Dear Friends, this week's post will be a short one, but also an important one. This is the time of the year where you pay extra attention to your Christmas cactus, your Poinsettias, your Philodendron and Areca Palm, well to keep them looking their best, here is a tonic you need to use.

Apply this to indoor and patio plants.
Indoor/Patio Plant Tonic

1.1 gallon of tea
2.1 tablespoon Murphy's oil soap
3.1 tablespoon Epson salt
4.1 tablespoon 20-20-20
Stir with a stick and pour directly onto the roots. I think you will be impressed by the extra greening power your plants will now have.

I promised you two great tonics on the show this weekend, and here they are! If you have Gardenias or have Houseplants, which you want to look their best for the Holidays. These tonics are for you!

Gardenia Booster

1. 1 gallon of water
2. 1 tablespoon Knox gelatin
3. 3 tablespoon spoons hydrogen peroxide
4. 1 tea bag
5. 1 teaspoon liquid iron
6. ½ teaspoon ammonia
7. ½ teaspoon baby shampoo

For this tonic, mix ingredients, and pour all of it on top of roots, use entire gallon for a two foot plant., use two gallons for a four foot plant. Houseplant/ Fungus/Gnat Tonic

* 1 quart mist bottle
* 1 tablespoon antiseptic mouthwash
* ½ tsp Murphy's Oil Soap
* ¼ teaspoon Pyrethrin or Neem oil
* 1 tablespoon cinnamon.

Mist tonic directly onto foliage, it is that simple.

The two tonics should really keep your plants looking healthy and strong!

Today's subject is lowering the maintenance of your yard by reducing the square footage of total lawn area, this year has been a problem year to say the least, there have been, chinch bugs, mole crickets, pill bugs, earwigs, caterpillars, and just a few hundred other bug varieties. All have conspired to either thin out kill the lawn. The other issue that I believe is actually worse than the bug problem is fungus. Getting rid of all these thing sis time consuming, expensive and sometimes we do the best we can but still it doesn't seem to be enough.

Perhaps you should consider a huge reduction in the square footage of your lawn area. For example, you can connect trees in the lawn within free form islands where you can plant ground covers and shrubs and if you're so inclined can even add annuals, yes there would still be a perimeter of grass, but at least you would have reduced a huge percentage.

Another creative way and pretty artistic as well would be to add a meandering dry river rock bed which could bisect the entire lawn, and perhaps fork into two or three tributaries. A few Xeriscape [plants can be placed in strategic spots along the river bed and this is the concept that you don't have to mow every week.

Another Idea is to take up the square footage of lawn with the addition of either a gazebo or an arbor of sorts. By doing this you create an attractive focal point and large undulating beds can encompass the structure. Of course within in these beds you can add shrubs or flowers which would be a tremendous upgrade to the home.

Another idea is to create some free form islands in various parts of the lawn, especially in areas where the grass seems to die every year. Another concept, increase the size and maybe change the shape of some of your existing planting beds. Of course there is also the idea of adding a large area of stone or even a paver patio area.

So, try looking at your yard in a new and different way, discuss wit with the other family member, look at photos and I'm sure you'll come up with a customized idea just perfect for your style

The Muhley grass a Xeriscape grass, which is one of my favorite plants. I love to use this grass in clusters. Now, when we call a plant a grass, this does not mean that is looks like the grass we use or the lawn. For the purpose of landscaping, these ornamental grasses come in all shapes and sizes. Perhaps the most common denominators is that they are all clumping and usually most ornamental grasses have a very narrow needle like leaf.

There are literally hundreds of varieties that grow in many different states. What is nice about an ornamental grass from a maintenance standpoint is that you basically only have to trim them once a year, usually only in the spring. You can trim them fairly hard as they tend to recover quite quickly. I used them in many of the landscapes that I do, because I am extremely interested and fully understand the importance of water conservation.

