Concrete wire is very thick and difficult to work with. 14 G. fencing 5' tall (2X4" spacing) is available at Home Depot for about $40 a 50' roll and should last about 10 years before the welds start to give. Higher quality galvanization used to be standard when the fencing came from Georgia instead of China and you could get about 20 years. This higher quality fencing may still be available from fence supply stores. Being able to mow under a tree is not an issue for me. I want easy access to my trees for my hands. I have dealt with concrete wire and plastic netting at various sites and I much prefer my method because entry is so much easier. But then, the 5' or so diameter rings inside the fence are usually mulched and a mower is not used. Weeds are pulled by hand. If and when I stop mulching, the tree is already above the browse line and the fence is removed and replaced with a narrow buck guard to protect the trunk from rubs. Sorry, no time for photos this week. I have to get my wife's help to accomplish that. I'm a techidiot. Drive one stake into the ground a couple feet from the tree, weave the end of fencing with flush cuts through the stake (if it's smooth wood) wrap the fencing around the tree and close the tube you've made with 2 or 3 pieces of the fences own wire. Total time- about 10 minutes including measuring and cutting the fence piece.

Like many here, my mom was my first mentor in many things. She was as pragmatic about everything as I was and continue being. She would learn what she could about something she wanted to grow, usually from her mother who grew everything, determine if she could easily create conditions they desired, then moved them if they didn't like what she could give them. She would push the envelope to determine what they would accept until she determined her boundaries, or theirs, then she would put them everywhere they would agree to and enjoy the dickens out of them. I did, and still do, follow her "Southern gardening advice" to share plants. It's completely logical. Everything is pruned by Nature, either by being eaten, burned or frozen, so sharing cuttings of something follows Nature's example and plants respond by growing bigger and better. The same goes for dividing plants and sharing the offspring. Most perennials require thinning. Sharing the thinned pieces not only provides room for yours to fill out again, but shares your pleasure with others who enjoy them and provides you a source for replacements should something happen to yours. Her best advice was to keep it simple to keep it fun. That I blindly follow and never regret. I joined the ARS, ignorantly thinking they could teach me how to grow good roses. I did the whole spray, over prune, over feed thing until I began to question the wisdom of constantly using chemicals whose labels warned me of probable eye damage, potential cancer, likely prostate disease and so on. Though not all blatantly stated on the labels, a bit of digging unearthed the known side effects of "long term, over exposure" to the active ingredients. Though careful, accidents can and do occur and I was (still am) too young to deal with the potential risks. Fortunately, I didn't do the chemical intervention routine that long, and I WAS always very careful with them. I hated what I considered "wasting" money on chemicals when it could be more enjoyably spent on new plants and books. I was and am fortunate that there are roses I like and enjoy which don't require the chemical intervention where I live and garden. I know many others aren't as fortunate in that way. I blindly followed the instructions given about how to propagate the roses as a volunteer at The Huntington, figuring they knew what they were doing as they'd been at it far longer than I. Being the heretic I am, my mind began to wander, oops, I mean WONDER, what might happen if I tweaked this or that, and shortly, I took the success rate using their methods of less than half, to nearly a hundred percent each time I struck cuttings. Same with growing roses. Fortunately, I am also a very lazy gardener. Not for those for whom I try to work my magic to create beautiful, sustainable vistas, but definitely in my own. A "past time", "hobby", should never be THAT much work, or it is, well, WORK. That's what I've always done this to get away FROM. So, after studying what roses wanted in Nature, without our intervention, I began permitting them to do their own things with as little intervention from me as possible, while I learned what THEY wanted where I grew them. Those which expressed gratitude for my benign neglect, received all the neglect they seemed to enjoy. Those who demanded more intensive attention and intervention, usually went to other peoples' gardens. A tried and true rule given by my mother and grandmother is, "They ALWAYS look better in someone else's yard". Ain't that the danged truth?! I can't tell you how many times I've admired a rose or other plant in a friend's garden, only to be told, "YOU gave it to me!" I