Hi, everyone. I haven't checked in in awhile as I have been planting pansies. Next week it's off to our annual VanZyverden bulb sale to stock up on tulips! This, of course, is an annual pilgrimage since they are pulled up and discarded after their bloom time in the spring. Yes, Lady, I do grow quite alot of bulbs, now that I think about it. Over the years, they have become pretty near the top of my favorites list. I have LOTS of daffodils and that population keeps growing every year between adding new varieties and dividing the clumps I have in the yard. I particularly like jonquils, so have lots of those. My second favorite would be zephyranthes (rain lilies) closely followed by crinums. In addition I love Dutch Iris, hyacinths, ipheion, camassia, byzantine glads, amaryllis, arum, spanish bluebells, leucojums, oxalis, eucomis, canna, crocosmia, lycoris, and oxblood lilies. I have tried numerous others over the years, but the ones that are listed are the ones that have persisted and multiplied for me. Well, not the hyacinths, but everything else. :) I hope your bulbs are a huge success for you. Daffodils were my very first bulbs to ever plant. I got my first ones from my beautician. I admired them, so she walked outside and dug up part of a clump for me. That was more than twenty years ago and I still have some of the progeny from that handfull of treasure she gave me. Nothing in my garden gives more pleasure for less effort than bulbs.

Add 3 pints fertilizer to soil out from tree trunk. Best way I can explain this is put heels to trunk and fertilize outward that way you will not fertilize close to trunk always fertilize peachtree after fruiting and before blooms set. Now that take care tree hungry by multiplying root count so feed top with water elments needed. At end of porch water fall can be way to high in winter months winter is when roots of peachtree die badly cause over wet soil. Following spring and summer crop and heat load on plant will in short time lesser roots pick all water up. First leaves to eye lost color and fall from tree bumping limb hand will release many leaves limbs and trunk are dieing at sametime this complete cycle caused by winter pastthere as many methods as they are to lower water to tree in area like this I want list them gutter maybe the easy answer.

Over watering is important, yes, but there are other things to consider too. I have a pink & purple fuchsia thing I got at Home Depot 9 or 10 years ago. It was in a hanging pot for a long time, and then it went in a half wine barrel several years ago. Then the barrel got shuffled around the back yard to about 4 different locations before I found one that made the plant happy! It gets watered 2x weekly in the summer, and whenever it rains in the winter. It's pretty happy where it is, shaded for the majority of the day by the house, the chicken coop and redwood trees to the south, BUT, it gets some direct sunlight every day. Just not much. I got 10 babies (2" pots) from Earthworks last Fall. I've killed 1 or 2 pretty fast, gifted 4, and the rest are stumbling along. Pink Marshmallow got cooked in the heat from the driveway, moved to the clothes line out back, (still too hot and sunny for it), and is now in the shade in the front yard, but under a redwood tree. We'll see how it bounces back. Or if! Feather Duster looks cute, appears happy in its smallish shallow clay pot, but it's not thrilling to me. White/white discolors too frequently and quickly. I thought I'd like it more. Mancunian plant looks fine, never bloomed this summer... Hanging plastic pot, on an oak tree, we'll see how it winters and then grows on in the Spring. Snowburner - died... whitefly, mealy bugs, withered, dead... Everything ELSE in the barrel is going gangbusters, bugs or no bugs! HeRi Mochara did OK, not thrillingly, probably needs a bigger container next year. Likes where it is, though. Tropicana - plant fine, but no blooms. Hopefully it will do better next year. My point being that sometimes it's your care, sometimes it's the location you stuck it in, sometimes it's the plant that doesn't like something. Do your research, and keep plugging away until you find something that likes what you do, where you do it. Voila! Pretty flowers!

Janice: According to Clemson I was within the planting window but towards the end ( I am in the central area). I planted April 15th (planting for my area is April 5-25). But you do have a good point about planting earlier. I usually like to plant at least some early (in March) under row covers to get earlier fruit. I do know that this year fruiting (and also my leaf yellowing problem that seems somehow linked to fruiting) is at least a few weeks later than normal. But I chalked that up to the high-nitrogen chicken manure which caused a lot of green leafy growth at the expense of fruit. Two years ago I grew peppers with great success, I've tried squash and cucumbers in these beds 2 or 3 years ago which both failed miserably. But I have added a lot of lime and fertilizer since then. My pH in these beds 2 years ago was 4.0 -5.5 so one would not expect squash to do well. Last two or three years these beds have had tomatoes and peppers, because I care the most about tomatoes and wanted to put them where there was the most sun. Thanks so much for your time. It's been very helpful. :)