Had excellent results using this D E, but now of course this is important (you don't want to make dust fly and breath this stuff in) as it wouldn't be good for your lungs. I've used it around young corn plants that Cut Worms love to snip off at close to ground level. Now, once the corn plants get to around 3 inches tall then the cut worms can't get through the tougher stalks at this point, just birds want to pluck em next. As with respect to the Green Pepper plants you'll just have to keep using it and the slugs get cut up crawling through the Diatomaceous Earth, this stops them very well so they don't crawl up the plants an do all the damage. Here's a link to article about D E. http://www.ghorganics.com/DiatomaceousEarth.html Here is a link that might be useful: Diatomaceous Earth

HI Spazzycat Beautiful, beautiful work. You are amazing! It's not my place but I know I always welcome ideas when trying to make changes to my place. It sounds like you want to somehow integrate the waterfeature (I have a pondless and I love it) into your landscape. Why not place the feature close to the patio (I find it really draws me to it and have placed a low bench and a couple of chairs facing it because it is mesmerizing) I noticed that you have some very pretty trees in the yard. Why not ancher the wall with a lovely small tree (flowering or winter interest whatever you think you may need) near the end and then place a grouping of flagstone set simply and not to regularly in stone dust near it so you can look at the fountain from a different perspective. the path could be stone dust with flagging that would be similar to your patio but maybe a little more casual feeling. I'm not sure how much space you have there. It may be that you can't even fit a walkway but I know what you mean about wanting to branch out. You could also go one step further and create a garden room there by putting in a hedge of some sort that would enclose it somehow. If you wanted it to really take you to the other part of the yard, (looks like you have a beautiful shrub border) you could trim the hedge to allow a doorway through it. I've seen this and done it and it is charming.... I love to create garden rooms. I think they really do draw you in and if each one has a place to sit, you are really drawn to the seat (though it doesn't look like you sit down too much!) your place is beautiful. Best of luck and have fun dreaming! mps

Oh, thanks for the ammonia idea! I definitely have to go for deterrent since DH doesn't want to set a trap and attract more/other creatures, and capture the wrong one. How long does the ammonia last? Does it need to be refreshed every day? Bummer it's going to rain for the next 5 days so it might get diluted. I'll post back and let you know if the hoop worked. Funny thing is it's just this 1 spot, and I haven't seen any worms at all, certainly if there were worms in the beds there would likely be more than 1 and I have 120ft of wooden-framed beds in the 65ft tunnel, plus another 60x4 ft mounded deep bed of the same compost in the middle. The compost is so old (finished) that I don't think there's anything for a worm to eat. No cutworms or grubs either (maybe next year), this manure had been covered with landscape fabric for a few years.

Do you see any black droppings? It looks to be like tomato hornworm damage. Last year I saw droppings but didn't find the culprit so suspect a bird got it. In other years I have found the hornworms but not before they were huge and at the top of the plant. They are hard to see so I rarely find one while it's still small. If you find one that looks like it has white rice attached to it, let it live. It will die soon because the rice is parasite eggs. Good to have parasites hatch. I have not had them bother peppers, just tomatoes. Hornworms will eat both leaves and fruit.