The genus for all of these plants has been changed to Morella. Morella cerifera, for example, is the Southern Wax Myrtle. Morella pensylvanica is the Northern Bayberry. All of these myrtles have some strong similarities, yet are quite different from each other. Anyway, the berry yield will not be very much, though the berries of the bayberries are larger (though not nearly as numerous). Both have very fragrant foliage and berries. There is another evergreen myrtle, Morella caroliniensis though I am not familiar with it. It is not reported to contain the aromatic oils that we appreciate in these plants. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here for some information

We have a small herd of deer in our neighborhood. They love rosebuds, tulips and my daises. I keep them away with rotten eggs and garlic. I just put some eggs and garlic in my blender with some water and blend. Then I distribute the mix between several gallon milk jugs and fill them with water. I leave the jugs out in the sun to "ripen" for a few days. It really works well. I found it on the web labeled "Kopy Kat Liquid Fence" I usually alternate with blood meal every once in a while so they don't get accustomed to any one method. We just love to watch the deer as they stroll through the yard every morning and evening. There is an albino fawn that was born last spring, so pretty. Everyone in our neighborhood is very protective of "our deer", even the hunters! When we moved here and I planted a lot of roses, my neighbors teased me for planting "deer candy"

Those were in dirt, and in the season. Of cours e, the amount per plan t varies greatly but if it is an indeterminate, I would expect 2.5 pounds per plan t per week. Can't say for sure but I presume it will take a good knowledge of plan t management to keep the plan t flowering all year. Some sources suggest the total frui t weight a plan t will provide is fixed in its genes and while it can vary a bit based on several factors, it is still going to probably max out at about 50 pounds. An option that may be viable, and I am trying this now, is to take a good size sucker from a productive plan t, and grow it. I have a couple of plan(ts) that have set frui t in five weeks. HTH, Mike

With the price of food being what it is I thought it might be a good time to bump this in hopes of giving fellow "green horns" some encouragement. If you have little money, little knowledge and crappy soil you can still do this! Last May I was totally green behind the ears when it came to gardening. This year I can say I am not TOTALLY green any more. Lets just say I am different shade of green. LOL. Last year I started with little money or experience, but a real need to learn as fast as I could to help get food on the table. So if this sounds like you then let me tell you that it isn't easy, but if you work hard, and with Mother Natures help, you can put food on the table for your family too. Also if you just found gardenweb like I did last May stick around. You will find the people here really nice and the information invaluable. This is how far we have come in a little more than a year. We had precious little decent soil to work with. What we had for soil I had tested and am still working on amending it to meet the requirements, but in the mean time those sections, are or were, planted with: pole beans, peas and snow peas, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, herbs, asparagus, bush beans, summer squash and zucchini, red beets, spinach, swiss chard, parsnips, onions and green onions, acorn squash, cucumbers, egg plant, broccoli, cauliflower, red and green cabbage, garlic, white and purple kolrabi, pumpkin, 6 blue berry bushes, 3 grapevines and rhubarb. To replace some of the vegetables already harvested, are or will be: broccoli, kale, collards, bush beans, golden beets, carrots, green onion, kolrabi and next years garlic. How I did it with out much money to work with is that I sold some things for seed money. We built what raised beds we have with small scraps of salvaged wood pieced together to "make" a length of board and made boxes of all sizes. Then filled them with hand sifted soil, scrounged from where ever and brought a bucket or a wheel barrow at a time to fill them and then ammended. We now have one large lasagna bed which was behind a retaining wall that was filled with rocky fill. Some of the fill was hand dug out and used elsewhere. Some really heavy blue clay, that hardens almost as hard as a rock, was scrounged to replace it. Then that was covered with lasagna layers. The winter squash and some zucchini are growing like crazy there! We have 2 more lasagna beds, that have no sides, that the cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli loved. Most of those vegetables are in the freezer now. We just starting a new larger lasagna bed off the side yard which we hope to plant next year. What would have been the front lawn had the only decent soil. Much of that was sifted by hand to remove LITERALLY pickup truck loads of rocks. That one is planted mostly with Dick Raymond's wide rows and with pole beans. We did peas in wide rows and will definitely do that again! Same for the bush beans, carrots, beets, swiss chard, etc. More yield per square foot! The side yard was rocky fill. A long trench was hand dug and replaced with more hand sifted and amended soil for the asparagus and more of the same to plant the blueberries and grapes. We have had problems with 1st, torrential rains, that was followed by high heat and humidity with no rain. Then if only we could eat the beetles! But with diligence, determination and perhaps "luck" the vegetables are growing and producing. It does help if you are a stubborn as a mule. The most important thing in growing food under these conditions is what decolady01/Becky and Gumby_CT said: Just keep on planting and never give up.