I few more details on the plans that I posted above: The raised beds along the fence would be completely separate from the fence, I'm not talking about heaping dirt against the fence or anything like that lol! Just building raised beds 2' wide and placing them against the fence so I can grow vertically as much as possible. I have a 50' roll of black vinyl coated chain link fencing (part of it is used to enclose the current garden) and I plan to repurpose it by hanging it along the back fence so I can trellis peas, beans, tomatoes, melons, whatever. I have been reading that growing vertically is one way to get more out of a small space. Since I have two medium sized dogs and I have learned the hard way that regular garden fencing or poultry wire isn't really sturdy enough, I was planning to buy some hog panels, have them cut in half, and have those go along the front of the beds to keep everything out. Hog panels are 34" tall and the bars are close together at the bottom and gradually get further apart as they go up. Each half would weigh about 17 pounds, so I can lift a section off as needed to tend the garden, then put it back up when I'm done. The design I came up with has a 4' tall 4'x4' fence post between each bed, about 2' feet out from the existing fence posts. The end pieces of each raised bed will be screwed into it, and once the 1' tall beds are filled with dirt, it should be plenty sturdy enough to support these panels. I also intend to have a piece of 2"x4" going between each of these posts and the actual fence posts to lend greater stability to both, and that will be the only thing that connects the raised beds to the fence. I thought it would be best to keep them totally separate to allow the fence to be worked on or even replaced later if needed, without having to remove the beds. The center beds would need a different setup for keeping out the dogs and rabbits. I had in mind some kind of enclosure that goes around the perimeter, with a gate at the opening. Most likely I would use the same hog panel idea so I could access the beds from the outside or the inside, or I could opt to leave part of it in place and use it for a trellis. I have thought about even enclosing the whole thing with heavy plastic to create a greenhouse for winter, and I could also use it to suspend shade cloth since the sun is a bit too much here in Oklahoma in the summer and it actually gets hot enough that the tomatoes stop setting fruit. The only thing I don't like about this idea is that it is right in the middle of the yard (actually, two of them, one on each side) though the dogs would have a blast running around them. Aesthetically, I think the perimeter beds along the fence would be more attractive and open, even with the smaller island beds added. I would probably put just low covers on those and use those beds for low growing crops since I would have plenty of space to trellis the taller crops along the fence. Thank you for considering my ideas and if you have any feedback or suggestions for me, please let me know! Here is a link that might be useful:

No Reservations did a segment in Italy. (I think it was Italy) In it they showed a local custom of planting the root half on an onion. It grows up like many thick green onions. They pick them and grill them....or maybe they wrap them and throw them in a pit. I don't quite remember. They eat them whole after cooking. And now that you mention it I do remember that I wanted to try it!!! And that is exactly what I am going to do!

Jim - I would say that yes, almost all of them did. The ones that didn't have spindly canes and no buds yet. BUT - the ones that did have some canes broken are blooming very nicely now - it's just that they could have had even more blooms. Abe Darby has about 25 buds and 2 bloomso open. So I am getting buds/blooms. It's just frustrating when the canes break off at the base and I'm holding this long cane with about 5 buds on it. I have so much to learn still. :) Yeah Seil - I think that is the culprit. Live and learn and learn some more. LOL Carol

sujafr - Thank you SO much for posting the pictures! prill - I can't remember where I got the photos from. (I had them saved in a Word document.) :( prill & lukkiirish - OMG! Yes! The photo with the couch IS Restoration Hardware's Cappuchino! THANK YOU!!! I did a search for that color and lo and behold, the exact same photo came up! Hooray!! Thank you so much!! As for the blue color, the Silver Sage line is very close, but the colors seems to be a touch more silver/green than what I'm looking for. Hmmmm.... *** time passes *** Okay, I just spent way too much time on the Benjamin Moore website. What do you think about Gray Sky?? Could it be the one I'm looking for?