Hello again

October has passed giving us the most beautiful color ever also the driest 
October ever.  No rain at all in our area.  So far November has brought us 
only two tents of an inch. The dust in my vegetable garden is so deep that 
the mower tractor got stuck much as a car does in the snow.  The wheels would 
just spin around in the dust but the machine would not move.  I helped my 
sister pry it out with a 2" by 6" by 10'.  We had planned to spread leaves in 
the garden hoping to till them later on this fall.  Now we are attempting to 
use a large blower.  It is strong enough to move a brick so one does not want 
to get in front of it.  Even at that moving an acre and half of heavy leaves 
is a chore.  We move them out in the morning and by evening the ground is 
covered again.  Wind yesterday brought them down so fast that we could hear 
them landing.

I have been working like crazy getting all of the houses ready for bad 
weather.  Really want to get it all done in time to enjoy the coming 
holidays.  I am now finishing the last one.  This year has taken more time 
and energy than previously.  Not only are there more plants but we are using 
the pressure washer to clean all of the floors.  That means moving a lot of 
containers about.  

Have been so busy in the growing houses and the garden that I am behind in 
the seedling room.  A few of the hostas in the garden are still so nice that 
I just could not cut them back so will have to go by and do some really late 
trimming. Some seed collected did not get planted immediately.  The sprouted 
roots dried and I lost several seedlings but from the looks of things there 
are plenty to keep me busy.  I have begun to up pot some seedlings but as of 
yesterday I am still planting seed.  There are a few more to collect but I 
have a feeling it is too late for them also.  

My begonias were outstanding this year.  Last fall I tried bring some of the 
nicer ones in to the plant room but by spring they really looked bad and 
never did get as large this year, so I tried an experiment this fall.  I cut 
leaves into sections and placed the point of the vein into the soil.  I have 
never seen so many little plants.  I had little or no faith in the operation 
so did a few more than necessary.  The way it looks now I could get up to 
three plants per cutting.  I only did about 70 cuttings.  

Took out time to go vote today so decided to also take time to write.

Mary

I wonder just how much the weather affects the development of seed.  Some 
plants that produced a generous portion of seed last year did a poor job this 
year.  Still others that have often been stingy in the past gave a good 
harvest this year.  Every thing flowered earlier this summer so could it be 
temperature or the amount of light or what?  
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