Ask away! If we don't know, maybe we can at least point you in the right direction to find out.
You must be a very busy person having four kids and so many animals. Sounds like fun though. Never a dull moment I bet.
How is it going with your wooded area? What plants are you having good luck with so far? My shady area gets very dry in the summer and I've had the best luck with drought tolerant plants.
Welcome to Gardenweb! It's the best place on the web to ask questions.

Thanks so much for the welcome Christie! I am very busy! I work as a preschool teacher and do income taxes in my AHEM "spare time".
So far I think that I have done rather well. On the north(front) side of my house I have created one long (aprox. 50ft.) flower bed that curves down the middle of my yard. On the house side of that bed I have created by my own sweat and blood a nice curved natural field stone rock walkway that leads from the driveway area to the front porch. Then closest to the house I have planted irises, lilies, lily of the valley, creeping phlox, and add anuals for interest all the way to my porch. At the far end of the yard I have pampass grass, hybiscus, and a huge perfectly round stone that measures almost 3ft. in diameter that I am going to incorporate into the pampas grass by creating a half circle bed graduating the heights of plants to reach what is there already. I guess the one thing I can't even kill here is the Rose of Sharon bushes that I have gotten as mere twigs from friends willing to let me take them from their houses. I am trying to raise a lot of perinneals this year from seed, but I am not quite sure when to start indoors due to our wonderful MO weather. I don't know how warm my greenhouse will get during the day and don't know how to keep it above freezing at night to keep the plants alive. I guess I am just going to put it up this weekend and put a thermometer in there and take notes all weekend. I have never used a greenhouse before and I can't seem to find much info on the do's and don'ts. Anyway---it seems my fingers are very talkative today, so I'll stop here.
Thanks so much.

If you want to grow large amounts of plants from seed then check out the winter sowing forum. It's a great way to start seeds. I used to keep a horse near Hermann at a friend's farm near Little Lost Creek. It's beautiful there. Good luck with your seeds.

Thanks nickeys! I have found my way there already and start disinfecting my potting containers tonight after work. I think that this sounds like a really good idea, but I am suprised that others I talk to have never tried it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since after all, I am only learning of this technique myself. I am really curious to see how much of an advantage in time it is going to give me compared to doing things the old way. I am seriously thinking of starting a garden journal this year. I have never used one before, but now that I am getting into this subject more indepth I can see how it would be a benefit to me in the future. It's nice to know that someone else knows where Hermann is and has been here as well. It is a beautiful place to live and raise my four children. Not to mention there are alot of good wineries around......and me not having ANY grapevines at all.....at least for now :)

The advantage I found with the winter sowing is that the seedlings seemed to take off right away once planted out in the spring and they were compact and thick. When I tried starting seeds inside I always had a problem with them being spindly and I had a problem with damping off.

Are you familiar with the Deer Hollow Ranch? That's the property my friends used to own. It used to be called Wilson Hollow Farms and I have many wonderful memories of spending weekends there. I used to live in St. Peters MO, but we moved to Collinsville IL about 5 yrs ago. Quite a change. Good luck with your garden!