Hello, I have several milkweeds I can send you that I recieved in trade. Please take a look at my list and let me know if there is anything you want in trade for your Pipian squash, Malva Mix and 4 O'Clocks. Thanks for looking. Jen

I've used a lot of sawdust. If applied to a soil already high with nitrogen, it can be a cheap and easy to spread mulch, and a good choice for building soil organic matter. If applied to soil with even the slightest deficiency of nitrogen, it can ruin an entire garden for a season. I should know, I've done it myself and seen it done by others. The problem is really related to the carbon/nitrogen content of the sawdust. It is practically all carbon, but no nitrogen. This is like 'fine bread' to the soil organisms, who will eventually convert the carbon into wonderful humus for you, eventually...... but when they go to work, they demand a portion of 'butter' to go along with their 'bread', and what they use will be whatever nitrogen is in your soil, thus setting you up for the deficiency. The trick seems to be to not use it in excess. Over time, I found it best to reserve sawdust, even older composted sawdust, for specific uses. My favorite use is for covering seeded crops which are difficult to mulch with hay, straw, or other coarse material. For example, when planting carrots, beets, or other small seeded crops, I prepare a 2ft wide raised bed and mulch the side slopes with hay. I then thinly broadcast the seed across the whole width of the bed, and then broadcast sawdust by double handfuls until the seed is covered the normal 1/4" deep. This method enables me to broadcast small seed, cover it evenly, and mulch to conserve water and guard against weeds. If you've ever struggled against small weed seedlings amongst broadcast carrot seed you know how tedious their elimination can be! Many of my neighbors can never get carrot seed to grow in our clay soils, while I can reliably get beds full from edge to edge. Once the crops gain a foothold, they tend to crowd out weeds. Some other things I've learned about sawdust: - is troubling to wash off of greens and strawberries -the secret to using sawdust seems to be moderation, use it sparingly, and only if you are sure you have a soil high in nitrogen. Hope this helps. Jay

We have had good results in-ground with carrots/beets/lettuce, it can be done. Doing radishes for the first time this year--sprouts look good so far. Cover crop is worked in most years--usually red clover. Evenly-timed watering is important also--wild swings in weather can make this difficult. I assume your radish problem is not due to crowding or lack of thinning the sproutlings. Make sure your soil is not too coarse--break the top six inches down finer if necessary.

Hey thanks everyone for the advice! david52, I think I will try the traps, I was a little skeptical about the electronic sticks. If I canÂt solve the problem this year I may resort to the raised beds as you suggested laura_42. I agree digitS that patrolling the property day and night isnÂt really an option. I actually have spent a good deal of time out there trying to spot one, but I have yet to actually see any. My heeler did catch one though and it looked like a pocket gopher. I have seven acres, and the gopher damage is EVERYWHERE, including my field and front yard. They have just recently spread to the garden area. Last year my neighbor paid someone to come over and blow up the tunnels with a gopher blaster. It sounded like WW3 for two days. I thought it was kinda extreme, but now IÂm thinking they just scared most of them over my way. Oh well. I have tried drowning them out, but as that seemed futile I later read it is mostly ineffective and a waste of water. I have heard that the poison pellets are the most effective means of control, but I am a little afraid to use them since I have livestock grazing my field and a flock of free ranging chickens that wander the rest of the property. I have also tried caving in the tunnels and making the area somewhat inhospitable, but that hasnÂt seemed to slow them down. So the traps will be my next strategy. Oh and greenbean08, good luck on gardening in Colorado if you are new to it! I am a novice gardener all around, but I am from Illinois and so far it has proven much more difficult to garden here. I think I have worked out my strategy for late season hail and coping with a shorter growing season, but I have a lot to learn as far as this particular climate goes. The past two years I have produced enough veggies to use as I harvest, but my goal is to actually be able to can veggies for the winter again! Tomatoes and peppers are my favorite, as I would love to be able to can some homemade salsa, and freeze some anaheims and pablanos for green chile stew. So if anyone has some tips on growing tomatoes here, I would really appreciate the advise. The first year my tomatoes were wiped out by the hail, I have that covered now. But last year they hardly produced any tomatoes and IÂm not sure why. Once again thanks everyone!