This has been my best winter garden for some time. I planted in October, while the soil was still warm. By mid-November, my plantings later stalled in the cold weather subsequent to that. They are only now starting to perk up with some warm days and the flooding has stopped as well. Can't really complain, we are "doing" fresh veggies for dinner every day with leftovers for the hens. My GS e-mailed me from the lower Fla islands that many snook perished, as well as about 100 manatee. The cold weather was too long for them to survive. Sad - I love the wild life in that part of the country. But - sorry guys, my garden is looking great. The banana tree is a bit anemic, but will survive. Some sweet yams that I planted (too soon dummy) are also looking a bit peaked, but most everything else is greating the new spring with enthusiasm. Bejay

I just had to post this after reading this thread. I hope you like it as much as I did. Peace WORK - AS VIEWED FROM HEAVEN (overheard in a conversation between God and St. Francis): GOD : Francis, you know all about gardens and nature; what in the world is going on down there in the U.S. ? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistles and the stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought, and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees, and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of color by now. All I see are patches of green. St. Francis: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. They are called the Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass. GOD : Grass? But it is so boring, it's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, bees or birds, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want grass growing there? St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it has grown a little, they cut it....sometimes two times a week. GOD : They cut it? Do they bale it like hay? St. Francis: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags. GOD : They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it? St. Francis: No sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away. GOD : Now let me get this straight...they fertilize it to make it grow and when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away? St. Francis: Yes, sir. GOD : These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work. St. Francis: You aren't going to believe this Lord, but when the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it. GOD : What nonsense! At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep the moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves become compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life. St. Francis: You'd better sit down, Lord. As soon as the leaves fall, the Suburbanites rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away. GOD : No way! What do they do to protect the shrubs and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose? St Francis: After throwing the leaves away, they go out and buy something called mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves. GOD : And where do they get this mulch? St. Francis: They cut down the trees and grind them up to make mulch. GOD : Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. Saint Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight? St. Catherine: "Dumb and Dumber," Lord. It's a really stupid movie about.... GOD: Never mind--I think I just heard the whole story from Saint Francis! .

You can grow rhubarb as an annual. Start the seeds indoors in late winter (they're easy to start). When you plant them out, follow all the recommendations for care and feeding that people mentioned above. The stalks will be smaller, so plant several plants. You can put them closer together than rhubarb that you grow perennially. And if any live through the next winter, you can keep them or pull them out, as you choose. I used to do this when I lived where rhubarb did poorly, and it worked quite well. In fact, the small stalks didn't need much peeling and were quicker to cut up. If it's warm enough in winter where you are, maybe you could plant the seeds indoors in late summer and grow it as a winter crop. (I hope it's OK to just jump in like this--I'm new to this and don't know what's customary.)

In the last 16 years I’ve been repairing and replacing pool heaters in the Houston area, we’ve encountered that issue thousands of times. Your salt is definitely the issue regardless if the heat exchanger is cupronickel or copper. In our environment we have to keep our salt generators at 60 percent chlorine out put regularly and 100 percent 1 day week. Two things salt destroys, Natural Stone and metal. We didn’t have this issue in our Industry until the late 90s when builders installed chemical feeders or salt chlorine generators on every equipment Pad. It’s the same issue with all major brands and not just Hayward. But copper and Cupronickel haven’t changed in the last 20 years, so why is this all of a sudden an issue? Why are heaters from the 80s and even 70s with the same metal alloys lasting this long? It all goes back to our ignorance as an industry? We finally realized the problem in the mid - late 2000s when the only thing that changed was chemical feeders. Even if installed on the discharge side of the heater, every time you empty the pump basket, your causing what’s known as “back pressure” Injecting air in the system causing water to backflow and sit directly inside the heat exchanger. If you have a d.e filter and have ever noticed a bunch of d.e appearing out of nowhere around your main drain, same issue. The solution is simple , an all plastic(impervious to hydrogen gas released from salt cell or extremely corrosive tablets that are 99 percent tricolor) prevents the water from backflowing and rotting out your heater. If a checkvalve is present but is the tradition clear glass jandy checkvalve with a metal spring is used...... no good. Remember salt is good for “us and the environment “ Not good for natural stone that is not polished and or sealed nor any types of Metal. You also need to make sure the heater is properly bonded with an 8-10 guage solid copper wire at the external binding lug. This has nothing to do and is seperate from grounding. This prevents galvanic corrosion in thinner metals by bonding iron rebar in pool structure and all metal in equipment area to a galvanized Steele grounding rod that draws electrons evenly through all metal ( known as the bonding grid) your pool company and Hayward should have informed you of these issues from the original Install which has been common knowledge in our industry since 2011.