I purchased a 50 lb bag for 25$ and find it works for: reducing the baldness that comes from outside on my dog and cat. Works wonders. I am also putting it in their food for Tx for worms. I am currently using it on my horses for the same. However, it ruined my veggie garden by warding off my pollinators. How sad! I got one zuke and 3 yellow squash only. We have those japanese beetles that have so many offspring I had to try something. I had not even gotten 1 zuke in past years. The diatomaceous earth is food grade and edible. Supposidly it is pure silica, and it is good for hair, nails, and worming! It doesn't kill the ants, but makes them move. I have been herding them out of the front yard and have way less that in previous years. I bought a duster to use on the lawn, nothing is going to help with this seasons numbers of fleas. Oh yes, got 1 apple per tree, only 4 peaches on two trees? Of course I applied to the trees! It does kill the black power on my gardenia. I guess it is trial and error?

Addy, just for fun, I looked at "your page" to see where you are located. Just says 6/7. Hmmmm? Mountains of the Carolinas perhaps? Just trying to get a bead on where/what you're dealing with. When in doubt, get the invasives out I always say. That is, we-meaning any one of us-may not know exactly where we're trying to get a certain piece of land to get to, but we do at least know we don't want the whole shebang covered in invasive vining plants and shrubs, or what have you. And then again, for me, forest succession is really what it's all about. By looking at things through that paradigm, it helps get one away from the more typical "landscaping" frames of reference, even though those may still come into play. Then again, for my magnum opus, I chose wooded land in an area not particularly given over to invasive plant species (With the one exception being reed canary grass-and that only in pockets). so what I'm saying is, up in my woods, pretty much every plant species is welcome there. Sure, I am working to diminish a patch or two of sandbar willow, but that's kind of a separate thing. It's not as if this willow is invading into the shade......it could never do that. So I've got an area where I'd prefer meadow plants and very tiny volunteers of Thuja occidentalis, rather than the willow. But most of my property is great just the way it is. Then too, one of my primary goals is to increase the size of the woods I happen to own now. Therefore, it was essential that I buy land with some open area present, some farm acreage that I could convert back into forest. Hence, our planting of something like 8000 seedlings thusfar. You see-I'm not exactly fighting the same kind of battle you are. Then there's my job, wherein I do indeed get my share of battling invasive stuff. But that's a slightly different scenario. Some of the "invasives" that we fight are herbaceous, or grasses, or even aquatic. For example, up here at least, cattails will completely dominate a wetland if you let them. So even though some of the cattails we see are the native latifolia types, we do battle with them, just so that we can enjoy the benefits of a more diverse emergent-zone plant community, complete with bulrushes, irises, bur reeds, arrowheads, etc. So where ya at? I'll be spending a good chunk of Dec. down in the Fort Myers area of Florida again. So what do I tend to do down there? What else-visit nature preserves, botanical gardens, etc! In fact, some amount of volunteering is certainly in the offing. It's interesting to see somewhat similar issues in a part of the country which ostensibly would be very different from where one lives. In fact, I see a great many parallels between that state and my own-tons of water, tons of damaged wetlands and abuse of the landscape, yet still much to offer. I don't think I answered your question though! +oM

I would cut it back in the fall to about 3' high and put the glass back in the frame over it. In the spring after it got to growing and when the outside temps got high enough, I would pull the glass off and let it grow up thru the greenhouse frame. It got a lot bigger than a normal Better boy over the years. I guess the extra care it got? Or maybe I got my seeds mixed up and it was an indeterminate? Very possible because I'm bad about doing that! I got Red Robins mixed up last year....... I had 5' tall plants, not Red Robin! I built the greenhouse from plans I drew up by reading a lot of books, before the internet became what it is now. I built it in 1989. I think the greenhouse was the key for it to live so long. I faced it directly south as the sun goes, not magnetic south. The back wall and partial sides were made of heavily insulated steel roofing. 1/2 of the greenhouse, back side, was filled with water barrels to hold heat. And it was sealed tight. I got some triple pane glass from an old business that was being torn down, then built the frame to match the glass. I could heat it in cloudy, 20 degree weather with a small heater or a Coleman lantern! I had some mirror like reflectors on the back side to help with the light. It was my haven in winter! Even though my tomatoes weren't really producing during the winter, I could sit in there and smell spring! LOL I also grew lettuce and other stuff in there. Sorry, I'm starting to ramble!

The posts about traveling alone brought back memories of our first year/winter being campground hosts. A lady pulled in with a mini motor home(class C) and told us that she, along with her husband , had been going to Florida for many years. They were from Illinois and that year had gotten partway to Florida but she woke up one morning to find that he had passed away in the night. She stayed at a town long enough to get the necessary papers and to have him cremated, then she continued on her way. She was the sweetest lady you would want to meet. It amazed me how she was able to handle everything on the motor home . Of course, all she had to do was ask for help and everyone was there for her as they knew her so well. She came back the next year while we were there and we heard that later she was host. The Rangers were always driving through keeping an eye on things. I never forgot that lady though! :)