Carolyn Spain

Another idea to bring out more flavor is to roast the vegetables before putting in the pressure cooker.  I add greens, herbs, kombu, and peppercorns to the pot before cooking under pressure for 40 minutes.  

Hi  Benjamin,

I would be careful with Florida Betony.  I moved to South Carolina (zone 8b) 3 years ago and spent one year getting rid of it in my vegetable garden.  I first tried digging them all up, but I had hundreds of them in the garden!  I finally cut off the tops continuously, and they slowly diminished.  In desperation, I finally put a 6" plastic liner all around the garden, and that keeps the dollar weed out, but the Florida Betony happily comes underneath the liner!  I can control it now by patrolling the edges of the garden once a week.  It probably will not be content to stay in your designated area.  It appears to compete with everything!  

I just paid $ 25 for Sustainable Food Gardens.  However, when I clicked on "Go to your product," the website tried to get me to buy a gift copy.  I don't want a second copy, and there appears to be no way to access the book I already paid for without buying a second book.  So, please send me a link to access the book, or please process a refund.  

I have the same problem with my 3-year-old blueberries.  They are producing berries this year but are thin and leggy.   I think they didn't get enough water during the last 2 drought years.   I will prune them back hard after they finish producing this year.  The soil here is Ph 5.5, so I don't think low acidity is the problem.  

My poor blueberries look nothing like these beautiful pictures!  Mine are so leggy that I'm going to cut them way back after they finish producing fruits.   They are 3 years old, but we just came out of a 2-year drought here in coastal South Carolina.  I watered them all last summer, but I'm sure it wasn't enough.   Another thing hurting them is that they are in full sun all day.  I don't have any shade around my house, so there is no place to move them.    

I'm a newbie here and have never saved seeds much because  I didn't think I could save seeds from hybrids.  I only recently learned differently from reading some of the threads on this site.  Another factor this year is the huge increase in the prices of seeds and shipping.  $5 per packet on some sites with high shipping costs!   So this year I plan to save all the seeds I can.  

Thanks for the suggestions.  I'll try boiling water, but some of the runners are more than 6 inches deep, and the water may not penetrate.   However, it might kill the leaves if I'm persistent with it.  

I've not tried mulch that deep, but I'll give it a try.  I have tried cardboard with mulch on top, but the runners happily run under the cardboard and out the other side!  

I know dollar weed thrives in wet areas.  I live in Coastal South Carolina where it is always humid and wet, so there isn't much I can do about that.  

I'm going to use horticultural vinegar around the perimeter of my garden to deter the dollar weed from creeping into the garden in the first place.  

I have been living near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for 3 years, and I'm still learning about the native plants here.  In previous years, I've been able to keep the dollar weed from taking over my garden, my I'm losing the battle this year.  It spreads by deep, underground runners.  I don't want to use chemicals in my garden but did try horticultural vinegar which knocked it back only temporarily.  At this point I'm using a pitch fork to lift it out of the soil, but it's a very time and energy intensive process.  I tried cutting the leaves off, but it just sends out more leaves the next day! If I leave it alone, it would take over the garden.  Any suggestions?  

Carolyn