Did your peaches split in addition to the clear goo coming out of them? If so, you might research something called pit split. 95% of our peaches dropped (after thinning). All of the peaches were split and had clear hard gel dripping out of them. When I cut them open, there was no sign of any infestations inside. There was a clear goo surrounding the pit though, and the pit was filled with goo (it hadn't hardened even though the peaches were 1 1/2" in diameter, not sure when they should harden) I searched the www for over a month for the combination of the clear goo and the split fruit, and the only thing I could come up with was "split pit" since there was no sign of any infestation. I can't guarantee that's really the problem, but it's the closest thing I've found. Please post if that sounds like what you experienced or if you discover it's something else that caused it.

1) How do you store cured compost if you happen to have to much? 2) How long will it keep? Compost can be stored inside or out, in plastic pails, garbage cans, garbage bags, or just about any container. It would be best if it could breathe. You could also leave it in a heap on the ground. Compost is best to use whenever itÂs finished. But it can be stored for years if you want to. Bill Hill

I have been "recharging" potting soil for a heck of a lot of years. I don't know how DigDirt defines the recharging process, but here is what I do: Each October, I empty all of my containers, window boxes, flower pots, etc onto a pile of junky stuff I have gathered all summer which includes grass clippings, failed startups, Holiday gift plants, (the good garbage goes into my tumbler-type composter). About the end of March. I get out there on a nice day and screen the whole mess and store the resulting product in barrels which I use later to fill my containers for the new year. I "recharge" the sifted stuff with a bit of lime, a few shovels full of aged manure, a bit of an organic fertilizer like Garden Tone, a little time release fertilizer and I am good to go for the new gardening season. The stuff is too expensive to throw away andd too valuable/useful, ecologically, to waste. I have using it primarily for flowers but it should be useful for vegetable gardening as well. Been working for me. Victor

You're absolutely right, Friedajune. The right way is the way your mother, may her memory be a blessing, made it! And the way my father does. We treasure every Pesach he's with us to make it. I found a kind of dark picture of the table, though not the food (that's the box for the books in the background). The tablecloths come with the tables and chairs so I get a different color every year. It's so warm and Springy this year, hence the pink: I did make the pastry cream and raspberry sauce, finally, and put together the douzaine de crêpes (is that the right way to say it? It's certainly not the mille crêpes I was originally aiming for). The top crêpe in the package turned into a frisbee, but the rest were just fine, but only 13. Given that they had some problems to start with. Judicious stacking and patching actually made for a fairly round cake, I used a bit of pastry cream to ice the sides to make it look better, then ringed the whole with raspberries and edible flowers. There may be unevenness, and some overbrowning, and it's more cheesecake high than cake high, but it tastes great, and the raspberry sauce is awesome. Using arrowroot starch was expensive because I didn't have enough and had to buy it in a little glass jar, rather than the pound bag. Sigh. It made for a divinely smooth custard, however, that was still strong enough not to ooze under the weight. I took it to a family dinner, and this is the remains on its way back in to the fridge.