Thanks for commisserating, everyone. It's nice to know that people understand what I'm going through. Elisabeth, I bet your kids love your garden! My kids are grown and live here and have jobs with little time to help around here, as is the same with my husband. So I'm the outside person. The thing is, I spend more time outside than a person does working a full-time job because of it being so hard to keep up with things. I certainly would be tempted like you mentioned with the bobcat, and yes, those mosquitoes and gnats almost eat me alive some days. Angie, Yes, I already decided that I'm downsizing. I don't want to get carried away and downsize a lot because I know what I went through to get rid of the grass before, so I thought I'd take off about 1/4 of the top garden, and I'm doing away with 1/2 of the milkweed patch. The milkweed patch gets soooo weedy, and that's the place where that darn Canada thistle is coming up the worst, although I've noticed little plants coming up in almost all of the gardens/beds. I don't think I'm any more decrepit this year than I was last year, but the rain that was almost nonstop for 2 months is what really did me in this year, and I don't want this to happen again. Jeff, Wow, I didn't realize that the roots go that far down! I agree with you and am using RoundUp on these tenacious thistles. They'd take over if a person would let them. Sandy, I've been holding off on putting down newspaper because I always get a really bad slug problem here every year when I put down newspapers and mulch. Those creatures hide under things and damage my plants so much, and I thought that it would be especially bad this year with all of the rain that we had for 2 months. I'm really sorry to hear that you got arthritis in your wrists from the result of your breaking them a few years ago. I remember when that had happened when you were about to go visit your daughter. What an awful thing to happen to ruin your plans and then to get arthritis yet is a real bummer. I'll try vinegar on some weeds and see what the results are. Sherry, Since you've had carpal tunnel syndrome for awhile, I guess you understand how uncomfortable it can be. Well, the numbness is more annoying than uncomfortable. It's the pain up my arm from the cubital involving the ulnar nerve that I mind the most, but I'd be happy if I wouldn't have either one of those problems. I wish I could put in raised beds, but I don't think that's possible. It's a very good idea though. I wouldn't get help from anyone putting them in or doing anything else outside. My "kids" don't have the time or ambition. Ha! Thank goodness neither of them want to have kids because that it's a lot of work raising kids. I'll do the best I can here with what abilities I have and try to accept that I'm not as young as I used to be. My problem is that my mind wants to do the work of a 20-year old (what one would physically be capable of doing, that is), but my body feels like my age plus 20 years. If I were magically given the body of a younger person for just a week, would I ever be smokin' rushing around to get things done that I want done in the gardens. :) Susan, That's great that things look so nice at your place; I'm just sorry that it took a toll on your body, which I know what you mean. I tried to do a lot outside yesterday since it was an absolutely lovely day. With the exception of two small breaks, I worked outside from about 11:00-8:00. I paid for it too...could barely make it out of bed today. I always do have trouble in the morning, but it was especially difficult today. My dr. is afraid I'll get hooked on vicodin so won't prescribe me anymore, but geez, I made a bottle of 30 pills last for a little over a year because I take them as little as necessary. I wouldn't exactly say that I'm a druggie. lol I'm seeing the back specialist next month to see what's plan B because plan A (steroid shots last summer) didn't help me. I'm going to do what you said and I've picked the garden closest to the house to concentrate on this year. Since it already doesn't look nearly as bad as the others, it shouldn't be too bad to get it in even better shape and maintain it. The others have gone to the dogs so much that I'd almost need a work crew (yeah, like that's going to happen :/) to make them look nice. I guess I'll just have to settle for one nice-looking garden and too lousy-looking ones. bernergrrl, I guess you and a lot of others know what I'm having to deal with with the gardens. Even without a lot of rain, as you know, they're a lot of work. Through in the rain and not being able to work out there practically the entire spring, and it makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to get caught up with things. I had this idea that I somewhat failed in my goals to provide for the butterflies in the ways that I wanted to, but I can't lose my sanity trying to be "Wonder Woman". I have been trying to delay with newspapers and mulch (I have bags of leaves I'll use) because of the slug problem that I get here every year, but I have to start doing something to keep the weeds down. It would be nice if I could get someone to rototill, but I'm not going to count on that. Sorry, will reply more another time...my arms are telling me that was my typing limit. Thanks again. Cathy