did? Hmmmmm... And, life is SO much more fun without the "cocaine addicted, French mistresses" populating my garden. (no offense to anyone of French descent, honest!) Ralph Moore was probably one of the most influential "mentors" I could ever be blessed with. Every aspect of gardening and many about life in general, was affected and influenced by his folksy, home spun, usually highly scientifically based and always observationally supported comments. On one our first visits, I commented on his effective use of weeds for ground cover, all over the ground, paths, flourishing in the pots... His response? "If you don't plant something, God will!". Well, yes... I commented on how his plants received no real "care". He responded, "We test by stress. If I can't kill it, you shouldn't be able to". OK. Many of his roses they released, if grown in climates similar to what he created them in are quite bullet proof. That was part of his selection process. Anyone can create a beautiful flower. He admonished to create a good plant first, as hanging a pretty flower on it later was rather easy. Quite a twist on the traditional process. He advised to watch Nature, see what she does and how it works, then do the same. He taught to "think like the rose". Consider how what it receives stimulates it to do what it does and why, then do to and for it what it needs to encourage it to respond the way you want it to. How much easier could it become than that? He actually stated to let the rose be your guide, exactly what my Southern gardening ancestors did and taught, but never really said. When I inquired what he thought about using dangerous, expensive chemicals to manipulate chromosomes in breeding, he responded that you COULD, but why would you want to when, "the rose will find the way". When asked about what his thoughts on special rose foods and extravagant feeding regimen, he responded, as he did frequently, "Why? Roses can't read!". So, if the fertilizer fits the desires guaranteed analysis for the desired results, it honestly doesn't matter what the label says it's good for, it should please the roses and like your dog, they can't tell the difference if it's something that agrees with them. Fortunately, both my original mentors and Mr. Moore advocated observation. Watch it and see. The rose, and pretty much any other kind of plant, is going to show you want it wants. I advocate that in pruning. Unless you're trying to force the plant to your will, permitting it to show you where it wants to begin growing and flowering before cutting it, then letting it do it will result in more flowers, faster. If your desire is for landscape color, this will give it to you by the wagon load. You can always clean up any issues when you do your usual pruning. Special needs such as wind or snow require their own attention, but those are things I've been lucky not to have had to consider. I learn as much from other forum participants and those whose gardens I have visited and enjoyed as I may have "taught" others. There are so many right ways to garden and grow roses. No one can try them all. No one can try them everywhere and with all roses and all of us don't have the same gardening styles or requirements from our gardens. Seeing through your eyes teaches me so much. Each one who observes, considers and comes up with new discoveries and knowledge mentors ME. I love the interaction with others who share my rose "obsession", the personalities of each one, their individual garden visions and desires. It is the dynamic knowledge gleaned from the interaction that floats my boat, stimulates my brain and pushes me to push the envelope further. Mr. Moore admonished, "Don't stir the pot, bring something new to the table" about rose breeding and growing, meaning observe, study, learn from what is going on around you. What you read as gardening and rose growing "law" or "rules" is so very often blindly repeated legend plagiarized from other books. Look at what the plants do by themselves and what they do in response to what is provided them and what is done TO them and learn from it. Listen and read. Test it for logic and potential sound reasoning and consider why it may work where it is reported to work. If it resonates well with your style, desires and conditions, test it, try it and see if it works for you. If not, why didn't it? Tweak it, massage it and test your modifications to see if altering it allows it to make your situation better, then share it. Elevating one, elevates everyone. Your sharing your observations and knowledge stimulates mine, teaching me, which in turn stimulates and teaches someone else. Fortunately, both ancestral mentors and Mr. Moore also stressed that knowledge unshared, is worthless. If you know something which will benefit someone else, keeping it to yourself is a sin, shameful. Not that it should ever be forced, but it definitely should be freely given if asked. Being a good steward of the knowledge is its own reward. Fame, praise, reputation, attention are OK, but knowing someone else is better off, their problems or distresses are improved simply because you offered what others shared with you and what you discovered or observed, IS what matters. That is one I have and continue to "blindly follow". Kim

