Matilda: Eating green apples never hurt anyone, unless it is seriously overdone, and even then the worst that can happen is a tummyache. But if you want to know if your apples are technically ripe, look at the seeds when you cut one open. Dark brown seeds mean the apple is fully ripe, while lighter brown means it will still sweeten up if left on the tree. Usually, when apples begin to fall from the tree they are ripe or nearly ripe, although apples that have not been thinned at all can fall prematurely just because they are so crowded. Granny Smith is one of the latest-ripening of all apple varieties, and would normally not be ripe in your location until at least the end of September or maybe even October. So it is is likely that your apples are not Granny but something else, although I don't know what that might be. There are quite a few apple varieties that stay green even when ripe and ready to eat. Tart apples make the best applesauce, which is easy to cook up and freeze in plastic containers. Either peel and slice them, cook them up, and mash them a little, or core and cook them with the skins on and run them through a food mill. Add sugar to taste. Most kids seem to love applesauce, and you would probably have no difficulty using a couple dozen quarts over the course of the winter if you have the freezer space. Like any frozen product, applesauce is best kept in a deepfreeze without automatic defrost rather than the freezer section of a refrigerator. You can also dry apple slices, but for that you would need a cabinet dryer, and the slicing and drying process is somewhat time consuming. However, if you have the time to do it, home-dried apples are delicious and another thing that kids seem to like very much as a healthy snack. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I have grown a cover crop or I have covered the garden bed with shredded leaves, but never both at the same time. Sometimes a few leaves will get trapped in the cover crop but that is not the same as laying down 6 to 8 inches of leaves which would smother any cover crop you are growing. The leaves will have a Carbon to Nitrogen ratio of between 40 and 80 to 1, almost adequate to promote proper composting. When I have plunked down a goodly amount of leaves on the clay soils of NW Indiana and SE Ohio, shredded and unshredded, over the winter we found the soil the following spring to be more workable and that plants grew better with only a small amount of compost added, much less then the previous year when no leaves were added. If this new plot is now ready for planting I would seed Buckwheat which will be ready to cut by the time the leaves start to fall and then cover that cut Buckwheat and the soil with the leaves for the winter.

I have my photos stored on Picasa web album, and here's how I upload my photos from Picasa to GW. 1 - I check that my albums are shared with "Limited, anyone with the link", if they're not Public; 2 - I open the photo that I want to upload; 3 - I look on the right side of the photo to locate "Link to this photo" and click on that; 4 - I high-light the codes in the box under "Embed image", then copy the codes; 5 - I return to my post on GW and paste the copied codes. I always got my photos appeared in my post on here. Hope that helps. By the way, I'd like to share photo of my two bulbs recently received from Royal colors. Xuan

Harlequin bugs are members of a larger insect family that includes some beneficial insects. I am not sure that there would be any "trap" crops for these buggers but companion planting can help by providing a food source for the predators of these buggers, and sometimes by disguising the plants they want to get to so they do not find them. A diligent search for eggs on the host plants can help keep them under control, Insecticidal Soaps may be of some help in control, Neem products may also be some help in control, but due care in use is necessary as it would be if pyrethrins were to be used. For next year start by looking closely at you soil and start to make that soil into a good, healthy soil that wil lgrow strong and healthy plants that are less attractive to insect pests and plan on other steps, such as using Floating Row Covers, that can help keep these wee buggers away form the plants. Here is a link that might be useful: About Harlequin bugs