The weather really has been strange this year, we have had one of the hottest Junes so far, no rain to speak of (usually pours this month) we did get some rain last night. So far the Echinaceas are looking pretty good some are growing gangbusters, have lots of buds forming. Some are growing slowly but look healthy. I noticed last night Summer Sky, Double Decker, Sundown, Sunset, Razzmatazz and Magnus are the forerunners in my garden as far as good healthy growth and formation of flower buds goes. One of my favorites Twilight looks healthy, the small clump seems to have finer leaves and stems this year, I'm thinking it might need a smidge of potash. Echinaceamanic what are your thoughts on this? What do you fertilize with or do you not fertilize? I hope you are going to show us more of your seedlings this year, I remember one from last year it was awesome. Annette

That is so nice of you, to try to help me solve this problem. I believe damping off may have played a role on my first batch of seedlings...due to the fact that I kept it too hot, too wet, and cover on to boot. This second batch does have me puzzled...and I think (i don't know) that lack of fertilizer is the problem as well as lack of water. Since this thread started I began a twice weekly foliar-feeding program (weak solution) so far I have misted 3 times....and everything I have sprayed is turning a darker green, putting out true leaves, and getting bigger. The tiny seedlings are the only ones I lost yesterday...and pretty sure it was because the media was too dry. As per tons of advice I figured my media needed to be more porous than the last batch...so by golly I made it porous. Seeds sprouted just fine, but now I've made it too hard to keep up with watering. I need to meet at the happy medium. I am going shopping (maybe tomarrow) for some ProMix BX. I think you guys are right and that may be a great point in the right direction...for PH reasons too. I have also been faithful at adding 1 tsp of vinegar to each gallon of water, which bring the ph to 6.7. I can definately tell that I'm not leaving water spots on leaves nearly as bad. It may have gotten up past 80*F in my greenhouse yesterday, but not much more. I didn't take the plants out because the forcast called for scattered showers, and that usually means a downpour. Lately I've been able to to move them all outside for at least part of the day, so genuine sunshine (not filtered) might be helping with the growth spurt too. To tell the truth, I am quite happy with the week and a half improvements made, with all your help. And other than yesterday's disaster, I believe my greenhouse is going to start seeing more green. :) I'll try to take some pictures...if I can figure out to post them.

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My husband cooks chicken thighs on the BBQ - bone and skin on and they're always juicy and good. I think it's just because he doesn't over-cook them. It's also a skin-down for most of the cooking. When I do them in a sauté pan, à la Jacques Pépin then they're good too. I do his little cut either side of the bone so they lie flat in the pan. I really think over-cooking is the worst culprit for the chicken. I know that in England a lot of the chickens are "enhanced" but happily we do't get that here.