Thanks everyone. For someone new to asparagus, I really don't think it was THAT unreasonable of me to expect to see some signs of life. Just a sign of life, even a wee sign that the roots I planted were viable. Everything that I read about asparagus suggested that it's supposed to be one of the first plants to emerge in early spring... and well, it's been spring for a while and we've been having a really warm spring, here in the "banana belt of Idaho." Bareroot asparagus was available at the beginning of February and that is when I snatched up my crowns. I waited several weeks, until my existing rhubarb patch came up and started growing strong, until planting my asparagus (at the same time, I also planted some more bareroot rhubarb and that came up within a week). I know that much of the world is still in the depths of a harsh winter, but we had a mild winter and a warm spring with lots of sunshine and lots of nice rain. I expect to begin harvesting some snap peas this week and I have some broccoli that I planted over a month ago that are forming nice heads. Just considering how well everything in my garden is growing so far this year, and because I have no previous experience with asparagus, I just thought that they would have shown some sign that they are alive by now. ...But life would be really boring if everything behaved as one expected and if one never learned anything new. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh? I know this probably was a waste of time and back-breaking energy (but at least I got some good exercise and was able to spend several lovely hours enjoying my garden in the sunshine!!!), I ended up redigging and replanting all of my asparagus crowns over the weekend. My plan is to just see if any of them make it and try to do the best for them, and then just replace crowns next spring for those who don't pull through. Anyway, catch ya' later! This post was edited by fern1knits on Mon, Apr 7, 14 at 10:32

Don't get me started on !@#$%@$! proprietary $#@%#$&* electrical plugs and connectors and the #@$%*(%^$#@@#% OEM will not furnish individual replacement items of the wiring harness. Some years back, my wife's '95 Altima inline 4-banger developed the typical oil leak into the distributor cap that is quite common on OHC engines where the distributor is driven off one end of a camshaft. As I unplugged the wiring connector at the distributor, the locking tab just broke off. Because this is a weatherpack connector, there is enough rebound off the sealing pack gasket to separate the connector unless it is locked in place. I was never able to find a new connector or even a new "empty shell" to transfer the wire terminals to. Searched salvage yards and guess what! Every vehicle checked either also had a broken locking tab, or the connector had already been cut off (a bunch of other people running into the same shoddy connector problem. For the short term, I fashioned a bracket and fastened it to the head via an unused bolt hole near to the distributor plug. Then I connected the plug to the distributor connector and used the bracket to keep it in place. Ultimately, I found out one of my friends knew a guy who worked at the Nissan plant in Smyrna as a technician in the post assembly line troublshooting department (you can't get any closer to being a "new car mechanic" than this). My friend carried my complaint about the unavailability of replacement connectors to his friend. His friend's boss told him to "cut a connector" off of one of the wiring harnesses that had been replaced for other reasons and send it to me. I was satisfied that my case came out OK but for crying out loud...........why don't they sell replacement connectors? Anyhow, like I said "Don't get me started."

About 25% of the book. Though there have been occasions when I have enjoyed the book up to the halfway point and something then happens that totally POOFS! the magic feel, and I will fasforward to the ending. This is mainly for closure. If the ending is just horrible I then toss the book, but if it is intriguing, I will go back and skim to the finish. Woodnymph, I have both Hilary Mantel's novels and am having the same problem as you. These are books I should enjoy but somehow I'm missing the bus. I havent given up yet though. Re: Garcia Marquez - I really x3 tried with One Hundred Years of Solitude, but was just baffled. I hated it. It was for book club so I did manage to get through the whole thing but decided that this type of magic realism is not for me. :)

Personally, I restart seeds after about two weeks or so. I will still keep the originals to see if they finally pop, but I don't want to get too far behind in case they never do sprout. It has been my experience that most all peppers (with a few exceptions) will sprout within two weeks if they are going to at all. Like I said, there are a few exceptions but even most super hots will pop within two weeks if they are under proper conditions. Heat and moisture are the two biggies. Too little or too much is not good. 70 to 85 for soil heat and constant moisture without being soggy is good. If you grew several other varieties of peppers and they sprouted fine, then I would consider it a problem with the seed. If you had wide spread failures to sprout, then I would look more at your setup. My 7 Pot Brain Strain-Yellow seeds that I got from the trade actually were the first to sprout for me. They were going strong at 6 days. The photo below shows my early sprouts. Notice the ones that sprouted first were near the center of the heat mat that I had them on. That probably had something to do with it. I expect it was just a bit warmer there than on the outside cells. If you click on the photo it should open in a bigger size so you can see it easier.