I recently gave up on my lemon cucumbers. Some survived the whitefly infestation, but had very few blooms -- all male. So, despite their healthy green foliage, I pulled them up. The vines are now drying in a bucket, and they'll get buried in the bed for the next season. desertwoman - I didn't know it could be TOO hot for seeds to germinate. I have my trays outside, even though it's been around 108. I'm going to take them in now - hope I'm not too late, and they didn't get "cooked" :c (

HOT and DRY! It's supposed to get up to 107 today, up to 113 over the weekend. Walking around downtown feels like you're strolling right through Satan's fart. The pepper plants are digging the heat though.

kelisk8s wrote...  I'm going to see if I can make my own soaps, and beauty products (face wash, toothpaste, ect.).  Does anyone know of a good place to find reciepes for that stuff that is inexpensive to make? There are a few recipes here: http://health.howstuffworks.com/how-to-make-your-own-beauty-products6.htm There's also a good discussion going on in the Homesteading Newbies group: http://www.freedomgardens.org/group_discussion_view.php?group_id=4&grouptopic_id=3&grouppost_id=5490#post_5490 I went "no poo" for a while, but had to stop when I got my hair cut. The new cut requires some product that's hard to wash out. Believe it or not. Flickr is a good place to look. Just put "homemade" whateveritis in the search box, and you'll get lots of results. http://www.flickr.com/ They'll often link to their blogs from the picture, and include instructions. That's how I cam across this deodorant recipe: http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2009/03/quick-stick-deodorant.html I also have a book of natural / homemade cleaning supplies recipes, that I picked up for $2 at a charity book sale. I'm sure they'd have something similar at your library. If not, they can interlibrary loan one. Good luck!

Oh yeah, I don't have a canner either. I just use either my wide stockpot or my pasta pot. The strainer in the pasta pot makes a nice rack for pulling the jars out, but it's narrower than my stockpot. I just can't do stuff that requires pressure canning, like stock.

auttypop wrote... ...to grrlscout...I'm going to use your recipie to make my own laundry soap. But what are soap flakes? My bad! It's actually washing soda that I used -- the Arm & Hammer box you see there. There are some more laundry soap recipes here: http://www.motherspirit.net/articles/simpleliving/laundry.html You can also use soap flakes. However they can be hard to locate. I've found them online a few different places, but never in a store.