Looks good. I like the handles. And 6 for 18-19 bucks isn't bad at all. If it were me I would convert 2 gallons of that conatiner to the reservoir and leave the rest for the soil. Good luck! Damon

Good question Marcia. I've been contemplating filling in between stones with creeping thyme, too, now that I know it will winter here, but I'm worried about weeds starting to grow amongst the thyme. I have grass in my chives and it's impossible to manually weed. My neighbor laid a bunch of stone a year or two ago and she filled the cracks with course sand from an old river bed. It should discourage most things from establishing and also make for easy pulling. I'll have to ask her how it worked when I see her next. This would be a lot of work, but maybe laying a bed of sand then fabric, then rocks, so that the rocks have something to settle into. Then fill in the cracks with the sand. It might doubly discourage the weeds from establishing. Toots

another thought... prices for plants can vary GREATLY between different geographical areas of the country. EVen from the same store or supplier. Pricing can be vastly different for the same thing. It shouldn't be a big difference for me and Laura, as we both live in the same area, but things can be pretty wild elsewhere. I bought a bamboo palm (Chamaedorea) 2 years ago at a local sale for $7.99 in the 3 gallon comtainer. These palms are extremely cold hardy (to 20 at least) and I had been wanting one for a bit. Now that they have "caught on" nationally and Home Depot is offering them for the whopping price of $69.99!! That is pretty unbelievable to me. Our same local independents have the same palm for $49.99. Prices for other landscape plants can be off the scale as well. We are very lucky to live close to a local grower who sells all types of different alocasias, colocasias and xanthosomas to our 2 local independent nurseries here. I have purchased things like Alocasia plumbea nigra (aka Metallica) in the past, a big heaping full 3 gallon pot, for about $15. I saw the exact same plant in a nursery in Dallas TX that my sister in law took me to for $39.00. I myself used to raise different gingers for the local nurseries when I was operating my nursery, and I can tell you, anything you buy at a nursery is marked up 100%. If I sold them a plant for $5, they charged $10. Unless you go to Home Depot or another box store here, all the orchids are sold by local and regional growers at the independent nurseries on consignment. SO are the bromeliads. We are lucky here to have some great private growers here who sell their stuff on consignment. There is also a local independent food market that sells their things on consignment.

I have sugar snap peas and fava beans up a couple of inches - planted maybe 3 weeks ago. Spinach, broccoli raab, chinese kale, radishes, and arugula well up. Somehow chervil wintered over. I will plant beans once it warms up again- already planted beets and chard and kohlrabi. I bought 2 heirloom gallon tomato plants at the Friends Plant Sale - any experience with these big plants really producing fruit early? Happy gardening!