It's DEW WORMS. I had the same problem for several years. I'm on my third planting this year. Finally figured it out. My carrot bed is 4' X 25'. Picked 70 big worms one night. I knew I had missed lots, so next day I decided to use technology. I made two probes out of coat hangers, wired one to the black wire of an old extension cord and the other to the white wire. I stuck them in the ground about two feet apart... And the worms came dancing out. Almost 1,000. No BS . After five days I still have carrot seedlings. Use at your own risk. Leave plugged in for a few minutes, then unplug and pick worms. After a while I got brave and started picking with the power on. Just be sure to unplug before you grab a probe to move it. Works better if the ground is very wet.

I was going to suggest birds looks it from the marks in the side of the fruit depending on the types of oranges, your tree may still produce more this year all my citrus have been constantly producing since January My area of Ft Lauderdale, by the beach has had an exceptionally wet year so far, while other parts are in a drought but yours may still produce more flowers what kind do you have?

It's really difficult to keep rodents out of a vegetable garden. The little varmints can tunnel under a fence or even gnaw through light gauge wire.

Hi Steve, Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I had most of my days off this month at the very beginning, so I've been working (or sleeping!) most of the time since I got back from ORD (had a great time!). The carrots my brother grows are Royal Chantenay, and he gets his seed (I think all his veggie seed) from Harris. I found an updated version of this variety in another catalog, but he grows the original one---I don't know what the differences might be. As I said before, the ones he digs in fall are absolutely huge, but always sweet and definitely not woody. I thought he stored them in moist sand, but it turns out it's actually dry sand which is always moist when I see it because it's absorbed some of the moisture from the carrots----but he's in humid Illinois, so I'm thinking starting with just barely moist sand might be better here in our no humidity climate to help keep them from dehydrating too much. I also thought he kept them from touching each other when he was packing them in the sand, but it turns out he just layers them in a very large bucket and then dumps the dry sand over them, letting it filter thru them filling in all the voids. He then keeps them in a cold (above freezing for the most part) out building and they keep most of the winter. Once or twice a winter he does dump out what's left to look for ones that have any decay, and then puts them back in the bucket with the (by then) damp sand. The beets he grows that are also huge are Warrior F1. They, too, are always delicious no matter how big they get---I've never run into a woody one yet. I assume you know this, but just in case you don't: To easily peel beets, cut off all but about an inch of the tops and leave a few inches of the tail on and cook them in a pressure cooker, or bake them in the oven until they are tender and the skin will completely slip off in your hands. I do it under cold running water (since I usually do it while they're still hot!) and it also helps keep my hands from getting all red. Then they can be cut up into whatever size/shape you want and you can do whatever you want with them. The cucumbers I grew this past year were Celebrity Hybrid which was very so-so---I won't be growing them again! And Armenian cukes (free seed!) which didn't produce one cucumber!! And the one I will definitely grow again in '06, Burpee's Tasty Green Hybrid! I'm surprised you haven't been happpy with it---for me it just kept producing and producing and producing---at least once our 100 degree heat wave was over and they finally got started! They do start to get seeds if they get too big, but picked small, I thought they were really good. If anyone has a recommendation for another burpless variety, I'd love to hear it! I can't help you with the corn! I grew Precocious and Sugar Dots, but they both produced pollen before there was anything to pollinate and I wound up with VERY small ears with a few kernels here and there! The month of +100 degree weather we had messed up a lot of things, and I think that might have been the problem with the corn too, but because of my very limited space, I think I may forgo the corn in '06 since we can usually get western slope Olathe corn in the food stores in Denver for several weeks and (since it's shipped packed in crushed ice) it's always good! Can't help at all with the cabbage or cauliflower either! Don't grow either---or broccoli or Brussels sprouts (I love them all, but buy them at the store). Skybird