These are plants that once established, can get dry but will not fall apart. They also are free of insects and diseases for the most part. The flowers of ornamental grasses are called plumes; plumes are always elongated, soft, feathery, and wispy. They usually tend to be white with some form of pink or blush. They are very pretty and tend to bloom in the fall.

I use them in the background of an island planting often placing six of them staggered, behind a small tree in the island. I also sue them in an English garden kid of landscape as they make a nice cluster in the background with a variety of perennials in the front. At our nursery we have three main types of ornamental grasses, small medium or large, and we invite you to come see them if you are interested in adding them to your landscape. Phone 352-383-3303.

It is such a gloomy day today and it looks like we are in for our first cool weekend. I think most of us are ready for a change in weather. I was going to mow but it looks like it will start raining any minute, so I will just take a break. I expect tat the cooler weather will slow the growth of the weeds and due to all of the rain the weeds have been terrible this year. So many homes that i see have lost their entire lawn as well as many landscape plants to fungus,so many have to start over. If you have had a problem with wet non-draining soil then you may want to consider a French drain to get the water out of the lawn and landscape, if not the soil will continue to pack and as the years go by it could get worse.

Dear friends, all soil need an occasional tonic. The following tonic is a soil stimulant-which will help to activate the existing soil microbes so that your soil can work for you rather than against you.

Fall Soil Booster
1 bottle of beer
1 cup lemon ammonia
1/2 cup murphy's oil soap
½ cup, Alaska fish fertilizer

*Note: The fish fertilizer must be strained through cheese cloth, before you add it to the hose end sprayer. Do not accidentally get this product on your skin, as it might have an odor and cats will chase you.

Add all the ingredients together in the hose end sprayer and apply evenly over the yard.

In regards to landscaping, many of you who have established landscapes may need to re-evaluate the size of your planting beds. Here is the reason why; when your specimen plants were first planted they were much smaller and most likely in proper balance with the size of the bed. As they age they become larger and this effects the balance and rhythm of the design. So, all you have to do is enlarge the bed, sometime only a few feet and you will find that the flow is much better, of course by increasing the size you will have add plants and they will specifically have to lower growing varieties.

If you do not want to do this yourself, you could always call Simms landscaping as this is one of the things we specialize in. That number is 352-383-3303

If you have clay pots stacked along the side of the garage, most likely covered with black mold, I have a solution for you. Why not rejuvenate those pots. You may need to set aside a little time to do some scrubbing but it will be worth it. The best idea, recruit a family member to help you clean them, as this may not be the most joyful thing you could be doing on a Saturday morning.

Here is a tonic which will make them clean up a lot easier:

Clay Pot Cleaner:
One gallon of water
½ dish detergent
2 cups of bleach

In the one gallon of water, mix the detergent and bleach and scrub away the mold. Be sure to only scrub the outside. No need to do the inside because nobody will see it.

Now this time of year there are still a few lingering aphids. Aphids are soft bodied insects that look similar to gnats. If there were just a few of them it wouldn't be that big of deal, however aphids usually appear in big numbers. In this volume, they can severely damage a plant, small plants can even be killed. Here is a very famous Garden Rebel tonic which has been used over the years and people of the country have had great success with it. I used this tonic as a child on my plants, and it has never failed me. Do not apply it in the heat of the day, only apply early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Aphid Tonic
2 garlic cloves, finely crushed
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tables spoons rubbing alcohol
3 table spoons peppermint soap

The specific brand of peppermint soap I use is called Dr. Bronners Pure Peppermint Castile Soap. The places you can find this in health food stores and my wife has even seen it a time or two at Wal-Mart, in the pharmacy section.

This tonic is applied by putting it in a pump up sprayer and spritzing it directly onto the bugs. Be sure to never increase the dosage as these amount seems to be A oaky and do the job.

