Nice blooms, Marcia :') My fave is Medail...do you remember what type it is or where you got it? Gil, I've had a couple lilies skip a year on me. When I planted pink tiger lilies they never cam up at all and I thought the bulbs had been bad but the nice lady at botanus said to give it a year and sure enough it came up and bloomed the next year. Giraffe A.L. put on a huge display its first year then skipped last year but came back up this year. Weird. Different years and both in different sun exposures so I'm not sure what I could have done differently.

Kim, I have no words for this situation. Well, I have words, but for the sake of politeness, I won't use them. I promise to only use nice words instead. I. hope. she. enjoys. her. lawn. (I said that through gritted teeth.) Lawns make no sense to me. People spend a lot of money to plant, feed and water a lawn for what purpose? So they can mow it weekly, rake up the grass clippings and have them hauled away to already overflowing landfills? Lawns are monocultures that do not support a diversity of life, yet we Americans cling to them as a vestige of the days when only wealthy landowners could afford the resources to maintain some pristine but largely useless green carpets of lawn. If I had to have a perfect green lawn, I'd just buy and install that stupid fake grass they sell nowadays (CostCo sells one that looks really realistic) and I wouldn't waste time and resources maintaining it. The sad thing is that your garden fed and nourished so many in so many ways, and now that will cease. That is the tragedy of this situation. When I think of you, I think of you and Ryder out there working together in the sun. I think of beautiful flowers and fresh herbs. Fresh apricots. Rain. Sunshine. Yes, even weeds. Tomatoes, potatoes, onions and eggplant. Butterflies, bees and other little creatures. Sunflowers. Borage. I could go on and on. I think of the people at the Farmer's Market buying and delightfully taking home your products and enjoying them. I think of life. I think of how creating the garden, planning it, planting it, maintaining it, sharing it and spending every day out in it fed your soul. As you worked to improve the soil, you were indeed feeding the soil too. The soil fed the plants. The plants helped feed all the little creatures. I believe God looked down on your garden and smiled. It was all so good. There is a synergy in all of that. And, it completely sucks that it all is being destroyed. I am so sorry for that. I grieve for the loss of what you created. I am sorry for all the pain I know this is causing you. Having said all that. I. know. you. We are kindred souls along with all the other gardening freaks here on this forum. Gardening is in your blood. You will create a garden wherever you go and it will be a million times better for the world than any lawn grass. You will flourish wherever you live and grow. You will be happy. You will achieve. You will thrive. So will your garden. Maybe it isn't going to be in the place where you started and which you now are leaving, but it will be good. It will be better than good. It will be great. I guarantee it. You are setting out on a wonderful new adventure, and perhaps it isn't an adventure you were anticipating going on....but you can and will do this, and you will arise above the actions of that foolish young woman who is going to replace your beautiful, bountiful garden with lawn grass. The wise Kelly Clarkson sings "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger, stronger" and she is right. This change in circumstances will not kill you. It will make you stronger. It will make you better. Please don't let it make you ill. You deserve to stay well and healthy. You brain controls your body. Please don't let the distress over the loss of your garden make you ill. Take care of yourself and know, too, that this will pass and you will have your dream---you'll just have it in a different location. So, if you must, then weep for what you are losing, and then move on. Move on to bigger and better things. Life is a journey and it is time for you to journey on to the next place. God is watching over you and I believe you will end up in the place where you were meant to be all along. Now, please focus on your health. We only get one life here on this planet and we are meant to live our lives in a way that is meaningful and contributes to the world. You are doing that. You have done it with your current garden. You will do it in your new job and at your new home. You will do it in your future. Living well and happily is the best revenge. Staying healthy is important so you can begin the next exciting adventure. I learned long ago that I only could control the behavior of one person. Or three people---me, myself and I. I cannot control whatever anyone else does. I only can control my reaction to what they do. So, I live my