yours. Sorry to sound so blunt, but I have been in your shoes. Now as far as your son. That is all I read in your post was about YOUR son. Now if I read correctly, you have another child with your wife. And apparently you are okay with your first son physically abusing YOUR other child. When my daughter was born, my step-son tried on numerous occasions to hurt my daughter and his own brother. Physically attacking, clawing at faces, throwing large items at. So my dh and I talked with a therapist about the issue. He told us that he was doing it out of jealousy, sibling jealousy. BUT that he should NOT be rewarded for his bad actions. So, if he did it again, then he would not be allowed visitation with his dad or our family. His dad was not to take time alone with the child away from our family, because that was basically rewarding his behavior. Kids aren�t stupid, and this was the desired outcome he wanted. So we told him, you ever hit or hurt either child, then you will be considered out-of-control and dangerous to others, and daddy will have to protect the other children from you, and therefore you will not be coming over. With that said, it was the last time he ever hit either child in our presence. Am not telling you that you need to forget about your son, but you need to make sure that he becomes a responsible young person who has consequences for his actions. I will tell you that if any child, mine or a step were to hurt another child of mine, then there are consequences, and you better be sure as hell that I am going to be pissed at the perpetrator. It seems to me that you are bitter at your wife for her bitterness towards your son. Perhaps you should allow her to disengage and have two relationships. One with her and your other child, and one with your son. Don�t expect her to like him, and of course don�t expect him to hurt her. It sounds like he is quite bitter at her two. You also have a responsibility for your other child as well. Do you think it is in the best interest of the child to have divorced parents, because the of the child�s older sibling. Don�t you think that will make your younger child bitter towards the older child AND you? So, my suggestions are: 1. Either forgive the affair and move forward. Or just end the marriage and save both of you a whole lot of grief. I will tell you that in retrospect from personal experience that letting go of that bitterness and anger will be better for you. People make mistakes, and this is just one of many that your wife will make. And this is from someone whoms ex-spouse had an affair on. 2. Be a part of your son�s life, but because of his behavior to the rest of the family, realize that you have another child to protect and thus must keep them apart. I hope you take this advice to heart.

Dear ccbay, I can relate to the picture thing. My DH would never put up a picture of the ex who left him for another man. However SS would. Yes, shortly after DH and I purchased our home together SS who lived with us(who was 17 y.o. at the time)came with a large high school graduation picture of bio mom. This had just been given to him by bio mom. SS displayed the picture near the main door of his bedroom for everyone to see as they walked by. DH's Mom (SS grandmother) and family came to visit and questioned why it was up. I just shrugged and said SS brought it and left it at that. The next time DH's Mom (my dear mother-in-law) came to visit she gave me DH large graduation picture and baby picture, which I display near the main door in my bedroom for all to see. I guess it is better to say nothing and pray that if one turns the other check only good things can happen to that person and others will see the real truth. I would be hurt by what your DH is doing. I know I was hurt by my SS actions, but then realized that bio mom had something to do with it. Also, SS was having mix emotions as stepkids do. Hang it there and talk with your DH on what your needs our, realize he is have some emotional problems, and say many prays. That is what I do. Good luck, louisedawn