For those who did actually receive the potato seeds, you might want to check out a thread at The Vegetable Forum where I asked about growing potatoes from seed. In a nutshell, one should not expect edible potatoes the first season from the plants grown from seeds. They will produce small tubers (potatoes) that will then be suitable for growing into plants next year. After several replies I posted: I have deduced then that one should not expect good tasting eating potatoes from the plants grown from seed. What one can expect are potatoes that are suitable then for next years 'seed potatoes'. I'm left wondering how the average 'Joe or Josephine/ homeowner' can then overwinter the seed potatoes until planting time the next year in my zone, or any other zone. At my house, kept dark and cool, they would likely either rot, or wither up to nothing during the many months between fall harvest and spring planting time. Did I deduce things correctly/incorrectly? Additional thoughts? To that another member replied: You have it right, Sue. It's shriveling you need to prevent. Potatoes need to be stored in darkness at cool temperature and high humidity. IIRC, about 40ðF and 90% R.H. Some kinds store better than others. Leaving them in the ground is a possibility if they are kept from freezing by mulching heavily. I've had potatoes which I missed harvesting grow the next year. I know I can't overwinter store bought taters, so would not even consider trying to keep seed potato tubers all those winter months here. I guess in 'some' areas and instances though they could indeed be overwintered in the ground. Sue Here is a link that might be useful: Growing potatoes from seed?

Again, for those who might be going up to Mendo, we can heartily recommend the B&B we stayed at. The Agate Cove Inn is located on Lansing Rd., right by the ocean, about 1 mile just north of the town of Mendocino. It was far and away the best place we stayed during our long trip! They are duplex cabins, all with patios, full baths with jetted tubs, comfortable beds, nice little breakfast in the morning, extremely quiet and peaceful. We stayed in Zircon but really liked all of them - we were the only ones staying on a Sunday so hosts Roger and Lorraine gave us their master key so we could go into all the cottages to check them out. Emerald and Obsidian are the biggest and most luxe; Garnet has an extra twin bed for those who are traveling with a small child. As mentioned above, all of them have gas-fired stoves or fireplaces for heat, very easy to work (unlike some we've encountered) and the cabins are extremely well insulated and toasty-warm. The view from their front lawn, where they have two separate patios with lots of lawn furniture, is stunning. Bundle up, though, weather can be wildly changeable up there. The winds can be icy-cold one hour then warm up again the next! We made good use of Agate's blankets when sitting outside, even though we were all bundled up in Polarfleece, gloves, and hats, LOL. Here is a link that might be useful: Agate Cove Inn's website

Hi Early Bird! I had the exact same question just a few weeks ago when I was heading over to Tampa. Several people were kind enough to suggest a few places, among them being the USF Botanical Gardens and Bok Tower Gardens. I went over to USF since it was close to where I was visiting, and though it was POURING rain (go figure when it was something I really wanted to see!) I really enjoyed the orchid conservatory and cactus & succulent collection. The best part was their little plant shop, I couldn't help myself....;) So thanks to those who helped me, and I hope I could help you! I will definitely have to go to Bok Tower (more in St. Petersburg area, I think) next time. I'll have to post pictures of my first little garden made up of my USF plants thanks to my friends on the forum. Oh, and don't forget to put on bug spray!!! ~Emilee

