Not really an AH-HA moment but a discovery. In early summer I was eating tomatoes breakfast, lunch and dinner. They were not making me sick. This summer tomatoes upset my digestive system. I kept eating them for a while but it got so bad and was so tied to tomatoes, that I stopped eating them. I remember thinking 2009 summer that tomatoes were making me sick but I thought it was from cutting bad places off and eating the good part. This fall I picked all my tomatoes and some of the green ones. I thought it is my last shot, I will get sick but I am going to eat tomatoes before winter. They didn't make me sick. I think it is either the stinkbugs or Thuracide that I sprayed that is making me sick. The stinkbugs have been gone for a while and I stopped spraying in late summer. Next year I will have to do an experiment.

Well, it was definitely an ah-ha but not in 2010. More like 2007.

I've lived here again since 2005 and for a couple years I toted birdhouses and decorative stuff back to the garage for the winter. That was a real pain because I have a lot of yard things and I want to keep them in good shape.

In the early winter of 2007 I thought I would just put a large plastic bin in each area (patio, hosta bed, west Sun & Stars yard, etc.) and put my decorative things and birdhouses in that. And I tarp or cover with contractor bags all my outdoor chairs and benches. No more dragging them around. I even store my hoses under the tarps on the benches. Most of the bins are brown or green and they aren't even noticed. When spring arrives, I just put stuff back out and store the bins in the garage. I have even used that storage for the screened porch things, out of sight. So I have five main garden areas and five bins.

Saves a bunch of running around. BTW, the bins have never leaked nor have I had a lid blow off.
Sunny

Helen, that is interesting about the tomatoes. I would almost bet it isn't the stink bugs but the other product.

No real ah ha moment here but I did realize that I should never plant very tall corn on the east side of anything......the sun didn't hit them until noon or so. I should have known better but missed this in the new orchard garden.