There is a little ground cover known as Perennial Peanut. It is a thick low growing replacement for any lawn especially St. Augustine. You see, St. Augustine is a water hog, when St Augustine gets just a little dry, its immune system is weakened, it thins out and bugs and fungi move in. The scenario is that you spend a lot of money replacing it and then in two or three years the St. Augustine declines again. At some point this can become expensive. Perennial peanut may be the answer.

It is drought tolerant and with water restrictions becoming more prevalent, we really need to be thinking about economical and low maintenance ways to keep a good looking landscape. Re if you like it or not, you could try a sample by planting the median strip in front of your house first. If you don't want to go to that extent, just try one or two plants in another area of the yard but please be well aware that it will grow into the other plants, so normally we will not plan it within a bed, but this is only for the purposes to quickly see it will do well for you and to make sure that it's look appeals to you.

This plant will not freeze but certainly will not be as lush in the Winter as it will be the rest of year. It works well too in dryer soils and it totally insect resistant. I like it so much I am using it in parts of my yard.

A shameless plug by the way, If you are interested in purchasing this beautiful plant, just call us at Sims Landscaping and we can order it in large quantities. The number (352) 383-3303.

On Saturday at the nursery the following top quality plants will be on sale from 8:30 until 3:30. All are very high quality and are a very fair deal this is only a one day special sale and no plants will be able to be reserved ahead of time, if you need volume these are amazing deals so please bring a truck if needed.

1 Red and Yellow Firecracker, Big butterfly attractor 12.00
2 Sago huge 3 gal size plants reg 25.00 now 5.00
3. Liriope Evergreen Giant 1 gal reg 4.00 now 2.00
4 Aztec reg 4.00 now 2.00
5. Society Garlic, white and purple now 2.00
6 Mondo, now 2.00
7. Papayrus reg 22.00 now 15.00
8 Cast Iron reg 18.00 now 10.00
9 Purple Cardinal reg 15.00 today 10.00
10 Lemon Grass reg 20.00 now 10.00

Remember these deals are only for Saturday 26, 2009 and all plants must be picked up at the nursery as there are no call-in orders. Also, if you would like a landscape estimate then please have your name, number and address with zip and all phone numbers pre written on a card or paper and give to Mark at the nursery and we will call on Monday with an appointment time.
Thank you! Vince Sims

Just like all of your other teachers, as a professional landscape designer, I have my preferred suggestions for you garden's success. One of the problems I find with creating a beautiful yard is that many people stay perpetually frustrated. I believe the reason for this is that many folks tend to want to do too much too soon, then the yard gets away from them and the landscape frustration develops. So now the question becomes "how do we organize our yard so that we get what we want and have it all flow nicely when we finish?"

So my first suggestion would be in the sunny corners or the sunny parts of your side yards, to plant your favorite fruit trees and group them together say 12 to 20ft apart depending on the size of the yard and the variety. For example, you can have an early season orange and then 20 feet from it plant a late season orange and then you can plant an early season grape fruit and if you want something exotic and unusual to impress your neighbors then plant a star fruit also known as Carambola (pictured on left.).

A lot of people resist planting the fruit tress telling me that they will never live long enough to see fruit. Well I plant mine several years ago and they are now getting beefy enough to produce fruit. Once the fruit tree grouping is in and you are satisfied, you may want to consider planting trees and shrubs for privacy. For example, if your pool aligns with the neighbor's on each side, why should you feel like you are living in a gold fish bowl? Simply plant hedges along the side to grow up which will also block out some of the sound as it maybe a weird feeling to hear your neighbor's conversations.

Next, think about adding some color. One of the smart ways to add color is to add showy annuals each side of the front door. You can also border your back patio with them and grow them in pots on the patio. The nice thing about potted annuals is that they are annuals and you can change your variety each season which will make the landscape seem far more interesting. So, start with these basics and hopefully the landscape won't seem this overwhelming.

Dear Friends, I am excited about this Garden Rebel Cruise!