You can bet I will stick with Bakers and companies I know that DON'T sell silly seed. I am going to post the link that Dawn turned me onto, on "Please don't laugh" thread. I read all of it and also downloaded the video, as it would behoove all of us to do, because this affects all of us, not just the small farmers that are being blackmailed, and sued by Monsanto for using their seed, which they've managed to patent. This, even though the farmers had planted their own saved seed, the pollen in the Monsanto crops cross pollinated with the farmers and altered their plants. The upshot was that the courts have decided in favor of Monsanto, and further, that it didn't matter HOW the patented Monsanto "effected" plants got into the farmer's fields and crops, the farmer is liable to OWE Monsanto. And also, that the crops then technically BELONG to Monsanto. Oh, it gets worse! And I think we had all start arming ourselves with the facts. Larry was right when he said whomever owns the seeds, controls the world. And that's what it's coming down to, and apparently Monsanto's evil scheme. Do you know that, according to Sen. Inhofe's response to me, Oklahoma farmers are already using Monsanto seed in their fields? And, for example, let's say one of these farmers has planted Monsanto genetically modified corn in the field next to your property, and the wind currents, birds, insects, (if they survive), happen to drift over and cross pollinate with your hithertofore heirloom seed...it will be goodbye heirloom seed. There is NO way to undo the damage, or save your heirloom seed. It has been unalterably changed. Furthermore, if Monsanto's seed police find out, they can claim your corn is Monsanto's property, and either sue you for infringing on their "intellectual property" OR charge you for using it. Nice guys huh? Welcome to the world of corporate thugism. There is a word for it when big corporations and government operate together to control a country and it's people. Since as Sen. Inhofe so PROUDLY says, the food we eat coming America's commercial farmlands now contains 60% of genetically engineered "ingredients" whatever they may be...doesn't that make you think twice about buying a package of corn chips, tortillas, corn flakes, soy products, or just about ANYTHING. How about going out to dinner someplace? There are no FDA regulations requiring labels to be placed on products containing GMO. Will this not end until it has encompassed the entire planet irrevocably? I fear we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. I urge everyone to visit the link Dawn originally posted. If enough Oklahoman's and others complain loud enough it could conceivably be stopped, at least close to home. I think it was Mendicino County environmentalists in California that got laws passed to ban GMO from being used there. If it can be done there, it can be done here in our counties as well. Perhaps in the entire state. Finally, I think the Monsanto lobbiests have sold Sen. Inhofe and others a bill of goods. To send out a form letter instead of seriously studying a very serious issue is not my idea of good representation. Barbara Here is a link that might be useful: Monsanto and GMO crops

I've decided to transform the leaf mould bin into a compost bin sooner rather than later. Instead of emptying out all of the leaves, I've started incorporating grass clippings and kitchen/garden scraps into the bin, making sure it gets a good green/brown ratio. Over time, by turning the existing brown materials in with the new green materials, it should make good compost. The negative about this is that I won't be able to use this stuff for about two years, when I could have actually collected leaf mould in one year. The positive is that compost is more nutrient rich but can also be used the same way, as a top dressing or mulch, for water retention and weed suppression, but giving those plants a boost that leaf mould may not do. I'll work green materials in for about a year (or unless we get it so full that it absolutely can't hold any more) then setup another swimming pool composter up. On appx April 2018, the plan is to collect compost from the first bin. On appx April 2019, I'll collect compost from the 2nd bin. Then, April 2020, from the first bin, and on and on. Meanwhile, I'm slowly building up a small farm, with rabbits, cows, chickens, and eventually, ducks, possibly turkeys, etc. Rabbit poop = instant garden fertilizer + worm food, for vermicomposting, to collect worm castings for the garden, and the worms themselves could feed some fish, for a future aquaponics setup. Cow, chicken, duck, and turkey poop will be composted. As of right now, it's all about slowly moving forward, to try to obtain a balance, where everything works together.