Sharon Conboy

Totally delighted to hear all you folks playing with this! I no longer grow much, but I have an AWESOME Farmer's Market, that sees me most weekends, year 'round. I love watermelons. This year I have been checking out different melons, to see which I like best. I got several seedless watermelons from one vendor. We both agreed that they were ripe, but the seedless ones were disappointing. Moderately sweet, but almost no flavor. In reading comment on the webs, I wonder how much people are commenting on the sweetness, not the flavor, and do not realize it? Sometimes you have to train your tastebuds to be aware of FLAVOR, rather than sweetness. Think corn, strawberries, peppers, eggs. I am sure all of you have examples of this.

We have some reed canary grass, which gets 6' tall and DENSE. When it falls over, it makes a mat about 18" deep, that the domestic geese will not forage in, for new grazing. If we scythe it down in the fall, then the geese can reach the new growth in the spring. I also want to echo the statement, if you want to use the cut material for anything, use a scythe. Friends have make bee skeps and placemats woven from our reed canary grass. For clear info on how to use a scythe, read David Tresemer's The Scythe Book.

Do I have to have rhubarb, I don't like it.  .

I had already started with elephant garlic and daylilies. Thanks!

Thank-you- It looks as if the things I've already got there, are appropriate. Comfrey, Jerusalem Artichoke, Applemint, Pennyroyal, vervain, Takinogawa Burdock, motherwort, mugwort, sage, Jostaberry, gooseberry, red currant, angelica, agrimony. I hadn't thought of adding annuals, such as beans.

What are good barrier plants to use between the active bed area, and the grow mulch area of a mandala garden here in the rainy Pacific Northwest?

What are good plants to put in with orchard trees here in the wet Pacific Northwest?