Now we have all of the basic info up about the first annual Garden Rebel Cruise coming this April. All of the primary info is on my sites home page at the bottom of the page. We will have garden talks and there will be plenty of time for questions and answers.Any additional questions that you have can be answered by the cruise company listed on my home page. It is very important to know that a passport is required for the Bahama's so you need to update if necessary now. Also the 25.00 deposit is required now to save your cabin. There will be plenty of free time as the garden talks will only be an hour or so depending on the day and we will be covering all of the main topics of gardening and if you bring photos of your house I will even make suggestions. The famous international artist , Donna Dewberry is also going to be giving her art classes and there is an additional charge to take her class so get all of the details from the cruise company as I have nothing to do with that, only to know that she is the best at what she does and a great person! I have no idea of her class times but I do know you must register now as she needs to have the correct amount of art supplies and will not have extra on the ship so now is the time to get the details from the cruise company.

Just some of the topics I will cover are.

Using Drought tolerant plants
Tropical Plant Landscaping
Indoor Plants
Landscape Design
Cold weather Plants
Bug resistant varieties
Natural Tonics
My personal gardens
Plenty of time for questions!

Please do not wait until the last minute as you must check your passports and get the 25.00 deposit in, please tell your family and friends and I think we're going to have a great time!

One of the big things in gardening right now is the art of creating privacy for your yard. I think privacy us one the most important issues, because it is our special time to relax and recharge our batteries. In order to achieve privacy you need to create a garden along the property line that not only shields out swimming pool cages, neighbors boats, and neighbors un-kept lawns but anything else you don't feel like staring at.

The first thing you may want to do is plant a few trees, make sure that you place your trees so that when they grow, their canopies will visually take out the neighboring houses rooflines, Most roofs are not attractive and a beautiful flowering tree like a yellow Tabeuela will do the trick.
Do not space them any closer than 20 feet apart. In between them you can plant fast growing flowering shrubs. The varieties that I use in my landscape, grow very dense, have beautiful foliage and also have seasonal flowers which always make the garden more interesting.

These plants can be planted in small three gallon size pots and over time can develop into large fat shrubs that literally can camouflage a wooden fence. The plant varieties that I like along the fence or property line are Primrose Jasmine, Red and Purple Cardinal, Red Cloak, Philodendron Selloune and English dogwood. Hibiscus of various colors would also be a good choice.

Once these plants grow in you have now created your own bird sanctuary and in addition you can out in your backyard a barbeque without the neighbors watching you throughout the window. Once the trees grow in and begin to provide a little shade you can even start thinking about a small paver patio under them and this creates a nice space to roll the barbeque on and extra square footage for your guests.

This year I have been pushing you create your own vegetable garden. If you haven't yet put in a fall vegetable garden, you need to hurry and do so. Here is what you need to get started for fast results:

1. Choose an area of the yard in full sun and recreate a 10' X 10' bed.
2. Remove the grass and invest in a pickup load of rich landscape soil.
3. Purchase the biggest vegetable you can find either in 5" or 1 gallon size pots.
4. Space the plants leaving them plenty of room for growth, if they are too close there are a greater chance of bugs and disease.
5. Label each row with the name of each variety, you can go to a yard sale, buy some old forks, and place the see package into the fork. Place the fork at the beginning of the row.
6. Only fertilize your new plants organically, do not put synthetic chemicals on anything you eat, we already have enough chemicals in the foods we buy at the stores.
7. Keep soil moist but not soggy wet.
8. If bugs occur, spray with all natural Pyrethrin.

Please consider growing a vegetable garden. Not only is a good mental stress reliever, the vegetables will taste far better than the ones you buy at the stores. At our Sorrento nursery, you may also want to pick up a $3 dollar booklet called "vegetables naturally" which has a lot of natural tonics you can use.

