Veda, there is a farm stand attached to an actual farm outskirts of the town, and they grow amazing potatoes! Next time I go, I'm going to get some! Cheaper and better than what you can get at the grocery stores.

Hi Suzi. Haven't seen you posting here for a while; nice to hear from you. :)

We have several nice compost bins in differing progress of break-down. I skip adding the things with seeds and pieces that tend to send volunteers everywhere and sprout (hello garlic) where I don't want them. Let's just say I learned my lesson on how easy tomatillos were to grow from seed last year. lol A lot of old cilantro, parsley, lettuce and bananas end up in there though. That compost is gold when added to vegetable containers and the soil. The difference in the healthy growth of the plants is very obvious. I wish I had a larger area to use for compost!

Slightly off topic, but I was wondering how your caper plant is doing. I was looking for one, but they have only been available in the $30 1.5 gal size so far this year. HD used to offer them occasionally @ $10-12 for a gal., but I have not come across one for a long while.

My compost doesn't gift me anything, but the powerlines do. Well the birds that sit on the powerlines do. At least that is how I assume the tomato seed that is growing got directly under those lines. I haven't grown tomatoes in years.

The ravens have dropped cat bones from coyote kills from the power pole to eagerly awaiting corgis every now and then.

gyr_falcon, the caper is doing fine! We knew a freeze was coming and we sprayed all the sub and tropicals with "Cloud Cover" It is organic, but it protects from HEAT and COLD. It's got a lot of new leaves and looking good. No blooms yet, but it needs heat!

Jim is building us a veggie garden with railroad ties. Have no clue what to put in there, but it will come to me :-)

Fig trees are doing fine as are all the other fruit trees, and they are legion! First year for Mango blossoms. Almost pea size. I watch daily!

I love garden web and sorry I have been missing. We are doing an add on to the house and that takes a lot of time. Take care!

Nil13, you got a special gift! Put that tomato on a grilled burger and drive us crazy!

So far this year I have had about 5 volunteer tomato plants, all of which I had to pull because they're growing right next to other things I purposely planted, and a squash of some sort that I'm going to let go and see what it is. Probably a horrible mutt, but I don't need to pull it so it can stay, for now. Cilantro and dill are always volunteering, which I never complain about, but my husband admitted he had thrown some mint into the compost last year and now I'm finding it everywhere, which I am not thrilled with.

Mint? This is not good. He should have put that in the garbage that the trucks take out. I am not pulling my tomato gifts. Just want to see what I got, and they are strong and healthy. Yeah, they are by the pool, but only time we entertain is 4th of July, and there might be some ripeness!

I hope you get some great tomatoes from those volunteers - it's always so exciting to see what you get. I'd love to leave mine in, but they were literally growing within inches of the base of my pepper plants and I'd already planted 21 tomato plants, so, they had to be sacrificed. I usually leave the fall tomato volunteers in to overwinter, but summer volunteers are out of luck cause I'm out of space ;)

We get other volunteers too. And I love my walking onions. They go in every salad every night. "Walk like an Egyptian!" And they do.

Every year I have dozens of pumpkins sprout; just let a couple do their thing though! Also avocados, mango, tomatoes of course, sweet potato, cantaloupe--but they all get pulled.