cozy: Oh no...I figured you'd have a response to this. ;-) LOL...just messin'. I'm also hoping for a growing season dried up a bit, not like last year (unless you meant that I need to try up a bit, which won't happen...hahaha)! That month long of rain over a good bit of the US severely impacted a lot of people's gardens. I'm going to try and keep the legginess under control, don't worry. Hehehe...I think i've also made my decision on a hot house that i'm gonna buy towards the end of next week to put them in once they start to take over the house in Marchish. =) Hosta: In your zone, i'd definitely not start your plants outdoors or even put them outdoors at all before that show. Might be advisable to harden them off for a week or so before the show by putting them outside only in good temps (minimum 55-60) in a mostly shady, but warm spot. Then, for the last day or two keep them outdoors in a bit sunnier of a spot. You don't want people taking them home from the show and putting them outside immediately to only have them die within a few days because they are not used to outdoor conditions! =) The cold frame will obviously help with this scenario. Keep a close eye on the environmentals in it though (temp, humidity, etc.). Idealy for the fat stems you are seeking, you'd probably want some type of indoor lighting system to grow them in. They can also get leggy in that situation though by reaching for the light, so take that into account when figuring out how long to keep the light on them. Filtering it somehow with a shade cloth of sorts wouldn't be a bad idea. Most gardening supply stores or hardware stores carry greenhouse poly covering that will filter varied amounts of light through it. Anyways, I could go on forever...lol, but that should give you a starting point. =) My seedlings usually start a bit leggy, with my system, before I transplant them to their 2nd home (semi-translucent plastic cups), then they just grow out more than up afterwards and make up for it. I never use any artificial light, but have heard many good things about lighting systems from others on here. They do cost a few $ though. One other point, if you start the seeds 5 to 6 weeks before the show, you will have some small seedlings, which you may already be aware of. I put my blog as the "This link might be useful" thing below so you can get an idea of what size they will be at that age, and it also has a great link to catman's page, Grow Your Tomatoes, which has a lot of useful info too. woodcutter: Yea, I was lucky enough to get them off a seed trade! I'm really looking forward to seeing how they do compared to some normal 'cheapie" Burpee seeds or whatever. Let me know how yours do. - Steve Here is a link that might be useful: Steve's Garden

Well honestly, no one ever said u had to like one another! It's nice for the kids if all the adults in their lives had one flowing ball of communication, but lets be realistic! BM probably hates u cause ur sleeping w a man she has a child by. Its one of those bitter situations of :we didnt work, so why will u: and shes gonna hate u for it. Ur SS resents u for along the same reasons, and wants to make his presence known. He wants a dog he goes to daddy and theirs nothing is stupid SM is gonna say about it, cause u are not HIS mother. Been there done that, trust me! My stepchildren were HORRORS when my DH first got together. Mind u he had already been divorced for two years, with two children: daughter 10 and son 5. And the daughter was THE WORST. Not to mention when my DH first married :at that time the children were 12 and 7: and my SD LOST IT. She and her BM were on a personal vendetta to make my life a living hell. And then fast forward to a year later when my DH and I had a daughter of our own and thats when the u know what REALLY hit the fan!! There were times then when I could say that I hated her, and she hated me I'm sure, but one day when she was at our house for the court mandated weekend, I caught her in the room w my DD. I was horrified at first, thinking, OMG is this kid gonna try and smother my child?! lol I caught her playing w the baby, and then she burst into tears. Sometimes when u hold malice towards someone u tend to get satisfaction out of their pain. Yeah, thats an ugly thing to say, but its true. However, when I saw SD crying I walked up to her and gave her a hug. I'm not saying it was like a lifetime movie after that and all, we still had our battles, and at times I had to try not to lose my mind and walk out, but here we are seven years later, two kids of my own, and two stepchildren, whom I love dearly and I know that sometimes, they love me too....lol Just stand ur ground, and understand its hard for a kid who feels like he has to compete with the new woman for some love. Sit down with him and explain to him that ur not trying to come between them, and that u want to try and share. Theres enough love for the both of u. As far as ur DH goes, though. U need to put ur foot down and let him know that u are not a chambermaid. Stop doing EVERYTHING around the house so hes stuck w chores. That'll really hit him where he lives!

I should point out that I'm not winter sowing for that back woodland area this year. I'm actually wintersowing edibles and flowers for my front garden - mostly edibles for the terraces and a herbaceous border for the side slopes. Growing plants from seed for my 1/4 acre front garden seemed ambitious enough for the first year... I have coughed up cash for foundation shrubs and trees, particularly ones necessary for privacy and to stabilize steep slopes and pull water out of wet areas. I picked up 10 Western Red Cedars and 10 Oregon Grape for now from the local native plant sale. That's about all the cedars we can fit in until we clear more uphill (and all the Tubex tree tubes I can afford). We'll put more in next year and keep working our way uphill. The Oregon Grape we're putting along the property line up the hill. Hopefully it will eventually block out the view of the neighbors driveway and parking pad so they're not looking in the back of the house. I'm still tempted to head out to the King County sale to pick up sword fern, which works really well here. The local sale only has shrubs and trees. As for island living, I'm personally in love with "the moat" as the locals call it. Keeps out the riffraff. ;) Living here would be much less convenient if we commuted, but we both work from home, so it suits us perfectly. We end up over on the mainland every week or two for some appointment or another, which keeps us from getting cabin fever.

Now is a good time to think about next year's plans because it's early November here in NH and while I have some Asian greens, I haven't been cooking with them like I thought I would so that's wasted space. I should have fresh carrots but had a germination problem this year, possibly because I didn't keep things watered. I need to check the date I planted bulls blood beets because I don't think there has been much beet development. Leeks were planted late so they aren't very big. Lettuce is still good shows some frost damage. Kale self seeded and is overwhelming the space in the high tunnel. I don't have parsnips or Gilfeather turnips this year. Why not! Doing bed cleanup to plant hardneck garlic, I discovered two overlooked zucchinis and they were covered with squash bugs. Yikes! Broccoli in the high tunnel is slowly developing but I'm not sure the heads will get any bigger. I need to check the planting date on these, too. A couple of weeks can make a big difference. Although my Great Aleppo Pepper Adventure was mostly a flop (lots of pepper but not the flavor I wanted), I ended up discovering a whole new world of peppers. Buran bell peppers were big winners, very productive plus great flavor. Urfa biber are slightly hot which is just hot enough for us. Zolotisty yellow bells have a fabulous flavor. No more Ace peppers for me. I also got peppers mixed up during harvest so I'm not sure if it was Carmen that turned a beautiful dark red with a wonderful sweet flavor but I've been growing it for several years and will continue to have one or two plants. Yesterday I weeded the two new asparagus beds. The beds themselves are good but I have Creeping Jenny in our weedy lawn that was creeping into the bed.