Oh, I like that amber one. :) Being a bit obsessive/compulsive, I went to Council Bluffs/Omaha today and shopped 5 thrift stores. I think SA & GW are a bit crazy on their prices. I bought a bunch more trying to spend at most 1.99/piece and preferrably If I really get into this I'll have to watch for a antiques/household auction. DH & I used to go often for antiques and sometimes they end up selling tables of the cheaper glassware in big lots for a few bucks. Beings I also like antiques, I have to balance this garden junk vs collectible glass thing in my mind. One thing I paid 2.99 for today is a cake plate. I think its kinda too nice for the garden. BUT, its not like I don't spend bunches on my flower gardens already and after all, it is used glass. :-P Just keep thinking of my MIL whose every day dishes are a mismatched, chipped mess. Depression era mindset. I don't think she'd EVER consider putting a nice cake plate in the garden. lol And yes, to the dangers of dry stacking the totems. I stacked that one last night on the floor in front of the couch. And then the smaller of my 2 dogs took a flying leap off the sofa right between the totem and the coffee table. didn't take long for me to get it disassembled and packed away after that. A close one for sure.

Wayne (adirondackgardener) had an important comment. Mother nature, I prefer to say God's design, but lets us just say nature does a wonderful job. Let's think about that a little. Nature really does do a fantastic job. Something grows just about everywhere. Now notice that part of that mix is that different things grow in different places. Each place has different soil, different slope, different weather, different life from microbes to large animals, and so different plants grow there... naturally. So, there is no reason to think that one formula for green cover crop will work the same way in every place with every crop. So, if we step back and look at what nature does in THAT spot, you can learn from that and determine what will work in cultivate practices. I have a very sandy soil that is almost white in color to start with. I never till. [unless I have bermuda grass (nope, I don't plant corn in bermuda grass for cryin' out loud). For bermuda I use a physical barrier like cardboard with mulch over that, and once it's down to almost nothing I pull by hand and hula hoe. But I digress from the topic] So I never till. Because I never till I have magnificent soil horizons, the wonderful natural layers that develop in a richly fertile soil. O, A, B and C horizons are all textbook beautiful and have rich color. Plowing or disking or harrowing or any such tilling practice destroys those layers. Now of course you can still grow things in soil that has had its structure destroyed, but it often requires an ongoing practice of more tilling and use of herbicide and chemical fertilizer that are expensive and come with a price for the pocket book, taste of the food, and the environment. but again I digress. I have these wonderful natural soil layers and my soil is wonderfully productive, sustainable, environmentally friendly, that grows great tasting, healthy food. wow. the particulars of WHAT will grow ... not everything. I can't grow cherries. I've tried, ok? 128 degree days are kind of hard on cherries and 75 degree winters don't give them the chill they need. But those same temp's grow some wow-wonderful date palms with the best dates in the world. So I grow dates, not cherries because that is what nature allows here. And I don't till the soil. so ... oh yea, green manure crops. Wasn't that the question? Well, I start new ground with a cover crop. once things get going I allow some cover to grow some of the time, but it's not a "manure" crop because I don't till it in. I use it as mulch on the surface. I let nature guide me, allowing native plants [I'm so sorry that you think they are weeds, they are not] and the sparse amount of rain we get does most if not all the watering for the green not-manure crop that I then use as mulch. Learn from what grows around you and work with it. Don't fight it with the brute force of constant tilling and chemicals. Encourage nature with a little cultivation. Cultivate good life. That can be taken so many good ways.

cannot speak to heat tolerant conifers sad to say but i thought i would speak up for the surprising adaptability of Mexican conifers (Mexican oaks as well) to seemingly very different climates and localities. i have had gratifying success growing a number of species (likely mostly from areas with a summer rainfall maximum) here in the summer cool and dry (winter very wet) pacific north west (oregon coast)---including pinus montizumae, p. patula, p. pseudostrobus, p. estevezii,, cupressus montana, c. guadalupensis, and podocarpus matudae---.wonderful trees that once established seem to do well with little or no additional care.

Here is a nice selection of 16 true micro tomatoes from Heritage Seed Market. https://heritageseedmarket.com/index.php/product-category/dwarf-tomatoes/micro-dwarf-tomatoes/ Lime Green Salad is not a micro, but a 2.5 feet tall dwarf which produces 4 oz wonderfully tasty tomatoes (grew it last year, and growing it again)! I chose these 4 micros to grow next on our window which gets 7+ hrs sunlight: ------------------------------- seed on --- Plant on: 1. Birdie Rouge ---------------- 1/01* ..... 3-10 1. Yellow Balcony -------------- 1/01* ..... 3-10 1. Gold Pearl ------------------- 1/01* ..... 3-10 1. Pinocchio Red -------------- 1/01* .... 3-10 these 4 micros look great already in about 2 weeks they'll be planted on our daybed window which is 7' long and gets 7+ hrs of direct sunlight --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Lime Green Salad dwarf -- seeded 12/18/2017 -- already big in 1/2 gal pot will grow it as big as possible then plant it end of March under a dome like last year to get a month's jump start outside ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the Red Robins I grew this Winter: 1-20-2018 update: Red Robin tomatoes are getting more plump, juicy and better tasting (getting 7+ hrs direct sunlight now). Stood by our 7' long daybed window this morning -- the first sun rays hit the plants at 9:33 am, and now this afternoon, the last sun rays ended at 4:45 pm -- equals 7 hours and 12 minutes of direct sunlight, plus couple of morning hrs of indirect light !!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If interested --- read the links below: 2018 Winter Tomatoes -- what, when and where are you planting? - Lime Green Salad dwarf tomato --- is anyone else growing it? - Hope this helps, Tony