life according to my beliefs and my own form of an honor code, particularly with regards to our Mother Earth. I cannot prevent anyone else from tearing up or destroying their patch of land. I cannot stop them from dumping chemicals on it. I cannot control how they use it, view it, abuse it, waste it, etc. I can only control me and how I treat the little patch of land where we live. I refuse to let anyone else hurt our little piece of Mother Earth. I love it, I cherish I and I admire how many creatures of all sorts it supports. When I walk on our land, I see life everywhere in gazillions of different forms. I imagine you are much like me. You revere what God's earth, your hard work, the sweat equity and the pain all combine to produce. You will produce a beautiful garden. You will manage a beautiful farm. You will bloom wherever you are planted. Believe it. I do. You will not be embarking on this new journey alone. We'll all be right here with you. Happy Gardening lies ahead. Now, go dig up and save as much as you can, but don't fret over what you cannot find and move. We'll all help you rebuild your friendship garden in your new place---one plant and one batch of seeds at a time. The Spring Fling reigns eternal and there's always tons of new friendship plants waiting to be discovered at every Spring Fling. For you, the new adventure begins and a new friendship garden awaits. Enjoy it. It is such a privilege to get to begin a new garden even though you hate to leave the old one behind. I am excited about what you will create at your new place. Look ahead, not behind! A joyous new life awaits. Dawn

I'm so far behind I cannot catch up. Yesterday was a fire department day all day long, and I fear that much of today will be the same. I'm not complaining, as our participation in the VFD is a choice we make and all the firefighters in all the FDs are our brothers and sisters. We may be 14 separate departments in this county, technically speaking, but we also consider our selves one big family---one big department---the Love County Fire Department. I never knew I'd be part of such a huge family of people who would, literally, walk through fire for one another. Yesterday was our Christmas parade in town. How did it go? I have no idea. At two minutes until parade time, our VFD and two others got paged out to a grass fire slightly east of Marietta. Two of our firefighters grabbed their bunker gear, jumped out of the engine, and raced to our station in someone's personal vehicle to pick up a brush truck and respond to the fire. The rest of us were going to follow as soon as we got through with the parade, which start to finish, only travels a few blocks through town and takes about 5 minutes. Since we were near the start of the parade lineup, we knew we'd whizz through town quickly and be on our way. And we were. Our truck seemed to please the children---tons of lights and a loudspeaker playing a song they loved and danced to as we passed them. That's all that matters to us---that the kids were happy. As we were making the short trek down Main Street, our pagers went off again because the grass fire was igniting a home, RV and there were other structures (like sheds, etc.) in danger. As soon as we could turn off the parade route, we stopped, removed a couple of large decorations that couldn't handle the fast response to a structure fire, and removed our decorated firefighter (so wrapped up in lights, he couldn't move) who had been setting on the firetrucks large front bumper throughout the parade. We unwrapped him, got him into the truck and took off. I did have to laugh at myself---once we knew we needed to leave to go to a fire, we still were trapped in the parade lineup---with side streets blocked by crowds of people there was nothing to do but follow the route to its end so we could leave. I found myself waving faster and faster at the crowd, as if the faster waving would someone make the parade vehicles move more quickly so we could go to the fire. I am here to tell you that waving faster and faster and faster didn't speed up anything. Amy, I am hoping for the best for your dad. I know all of you must be exhausted and no one more than him---it is so hard to rest in a hospital (that's ironic, isn't it?) with all the lights, the people in and out all the time, etc. There's no place like home and I hope he gets to return home as soon as possible. Nancy, You have a seed problem! I know a seedaholic when I see one because I am one, though I am attempting to reform myself. I totally understand about Make-A-Wish not being for everyone and certainly respect your son's viewpoint. There are many different ways to deal with cancer, as I know myself, and I think every family has to do what is best for them and particularly what is best for the person most affected by the cancer---the person who has the cancer itself. I know that Russell