Dear Friends,
So many of you have contacted me about the Garden rebel seminar cruise to the Bahama's the first week of April. As of this moment I do not have the exact dates but will know them very soon. Here is what I do know

1 It will be on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
2 Internationally famed artist Donna Dewberry will be giving her art seminars with me and if you've ever wanted to paint just take her class which will be at different times than my classes.
3 The cost will be very reasonable and it will be a 5 day total cruise.

In the meantime if you want to see my TV show as well as Donna's then just go to the WHDO TV schedule and watch our shows on the internet.
www.whdotv.com

There is a particular plant that I am using in landscaping a lot and I think you ought to consider using it. It's called the firecracker plant.

I have had a group of red fire crackers in an island planting, under my magnolia tree for six years now. You may think I am exaggerating, but I am telling you that these groups of plants bloom in my yard at least nine months out of the year! The other neat thing about the fire cracker is that it is a huge butterfly attractor. It is a cascading plant with a very fine needle like foliage.

The most common color is red, however the one that I m using mostly in my landscaping now is the yellow one as it is not as common. I also have a grouping in my yard of a cantaloupe covered one which happens to be my favorite. This is a much more rare color and I am slowly propagating them from stock plants to sell at my nursery in the spring.

The way that I use these plants in landscaping is as follows:

1. A single plant centered with a bay window, so you can look out the windows and see the butterflies.
2. A mass planting within an island with no other plants.
3. A grouping of three plants behind a corner specimen, with Blue Lilly of the Nile planted in front of them.
4. Plant it along slopes to control erosion and reduce weeds.

Other plants that compliment the firecracker are, day lilies, lemon grass, pompass grass, India Hawthorne, gold mound, Texas star lagustrum. Also, purple Mexican petunias in groups, in the corners of firecrackers look really good with both the red and yellow varieties. After a few years if they get too tall simply take hedge clippers and remove about fifty percent of the foliage. Fertilize them after you trim and in 6-8 weeks a whole new round of flowers will begin.

Dear friends,

Many of you have been asking about my special guest today Pam who joined me today on the local show. She is dedicated her time along with many other volunteers to help rescue some very special dogs. The site is called www.poodleandpoochrescue.org Also you can go to www.petfinder.com to see actual photos of the dogs they have available. You can also call Pam at 321-277-3089.

Folks, the responsibility of a dog is very important because just like us they need proper care and nourishment. The fringe benefit is a special deep joy when you bond with these special animals. They are a true life enhancement and your life will be better off for having them.

Pam will help you to find the exact dog that will be best for you and your family.

I am a big believer in indoor plants; in fact if you talk to most interior decorators will tell you that a live plant in the corner can truly be the finishing touch. Artificial plants, just can't do it. It doesn't matter how expensive or fancy your indoor artificial plant is, it can't compare.

The Artificial plant is however wonderful at one thing- collecting dust. Some great corner indoor plants are Shefflera, Bamboo Palm, and most varieties of Dracaena. Your indoor plants can stay inside for two weeks then they should go on vacation for one week to a shady part under a tree or on to the covered shady patio. Before you bring them back inside you ought to apply my garden rebel bug drench to ensure that you don't bring any hitchhikers into the house.

Garden Rebel Bug Drench:

1. 1 gallon of water
2. 2 tables spoons Murphy's oil soap
3. 1 tablespoon Neem
4. 2 table spoons rubbing alcohol.

Mix it all together, then pour the mixture onto soil surface and let it drain.

Once the plant is dry you can bring it into the house and again they can stay inside for two weeks. By rotating, you'll get more longevity out of all indoor plants. For outside in pots, around the patio or pool area, there are a few great plants that will tolerate the sun:

• Blue Daze
• Purslane
• California Daisey
• Bullbine
• Sedem
• Kalancholee
• Canna Lilly
• Blue Plumbago

Here's a great tonic to shine the leaves of your indoor plants. It is like taking your plants to a resort to get a facial. They will feel better, they'll look younger, and the good news is this tonic doesn't cost as much a resort spa.

