Does anyone know of a good free interactive veggie garden planner? Thanks!

Hi All, My problem is not setting up users and allowing people to enter their own data. I have not, however, posted a database to a website before. Also, the database structure is not complete, nor is the basic data population. I was hoping to have it up and running before too long, but given what's left and other time constraints, it's looking like it might be mid-06 before I will have it ready. Another problem (and a more important issue) is support. I don't think this will be a valuable tool if only a few people participate (otherwise we can just rely on the information provided by UCD). If enough people are interested, I'm willing to put the effort into finishing the database and getting a home on the WWW for it. Also, so that we can begin tracking data from the cuttings that are swapped this coming year, I can send out a blank Excel spreadsheet. People can put in basic information about their trees and I can import it into the database. Let me know what you think. ~james

Yeah, we are overdue for a cold winter! 2004 was the last cold winter and it had a low temperature of 2F. There have been colder, but you have to go back probably 15 years or so to get low single digits/around 0F. Did you get a frost yet? I was in Manhattan this past weekend and I saw croton that was still THRIVING as well as many flowering annuals and somewhat tender palms. However, that was before we even had a frost here so Im not sure if those plans will still be thriving now. Either way it looks like the entire NYC area will definitely have a killing freeze very very soon (the forecast looks very cold!!) As far as USDA zones they really are only a guide at best. I think NYC best as a zone 7a. Many winters are above 5F and the average lowest temperature each winter does qualify NYC to be a zone 7b (I think the average LOWEST temperature for NYC for the past 15 years or so is 7 or 8F with JFK around 9F). Still every once in a while you get winters below 5F and even around 0F. Then you have those rare winters that do go below zero and even though it isnt common, it still does happen. Ive seen zone 8a plants come through our winters just fine (according to the plant), but eventually they will be severely damaged, or dead. Zone 7a plants (like many camellias) will be fine even in our coldest winters and I have seen camellias in the area that have survived for over 50 years without being severely damaged. The duration of Cold, lack of sunlight, and high amounts of moisture are all problems our area faces every winter! Good luck! -Alex

I didn't read your article, sorry, slow internet today and decided to choose this thread instead. One of my adult children has Asperger's, but I think now we say 'on the spectrum' instead of the A word. I've been corrected numerous times when I slip and use the A word lately. (it only took me 10 years to figure out how to say the A word correctly too! lol) I didn't catch the age of your person in question so don't know at what phase of life this person may be at. That said, when this dd was born, something was very different with her. Not anything one could see on her face or body, but the way she didn't like to be touched or held. A newborn who would get angry when she was held. Hers is a very difficult sensory processing situation. Smells, sounds, touch, proximity to others, textures of food, lights, fabrics, just about anything that must be touched, will not eat foods that violate the taste sensation. She did not babble or speak until 3, but then spoke in perfect full sentences with perfect pronunciation. Prior to this, she screamed and cried (tantruming) for many of her waking hours. Social situations were difficult. Still are, but in the last couple of years, I've told her to just be herself going forward. Those that don't care for you will fall away. Those that appreciate you and want to be you, will stay. I said you can only be yourself. If you are trying to be what society expects you to be, you can only keep that up for a day, maybe two, then you run out of energy and can't keep it up. Since part of her struggle was linked to not being able to read or sense social ques or hints, this made for having trouble with relationships. This is usually above and beyond someone who may be a little socially awkward. I read dozens of books when she was small and worked with an occupation therapist for a year or so, who came to the house to show me how to do OT with her. It seemed at the time to be bizarre and quite silly exercises, but they did help a lot. I worked with this dd just under 40 hrs a week on pretty intense OT and then practicing what was at the time called Social Stories. Basically coming up with scripts to be memorized and used in any kind of social situation. This helped her greatly and offered her tools to use being around other people at school, the playground (which I used to drag her to), b-day parties, groups of kids, etc...I would take her to public settings where other adults and kids did not know her to practice Social Stories so she didn't feel bad about herself not being well practiced with other young people she had to be around at the time. This helped. We would talk about what went well and what didn't and she could learn from those experiences. Being what they call very high functioning, she learned everything quickly and kept that new knowledge filed away for use at a future situation. The social ques (sorry, I can't seem to spell this word today) are still a bother for her. She's resigned herself to not being skilled at this section of life. But she does have a magical attraction about her. Charisma. Always has. People like her for the most part, even though she can be tough to be around and has trouble with filters in conversation, although, this life skill *is* finally getting better. While she's doing great in life and is highly educated, she tires deeply being around groups of people and has found a career that she is a good match for and better yet, it is a work from home position. She does best when she has a lot of time to herself to recharge. I guess you could say, happy ending. However, it was a lot of grief and worry getting her to this level. It was really hard. The family doctor suggested we put her in an institution (!!!), the school system insisted I put her in special education or homeschool her. I did not do either because she was not unintelligent or a behavior problem at school. I could see that she was actually just fine inside her mind. It was us, her world, who had to figure out how to reach her. Once that could be done, then I knew her life would open up, but what a challenge to get to that point. Today, we have more information and tons more help available. Back in our time, it was a lonely place to figure things out. Hope that helps. Each person is different and has a road unique to them. Good luck.