lavender

Two questions: If it can kill a horse why is it considered "non toxic" to humans?" Why the timing? This plant has been in the country since around 1800 or so and has gone wild in many areas. If it has been killing birds and animals for 200 years in the US and presumably Chinese birds and animals have been dying long before that why has it suddenly become such a problem? Animals generally stay away from poisonous plants. You get the occasional bear that wanders into a church parking lot and eats the yew and it makes national headlines. I'd like to hear the reasons behind the current warning.

They are really bad this year. I've had my first.

"How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?" WWII freed women. Now if we could just come up with a viable system that can take the place of the old fashioned family. Some of the alternative don't seem to be working too well.

I will see if I can find my recipe for cooking the buggers. I try to be useful.

Let us know if they come through the winter. My experience has been that the prettier and more colorful the grass the less likely it is to survive. I'm sure that is some kind of gardening law if it is horrible and invasive you can't kill it but if it is gorgeous and you really want to see it grow it dies as quick as it can manage. A number of years ago Japanese Blood Grass (the picture) was so popular. It was in every store. Beautiful red grass. Very striking and a great focal point for any border or garden. Great when nothing else was in bloom due to its color. We tried it here, we tried it there and it didn't survive anywhere. I think we got it through one winter in the raised bed at the city building but the next winter killed it off. Miscanthus grasses however reseed everywhere. They are a menace! They thrive on weed killer and it takes a backhoe to dig them out.

They should be cut in the spring. The dried foliage protects the roots in the winter in that it collects snow that keeps the ground from thawing and freezing. Little Zebra is quite hardy but pink Muhly is right on the hardiness zone border line. It should be ok with the warmer winters we have been having but I'd put down some mulch this first year. Purple Fountain grass is very iffy unless it is something other than what we usually call Purple Fountain grass. The common one is only hardy to zone 7 and possible but not probable in zone 6. We are zone 5. Good luck with it.

Tomatoes are beautiful and abundant this year. I planted a new hybrid of Celebrity which is just loaded. I'm not sure what is going on with some of the others. I don't think I got the tomatoes mixed up and even if I did why do I have what are a little bit bigger than cherry tomatoes among the Rutgers, Box Car Willie and Abe Lincoln when I had no seeds for cherry tomatoes? I have to sort it out and just see just where they are growing before I can think of a why.

Nice! I just started to get peppers then they stopped for lack of rain. Hoping this will get things started again.

It's what give Earl Grey tea its distinctive flavor.

Cut off the bottoms of milk jugs and put them over your peppers when you first plant them. Leave the lids off. This gives them a fighting chance against insects until they get bigger. I do this with my eggplants if they are small and it saves them from being destroyed by flea beetles. New transplants have enough stress without having to deal with being gnawed on by bugs.

Looks great! Ideal solution for people who have clay soil and need loose soil with good drainage for things like carrots.

When I harden off my plants I do it in dappled sunlight. I'd never put them in hot sun until they go into the ground. Once they are hardened off they can go into direct sun. They go from my heated greenhouse into the large unheated one. I set them under the shelves so that the direct sun doesn't hit them. It gets really hot out there so they get accustomed to temperature changes. From there they go to an elevated platform under a tree where they get used to less water and wind. You can see the stems getting less succulent. They are semi-shaded and up away from the deer. From there they go into the ground with a dose of weak Miracle-gro. I used to just plant in Miracle-gro potting soil but one year it was contaminated with fungus gnats. Ruined most of my seedlings. Now I plant in a soilless mix. I plant in a number of different ways. Some seeds go into flats, some in mini-greenhouses and some in pots. I like to experiment.

I think you are probably right about the pellets. I'm betting on the ph being too low. Peppers like a ph of 6-8. Too low a ph will cause yellowing. I found this: "The pellets have a pH of approximately 5.3 and are wrapped in a thin, degradable net. Ideal for starting your seeds indoors! Just put a few seeds in each pellet and add water. The peat pellets expand into a self contained soil container held together thin netting." I think pellets are ok for germinating but not for an extended period of time.

So how are the peppers?

Thanks, I'll be checking to see if any of them are near ant hills. We have quite a few.

Update on the bloodroot. I had one plant growing under a tree. It has been there for years. There were also a few plants that were being kept for the spring plant sale. Suddenly, this spring I am finding bloodroot plants all over the yard. They are all new plants and didn't bloom this spring but I am looking forward to next year. They must seed like crazy when the conditions are right.