Shiny Leaf Tonic (Indoor plants)

1. 1 gallon of water
2. ½ teaspoon of baby shampoo
3. ¼ teaspoon on mayonase
4. ¼ vegetable oil

Wow, the heat is on and I don't go anywhere without my hat, unless I forget it like I did one day last week.

So, today we did a totally drought tolerant landscape in Leesberg. It was a midsize home with extremely large beds and the varieties we used were Viburnum suspensum,Ilex shillings, Texas Star Ligustrum, Yucca, Ornamental grass and Bulbine which was in full flower. The landscape is looking real good and we actually had a shower today. All the grass is cut so less work this weekend!

I took my son out to dinner tonight and we had one of those great bonding evenings. We went to Pisces Rising in Mt Dora and got there just as they were opening. Dcota ordered the grouper and I had the salmon and of course we both loved it. We also had the 239 salad which is worth the trip by itself. No dessert for us but I brought back the famous Orange cake for my daughter and she was surprised.

All of the dogs are doing great and yes all are still very spoiled. Rascal, the Jack Russell spent some time barking at me as I swam this evening which was annoying for me but entertaining for him.

Tonight I will be spending some time writing as I am planning a new lecture on a future cruise this winter.

The Golden is sitting here staring at me and that means that she has to go out so until next time...

This weekend has been a whirlwind and it's nice to finally wind down. We attended a fantastic charity event last night and we made some new friends which is always fun. Today I did the national show and next went to the nursery to catch up on some important work. Later this afternoon I begin research for a new positive book that i want to get out and am planning the first lecture on this motivational construct by sometime this winter.It is a long hard process but something I very much want to do as my last book, Lifting the Mind Fog helped so many people.This book will be more self study like and I am really excited as I think it can make a positive impact. Anyhow, I am planning a swim and perhaps the gym so it really won't be all work today! Yesterday I spent time in the yard, as yes there is still plenty more to do so that can all happen next week sometime., For now my Chinese food awaits....

Today was a great day as I spent time on a commercial project as well as some estimates in the davenport area, where we recently started exploring. Anyhow, it was fun as always to meet the interesting folks that i come in contact with on a daily basis. But on the way back to the nursery, I decided to go by a friends house as I was planning to do a landscape along his fence. On my way there I saw a Mc Donalds and the truck automatically pulled into the establishment. I walked in and boldly ordered an Orange Arctic shake. It was large, the biggest they had. Just imagine a melted cremesickle, with the perfect consistency. It was the ultimate comfort food. What must it be like to have one everyday? All of these thoughts ran through my mind. When I got home I felt so guilty that I got ready for the gym, and talked my wife into going back again for her second time of the day so i could have company. Oh, it was a good workout and my wife even makes sure that I do the routines nice and slow so I can't get away with anything! Afterwards, I came home and did 21 laps in the pool. So hopefully I burned off just a little of that shake, but I'm telling you that shake should win some kind of award!
Tomorrow I am wondering if my truck is going to automatically pull into a Wendy's for a large chocolate Frosty......

Today i did all the trimming of the topiaries which was no easy task but I still love them more than anything. Tomorrow I will be planting my new yellow Poinciana tree which is a true tropical but it is going in the sunken garden so hopefully it will be it's own micro-climate or it might just be wishful thinking. I can let you know what happens next winter. The garden really really looks good now, we have a medium sized pot luck party at my house for my book club. My wife and I love parties and entertaining and we have some amazing friends, we have never has a pot luck when everyone brings a different dish, but when i was a kid we had them all the time and I suggested this and all were very excited. It's coming up early next week. Tomorrow night is another small casual bar-b que at our house with just 2 couples and we expect to do a lot of laughing. My wife I think is going to do cornish game hens, special Indian Lo Mein and lots of veggie side dishes. I can't wait to see my friend Harry who has been friends with so many of the well known political figures of our last 30 plus years. I am always amazed how how many he says really had integrity! He ran campaigns for some of the biggest and always has these funny, dramatic stories.For years he has made these beautiful wooden art pieces for our kids and we are always so impressed with the skill and time he puts into each piece.


