So, this is interesting.

Nobody is “transing” the kids. These people are beyond all reason.

I hope the Swiss Guard are on their toes. I guarantee there are crazy fascists only too willing to try their hand at assassination.

Well, I guess you’d check under his skirt or whatever you call it.

I’ve got Diva variety and another that just says “Burpless”, which I’ve found is a quality and not a variety. It appears the Diva is parthenocarphic. Not sure on the other, and that’s the one blooming. I guess I’ll find out. I’ll be on the lookout for male vs. female flowers on those.

Does fertilizer expire? If I keep this 10-10-10 for initial planting next year, will it still likely be okay?

On the marigolds, I’ve been deadheading the flowers when they decline and saving the heads. Will the seeds not be mature if I do that?

Would just straight compost with manure be okay to add at the top? I’ll want to rake out my mulch before I add it, right?

Oh, one other thing: one of my cucumbers has a single bloom. Should I prune or leave it be? I got two pairs for pollination, but it’s on only the one that appears to have a bloom right now.

I’ll figure out how to use imgur for my pics. I definitely don’t want to tax the resources of admins!

Per the advice y’all are providing, I’ll prune those basil flowers this weekend.

I think I’m going to monitor my peppermint for now and try to keep it contained. These may be famous last words per most folks’ advice. 🤣

I get the impression the balanced fertilizer was suggested since I hadn’t included a lot of fertilizer in my soil before planting. Will this 10-10-10 be good for anything, then, if I need to go Nitrogen-heavy going forward? How soon should I apply the new fertilizer? Should I use the same stuff for all of what I’ve planted?

I’m going to let my tomatoes bloom out your instructions. Do I need to shake up each flower to encourage pollination?

I’ve been surprised by how quick my onions have been to grow. It’s likely the potting soil I used, since it’s supposed to feed for six months. When do you think I’d be safe to fertilize them?

I’m going to look up harvesting and preservation techniques for my herbs, since I don’t need a lot right now. I’m guessing drying and freezing will be what I need to do. I also don’t want to harvest in a way that’ll harm the plants. I’ll also prune the African plant’s flowers to encourage growth.

I do worry about the depth because I filled the bottom of the bed with leaves and such, so my soil depth is probably 6-8 inches, and the bed seems to have settled a lot. Should I add soil to combat the settling?

I’ll watch the peppermint and try keeping the runners in check. I’ve already noticed several runners–should I wait on trimming these?

I’m happy my flowers are okay as is. The marigolds in particular are going crazy. As I understand it, you can keep the flowers as they die, dry them, and use them to see more later. Can I just set these aside in a baggie for next year, then?

Thanks for your advice!

Cool. Thanks for the direction. I’m curious about electrical stuff, and I’d like to be able to do some things around my house. There’s some DIY stuff online, too, involving building projects from old parts of appliances that interest me, but I realized quickly that I’d need some very good knowledge about electrical work to stay safe. It’s unlikely I’ll actually pursue the latter, but I’d like to at least know the how and why of my home wiring.

What’s a good resource for learning about electrical engineering for people starting from nearly zero knowledge? I’d love to learn more so I don’t burn my house down if I want to, say, replace a light fixture in my house.

Medicare Advantage is a scam, period. Apparently, standard Medicare overhead is 5% or so. Medicare Advantage has around 15% overhead costs, as companies line their pockets.

Is chocolate harmful to bears like it is for dogs?

Ahhh…so sad. Only 9.9 million? How will he ever get by?

Exercise to get healthy and work on my garden, to start. Then I’d handle any necessary projects for my home. Then I’d find causes to support by volunteering.

Dog should be top priority.

I thought this would be appropriate…

Thanks for the tips! I’m going to respond to your points in reverse order:

• Looking at the peppermint this morning, it’s sending two runners out along the ground. Do I need to trim these back? It does, indeed, appear to have aspirations to take over the bed 😂

• I’m going to be curious how the shade/sun mixture works out, and I think you’re right. The plants are largely healthy, but they’re not exactly exploding in growth. They are still young, though. Hopefully feeding them will help.

• I’ve got stakes on all my tomatoes as of last week, and cages my neighbor gave me on three of them. I’ll monitor and add support, but I think I’m good for now.

• I’ll look for some insecticide today. With the tiny pests, will I need a magnifying glass to see them? I haven’t seen anything yet, but I’ll be watching carefully.

• You caught me–I haven’t properly mulched yet. The organic material in my soil mix appears to have formed kind of a crust at the top that seems like it’s holding in water, though. I was planning on getting some straw to mulch, but the local store was out last weekend, and I had to go out of town yesterday, so I’ll try to grab some today.

• With the fertilizer, though, how strong is too strong? The compost I used had a .05-.05-.05 rating (there was supposedly manure in it), so I was worried if I fertilized too soon, I could burn my plants. I know that’s a very low rating, but I used enough to make up closer to half my soil. I also added a big bag of generic Miracle-Gro style garden soil at the very end, and I know that had some fertilizer in it. The tomato and veggie food bags I’ve found had numbers like 20 or 18–is this too much? Also, what about the “shake and feed” products-- are they any good? Finally, on my lettuce and onion seedlings, I’ll want to wait a bit, won’t I, and just fertilize the established plants?

I appreciate any further guidance you and the others have.

I did not know that. I will watch it carefully, then, and plan on repotting