Diana, they are keeping me so darned busy at work, and then my design business is zipping right along that I've never gotten any time off since I emailed you. I'd love to meet you and see your garden! Satellite, with your description it sounds like you should be over here living in East Atlanta!! Sarah has a little boy of 4? These are people I probably know. That is good the Mesculin is going well for you. At these temps they germinate so unevenly unless you can give some shade at times. I'm amazed we are still eating garden lettuce. I'm eating it right now as a matter of fact. And some Cherokee purple that bugs didn't get. Yum. Come in and say hey at work if you get the chance. I'm there every night except Fri & Sat (except this week, this week I'm working 7 days) but weekends are band practice nights! GGG

Hi Daniel. Forget about the tomatoes till about February we pulled up the bed at the back fence last week, as they had fruit fly in them, but still have the four around the side near my potting bench ( San Marzano ) and they are going fine, there are heaps of tommys on them just starting to colour now, BUT if the fruit fly dont get them the water will they all split when we get those big thunderstorms. The cherry toms are doing fine they came up out of the compost. I have lots of cucumbers we are eating them now, no trouble with spring onions we have been eating them all year I keep planting another bed as soon as one bed gets to a certain size. Radish is another one I grow heaps of with no trouble and silver beet for the chooks those plants just never die the more you pick the bigger they get. As Mick said up top pumpkins do well, so Tony planted has planted them in little beds where all the mulch is so they are not in the way they go alright here too as do watermelons all the vine crops do well over our summer you just have to watch the mildew. One year I planted rockmelons they grew to a lovely size but tasted salty so never again. Bok choy is another one that grows well over summer, and snake beans but I have never grown them.. As the beds get empty now I plant peas from the dry lentils part of the supermarket and when they get so high I push them under the soil every little helps O I eat the peas first well some of them its good to have a cover crop to enrich the soil for the next planting season....Happy Gardening in your little bit of Paradise.....Cheers..MM.

Good news - it isn't toxic or unworkable. Bad news - it's not done. Even though it's been a year. Why did this happen? The bacteria that produce compost need air and carbon to balance the nitrogen and water. Without them you get only bacteria that thrive without oxygen - which don't produce compost. (Picture a pile of cut grass clippings just rotting.) The smell doesn't lie. An anaerobic pile stinks. On the contrary, healthy compost piles smell earthy and sweet. If it's is very hot there might be a trace of ammonia fragrance. On your ingredients list the only carbon heavy (brown) material are the coffee filters and cardboard. For the compost pile to work, you need a balance of both the green and brown - 50/50 by volume is a workable goal. That means every time you dump in some kitchen scraps and coffee grounds, you also add an equal volume of shredded leaves, cardboard, straw or other high-carbon brown material. A Way Forward Basically you are back at square one. What you have is high-nitrogen sludge. This is a great "green" material for composting, or for worm farms. Either way, you will need to combine it with a brown material like straw or wood pellets. Going forward, wood pellets (the unprocessed kind used for wood stoves) are pretty cheap and a handy carbon source if you don't have a natural one available. You can keep them in a sealed garbage container close to the tumbler. Every time you throw in some garbage, toss in some wood pellets as well. That will get you in the ballpark of a workable carbon:nitrogen ratio. If you fill the tumbler up all at once, add the right moisture and turn it every few days, this should be able to take the container through the end of the bacterial (hot) stage in about 8 weeks. After that, you can empty the composter and let the batch finish in a pile on the ground or in another (ventilated) container. The bacteria will have consumed everything rats or raccoons would eat, so you don't have to worry about critters at that point. Fungus will continue to break down the carbon for a few more months. Tip: Shredded leaves are the best brown material and are, of course, free. This fall collect all the leaves you can from your neighborhood and just store them in plastic bags. They will slowly decompose over time, but they will be your free carbon source for composting throughout the year.