accomplished his mission in life, and at such a young age! He certainly was a handsome lad. I have had HJ in my thoughts this week as well, as I know the anniversary of her son's death was this week and I cannot imagine how hard that must be to endure. Saturday usually is our big shopping day---we make a list and try to make the circuit of the usual places and gather all the supplies. Sometimes it is complicated---getting two baskets at Sam's, for example, with one filled with fire supplies and one with stuff for us at home, and then paying separately to keep the money and receipts separate. Tim is so bad when he has a shopping cart in front of him and a fire supply shopping list. I fill the basket with food and drinks we need to take care of the firefighters. Tim then thinks of odds and ends they need---fuel cans, a box of red shop rags, bungee cords, zipties, fuel additives, extra pairs of leather work gloves, new chains for the chain saw, etc. etc. etc. and before you know it, the VFD shopping cart has 39 items in it, though our list only had 20 items on it. He's as bad about impulse shopping for the VFD as I am about impulse shopping for the garden. (grin) I think he forgets about that nagging little list of odds and ends that they need until he is in a store shopping, and then he 'needs' everything he sees. Unfortunately yesterday was all about fire dept activity from start to finish so today is going to be our shopping day. I'm so tired from yesterday that I wish we could just sit around at home and do nothing, but we can't. I just hope we make the shopping/errand run, get everything done and get back before any fires break out. Yesterday wasn't to awful in our county until very late in the day, but the adjacent county (Carter County, also under a burn ban) had a lot of fires. Tis the season for that, unfortunately. For items only available from fire supply companies or whatever, there's a constant stream of vehicle parts, supplies, etc. arriving in various ways---often in our mailbox or as a package left on the porch. It is a logistics nightmare trying to keep old, often-used fire trucks running on a wing and a prayer, but thankfully our VFD has several incredibly accomplished mechanics (it is their career and their hobby as well) and welders. Sometimes the UPS guy or the FedEX guy cracks me up---he'll say "this is a big heavy package, be careful...." and I'll reply "yep, it's a radiator for our fire engine". (grin) Kim, It is your home for as long as you're there, so make it what you want it to be. I feel like my soul always needs lots of flowers and ornamental plants in order to be happy, no matter how much I also enjoy growing the edibles. There's nothing wrong with that! Bloom where you are planted, girl! I rejoice over every bloom I see on any given day, even the tiniest little wildflower blooms that often appear randomly in winter on nice days. For those of you wondering if your garden needs to be watered, In winter, depending on the soil moisture level in your area, you may have to water, but not as often as in summer because the temperatures are cooler and not as much moisture is evaporating from the soil nor is it transpiring from dormant plants like it does during the growing season. One thing you can do is look at the attached map. Keep in mind it reflects conditions at your local Mesonet stations, so soil moisture levels at your place may be different. Anyhow, if the number on the attached map is less than 0.50, your plants probably need to be watered. Amy, I think you mentioned asparagus? Mine is well-established and I don't water it in winter ever for any reason. I just don't think it needs it. Asparagus is bulletproof---it won't die and you cannot kill it. If your plants are less than 3 years old, you might want to water them---but not too much at once and not constantly. Maybe once a month in a dry winter. One-Day Plant Available Water (Updates each morning) Gotta go. I'll try to check in on the new Week 2 Thread tonight. Dawn

HOMEWORK WK #4 Today I submitted my plan along with the other participating volunteers. This site forms a natural bathtub so we are not digging. We laid out cardboard and covered it with topsoil that was donated today. Next week we will build up the bed with leaf humus and sweet soil and tamp it all flat in the center a create a berm at the far end away from the parking lot. I chose plants that the Center already has in a holding bed which created an interesting challenge with some of the more prairie type plants. We were asked to stick to native plants that can serve double duty as habitat and food for birds and pollinators. It was also requested that we include native ground covers for the edges to reduce maintenance. Some sort of feature that children could play on was also requested hence the river stone among the rock rubble and the stumps in the shaded area of the wild ginger.