On the exercise front, I was supposed to swim and go to the gym. The family went grocery shopping and my daughter and I had big intentions of working out. Well, it rained a little and the pool was cold, then We decided that we were sore and felt we shouldn't overdo it. Basically we just wanted to stay home, play with the dogs and eat bryers ice cream! We had far more fun staying home.

Tomorrow it is cut the grass time, I did a little last night and it was a cool beautiful evening so at least I have a little head start. I expect it will be hot tomorrow so I will definitely do my pool laps tomorrow, unless of course I decide to be lazy again......

Today was a big estimate day I was mostly in Debarry and Orange city and made a lot of new friends. The soil in these areas are very sandy and so dry, many of the lawns are drying up. If this is happening in your yard then please check the sprinklers as they tend to get off track with age, and debris and mower tires and sometimes a car tire!

I went swimming today and did 20 long laps with my daughter, it was great and i have been doing this daily. I also went to the gym, wow i can't believe it. I still haven't cleaned the boat so i can't go boating, i just can't get motivated to clean it. These temperatures are unreal! I am taking lots of water on the jobs.

You should see my yard it is looking real good, not perfect , but it never is and if i ever get it perfect it will only last 5 minutes anyway. The fruit trees all have new growth and i know it is all due to my tonics.

The dogs are all fine and no we are not getting anymore, one more and we could do a reality show as no one would believe it but you know each one is just perfect for our family and you can not believe how they all love each other so much. I always say they are the best free entertainment!

The heat is on! Is your lawn prepared?

We’re having an early summer heat wave right after coming off some of the coldest temperatures in the winter in decades. So this gardening business can sometimes be quite frustrating. The number one thing you can do for your yard is to take the time to tweak your sprinkler system.

I am finding that many of my own customers think that their sprinkler system is perfectly fine, when in fact there are dry areas that die every single year. Many people think that they have certain bad spots in the yard that have been poisoned by construction debris when in fact all they really need to do is add an additional sprinkler.

If you do not do this yourself, I recommend that you can call an experienced sprinkler professional and stress to them that you want 100% coverage. Also, make sure that you ask them to check the inner nozzles of the sprinklers especially in dry areas sometimes changing out a simple nozzle is all that is needed and it a very inexpensive solution.

This past weekend was a big garden day as we added about 800 feet of drip line with water emitters to all of my exotic fruit trees. Oh, no we are not done perhaps only half way or so as we have to rewire the broken wire cut by the trencher machine and we have to still cover up all of the trenches which is a real hard job.The good news is that now my trees will grow one third faster and perhaps even more, they just do not get enough from a lawn sprinkler and this drip line concentrates all of the water on the roots so there is not a single ounce of water lost! We did a lot of trimming back of all the frozen stuff so It all looks so much better now. Also I added a few tomatoes into the ground and lots of lettuce which i am using for food as well as an attractive groundcover under my Longan tree. I have discovered that at least one rabbit knows where the Lettuce is I am hoping that he keeps it to himself and won't tell his family as we are a huge salad family and eat it almost every night.

All of the dogs are fine and the newest stray now is one of two leaders in the house and bosses the other dogs but she is older so they seem to put up with it. The weeds are still growing so I have to deal with them soon, gardening would be so easy if we didn't have to deal with weeds.We are doing lots of family activities now and checking lots of homework in the evenings now. I took the kids on a great boat trip the other day and it was a blast, the sunsets are spectacular this time of year and i am trying to teach the kids to respect and enjoy the natural beauty that is all around us. sometimes they seem indifferent but then later on they surprise me and come up with some profound observations. So i keep talking and hope that half of it sticks and it will I am sure of that.