Oh for Pete's sake, there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to think the fiance is some kind of psycho abuser wanting to molest OP's granddaughter. This is blame-shifting at it's finest. It's irresponsible and slanderous and it doesn't help the OP at all. If anything is leads her down a false path that will only make her problems with her daughter worse. Per OP, the fiance doesn't seem to like her or her husband much. He is not warm, doesn't make much eye contact and seems to avoid them to a certain extent. However, she also reports that he is civil and there's been no open hostility or disagreement or harsh words. He appears to dislike them, but has not withheld his daughters from the OP, which he could have done if he disliked her intensely. OP considers his daughters to be unruly brats who don't really belong to her family, altho she's willing to make a small effort to play step-grandmother if it's not too much trouble. The fiance did participate in the Disney breakfast altho it was clear he was not happy about it--so he's willing to accommodate her to a certain extent to keep family peace. To try to blame the estrangement on him, and then escalate him into an abusing child molester is ridiculous. In any interpersonal conflict there is fault on both sides, even though usually everyone wants to believe that they are completely innocent and misused. If you are estranged from a family member, you ARE partially at fault. People don't like hearing that; they think they must be an exception, but it doesn't work that way. And nothing can be resolved until they are willing to own their part of the problem. Nothing. In fact, it will continue to get worse as long as someone insists they are perfectly lovely and always correct and complete victim. The OP has a multi decade relationship with her daughter. It's long and complicated. But we know that her daughter worries about the OP making scenes, and that worry would be based upon past experience. We know the daughter has accused OP of trying to buy her and her children, and in fact OP did state she built a $100,000 for a 2 year old (altho I am sure that's not the only reason the pool was built I hope). The problem was severe enough, the daughter forbade further gifts and the OP worries about gifts and cards being returned. She has only recently sent a tub of popcorn at Thanksgiving which is not inappropriate, if it came before the request to stop sending gifts. If it came afterwards, it was pushy and way out of bounds. Per OP she's had problems with several other family members. And she was pushy and insensitive regarding the Disney trip. They invited themselves, and then when they found out they weren't wanted after buying the tickets but before getting on the plane, they did not change the date of their vacation or did not go as scheduled but stay away from the daughter's family (which would have been easy to do). She insisted on a breakfast. She did not respect what they wanted. We can also see from what the OP wrote that she has conflicting requirements, she doesn't want to be in large gatherings with the girls, unless it's at Disney. She doesn't like coping with all of them, but is willing to babysit. She calls them unruly, out of control and screeching, but says they are lovely. She doesn't want to take them out in public, unless apparently they are at an amusement park. We also see from the OP's post that she is reactionary, resists self insight, and lashes out easily when she doesn't hear what she wants to hear. You can imagine how difficult would be for her daughter to deal with. And the OP's rejection of her newborn son over not getting to see her daughter alone would be very painful and angering. The OP is unreasonably rigid. We see from what the OP wrote here she is very focused on what she wants and does not seem to be much aware of the wants of her daughter. That her daughter wants something different than what OP wants does not make what the daughter wants wrong or bad, just different. But OP doesn't see that, she only sees that it is not what she wants and finds that sufficient basis to judge her daughter's wants as being wrong. Two strong willed women whose wants conflict does not in any way mean a third person is an child molesting abuser. It's very clear that the OP is at fault here. The daughter is also at fault. She is as inflexible as her mother, and just because her mother is rigid, does not make it right for the daughter to be rigid. What harm would it be to allow some time for grandmother and granddaughter to be alone together at least on occasion? One would think the daughter would understand OP would like to recreate that time she spent with her grandmother and the time when her granddaughter lived with her. I wonder if the daughter has nice memories of spending time along with her grandmother, or did the OP not facilitate that relationship? I also wonder if the daughter is worried about her mother showing favoritism among the children. The favoritism is clear (and understandable perhaps) especially the distinction between the biological granddaughter and step granddaughters, but it's hard believe the daughter would tolerate her mother favoring her daughter over the son. The daughter also has problems communicating with her mother. She didn't want her mother to come on the vacation and yet when her parents asked, she didn't say so right out then. Perhaps she was afraid of a scene. But that's not an excuse to not be clear. l Perhaps she thought it was rhetorical, it wouldn't really happen, or thought it meant it was something they should do sometime, not necessarily this time. A sort of 'let's do lunch' proposal. But again, it was her responsibility as well as OP's to make sure they were talking about the same thing. OP said she seemed initially approving of the idea then changed her mind after the tickets were purchased. Maybe she liked the idea but her fiance didn't and she encouraged the self-inviting without considering it was also her fiance's vacation and she should have spoken to him before allowing anyone else to crash the vacation, particularly since he's made it clear, they aren't his favorite people. So perhaps she initially encouraged her parents to join the vacation w/o thinking of her fiance's feelings. And then she found herself in the awkward position of having to backtrack. (btw, that the fiance may not have wanted OP and her husband on the vacation does not mean he's a child molesting abuser) So the daughter is at fault too. But the daughter isn't the one writing here, she's not the one deprived of the relationship with these children. Children who won't be children for long. OP however is the one looking for answers, and the only responsible answer is for HER to change some of the things about her that contributes to the problem. Doing the same thing she's done for the last 5+ years is not going to suddenly work. She needs to do something else, and blaming the fiance is not that something else. Looking honestly are her part in the estrangement is. A therapist would be a worthwhile investment.