Penny, visit this site for a good example of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Hardiness Zone map. You can Google "USDA growing zone map" and find all sorts of them. I am in zone 8A (north Texas, not to be confused with the Texas panhandle). When you buy a lot of plants, you'll find they might indicate a zone on the planting stick thing, or when you research plants online, they'll often tell you the zones they'll thrive in. You should be able to look at the color coded chart below and figure from the high and low temperatures what your zone is. We strained that lower threshold this year, with a low of 9^oF a couple of days last winter. It killed some tender shrubs.

This morning the dishes are all out of the sink, and I've used the rinse water (I rinse in a plastic tub in the sink) dumped into buckets and carried out to the yard to selectively water. The wash water sometimes gets poured on the compost to give more food particles to help it perk along. I don't think the soap is a problem. I'm trying not to run much water out of a hose to water the garden this year if I can avoid it.

I will finish clearing off the kitchen counter and get my sauce made, and then I'll step outside and clear away the piles of rocks and pots beside the house. An hour spent transplanting stuff and then an hour rearranging rocks should give me a pretty area for this evening. I have this wrought iron sofa thing that needs the seat reinforced that is in the back that I need to move to the side. That'll give the dogs more room and one less obstacle when they're running around out there. (Dog world as we know it doesn't include a porch, just a 60/40 cloth covered patio and a few chairs and a table.)

My eBay sale ends today, it has crept up to near $10. It's good to see this little case go to someone who wants it, and it is a nice return on my $1 investment. Would that I could do this all of the time, I could earn a tidy little sum on the side, eh?

SRS