I feel your pain, this is my first year market gardening as well. In the past, my garden was large enough for friends and family--this year it's an acre with other smaller plots spread around the farm. Boy, did I underestimate the amount of seed I needed. I know the people at the seed companies are laughing their heads off at my many extra orders. Stupid Me. I noticed you left out sweet corn. But maybe you're like me and decided that the risks (violent psycho deer and Jap. Beetle invasions, space hog, etc.) outweigh the rewards. In my lurkings at the farmers' markets around here last year, new and fingerling potatoes sold real well, but it's probably too late to get good choices now. Banana Peppers, hot and sweet were popular, as was the sweet pepper variety Carmen if you don't have an aversion to hybrids. Peas and spinach are also reputed to be money makers in spring. Those guys, along with a variety of lettuce and radishes and speciality green mixes are how I plan to start my season. But, yeah, being new to this is killing me too, but I love it. I love the fact that I have finally learned to drive a tractor, although I had plowed about a fourth of my field before my uncle (farmer for 80 years) comes rushing down and it becomes clear by the look on his face that there are some things you can't learn by reading about. But that was cool in itself, because now I know half the field is done right and I did it myself. Oh, I'm so proud. Now if the weather would just cooperate so Farmer Susan could plow the rest of her field I'd be in high cotton. Right now I don't like the fact that I just spent all day searching for a more energy efficent way to heat my makeshift shed/greenhouse only to discover at 12 o'clock tonight that if I hung plastic down from the loft, the inside temp raised 10 degrees right away. Note to self--keep little space heater--take back 200 dollar propane heater and never listen to that salesperson again. But tomorrow, I'll slap myself on the back for being a genius. Now if that irrigation system I pondered over for weeks on end arrives and works the way I plan...but there's fun in that too. I love this. Wish you much luck this season, and may we both be successful at juggling all these little balls in the air. Oh, shoot, sorry. Got off topic there and forgot--have you thought about investing in strawberries, blueberries or other small fruits? It may take a few years, but the end returns should be worth it. I'm starting out with strawberries and blueberries (hoping to add year by year) and plan to spend any extra time I have this season getting some land ready for bramble crops. And easy cut flowers, maybe?

Helen I think you're right about my mystery flowers being Spring Beauty. Thank you! If I planted that, I've forgotten. I planted Jane five years ago and I'd guess that it's 6 to 8 feet tall now and still not blooming heavy enough to call it showy. It gets some competition from a Tulip tree so it might be doing better by now if it was planted in a better spot. I'm ashamed - I finally broke down and bought the Canon that has a 50x zoom lol. I got a good deal on it. Best Buy matches some dot com prices now. Amazon is one and they had the lowest price so I showed them that price at the register at Best Buy and they matched it. I also had reward zone bucks to take off of the price plus another 20 for applying for a BB charge card back before Christmas so it got the price down to 340. That's more than I intended to spend but I still had some Santa cash and I "needed" a good camera. : ) It seems to be working great for macro or zooming either one, but if the camera is zoomed all the way out, it's difficult to keep the subject centered. If you move the camera even a little, you've lost sight of it. I haven't messed around with macro much yet but this one is of buds on my Mohawk viburnum and the lens was very close. I need to try it out on some bugs or butterflies.

Water uptake and therefore nutrient uptake is energy driven, i.e. it takes energy to absorb water and nutrients, and the roots need oxygen to turn the carbs the plant makes (its food) into energy - just like you do. When your plants wilt while the soil is still damp and the problem persists more than a day or 2, you can be almost 100% certain it's a root problem - probably related to excess water retention and the dearth of oxygen that comes along with it. Roots are opportunists - they don't/can't "go looking" for water, air, and nutrients, they simply grow where conditions are favorable ...... and don't grow where they aren't. In your case, the roots are probably growing deeper into the pot when the water supply is at its lowest, then dying back again when you water. The cycle of death and regeneration of roots not only impairs root function, it's very expensive in terms of energy outlay as well. What it takes to regenerate roots killed by a lack of air might have been spent on things more productive - like an increase in plant mass, blooms, fruit ...... Your soil choice has a very significant impact on how easy/difficult success is going to be, and on how wide the margin for grower error is. My take on what constitutes a good soil, at a minimum, is one you can water to beyond the point of saturation, i.e. until at least 15-20% of the total volume of water applied exits the drain, carrying accumulating salts with it, this, without the grower having to worry about root rot or impaired root function. In most cases, the inability to water correctly also prevents you from being able to institute a nutritional supplementation plan that works well because nutrient ratios quickly become skewed if you can't hit the 'reset button' by flushing the soil regularly. Dennis is right about tight little root balls, too. If I get sets that have congested roots, I rip the bottom half of the roots off the plant and use as nylon pick to tease the remaining roots apart before the set gets planted. I also remove the lower leaves of the sets and plant very deep if in a pot, and deep and at about a 30* angle if they get planted in the ground. Often, roots allowed to remain in a tight little wad end up staying in a tight little wad with the plant suffering for it, and that's something you want to avoid. Roughing up the roots actually sends chemical messengers to the rest of the plant, telling it it needs to direct energy to the root mass. Plus, the closer roots are trimmed to the stem, the more juvenile and vigorous they are (look up 'ontogenetic age'), so make sure the roots are going to be able to easily colonize your soil mass by correcting congestion before planting and using an appropriate soil. Al

Let's take these one at a time.... For lighting fixtures located over a tub or shower, you can only use lamp fixtures (usually recessed, with a plastic lens) that are specifically rated for use over a shower or tub. This is because this area is extremely damp and often gets wet (either from direct splashing or from condensation), causing regular lamp fixtures to quickly rust or corrode. So they make special "shower lights" - usually a round 6" recessed fixture with a white plastic lens, either flush with the ceiling or with the plastic lens dropped about 1/2" from the surrounding trim ring. And unfortunately, these are typically rated for a maximum 60w incandescent bulb, although a 23w compact fluorescent (which is as bright as a 100w incandescent bulb, once it warms up about 30 seconds after it's turned on) can be retrofitted. You'll probably need to use a "micro-mini" CFL bulb, like those from Sylvania or Philips. Your best bet here may be a shower lamp that takes a GU24 CFL bulb only, as these allow for instant-full-brightness CFL bulbs (about 32 watts) that are as bright as a 120 watt incandescent to be used. The GU24 base is a new bipin base that can accept a variety of high-efficiency CFL or LED bulbs in various wattages, but not incandescents. Brighter bulbs are likely to become available in the future, as this is where the R&D money is flowing nowadays. You can get bright heat lamps/floodlamps without a fan. Amongst the most common are these: Broan 161 - a 250w heat lamp (white or infrared), with no fan. These cannot be installed in insulated ceilings (IC), often found on the top floor of a house, unless surrounding insulation is kept 3" away from all the sides, and also must be 6" away from any side walls. Or.. Broan 163 - which has two 250w heat lamps but no exhaust fan, and unlike the single-bulb 161 can be used in insulated ceilings. I'm not sure if this one is silent or utilizes a small, quiet fan that keeps the housing cool (but is not ducted, and doesn't blow air on the people standing below the lamps). Or maybe they're silent and without a fan now - check the specs (I'm not an expert at this stuff). You can either use two 250w infrared lamps, two white floodlamps up to 250w, or one of each, switched separately or together. There may be some non-IC recessed fixtures available from traditional recessed can manufacturers like Progress, Lightolier, and Juno as well that can accept 250w heat lamps - these are typically round in usual recessed lamp style. For areas not near the tub/shower, there are lots of styles available for use in bathrooms that are rated for damp (need not be "wet") locations.