Growers have been experimenting with this. Rick Tasco of Superstition in Cathey's Valley, near Mariposa, plants his slightly beneath the soil, and so do a number of other growers across the country, and they all report good results and fewer losses. It is now understood that rot comes from a bacteria that gets into the rhizome through wounds or cuts, not from burying the rhizome too deeply. I am going to try it next year.

An excerpt from the current Garden Company (Santa Cruz) newsletter: This is a great time of year to plant low growing ground cover to help stabilize soil and choke out weeds. We have dozens of possibilities we can show you in a wide range of mature height, leaf textures, and flower colors. There is still time to plant bulbs for spring bloom. Shorter days and cooler temperatures will help prevent the bulbs from sprouting prematurely. We still have a good selection of Tulips, Daffodils, Bearded Iris, Watsonia, Muscari and many others. Pull out your tired summer annuals and plant winter blooming bedding plants like Calendula, Primrose, Iceland Poppies, Mums, Pansies, Violas and Cyclamen. Our fall and winter seasons are sooooo overlooked for vegetable gardening. Hey, we live in paradise, not Kansas. This is the perfect time for planting root crops, leafy greens and head crops. We have a great selection of carrot seeds, onion sets, garlic bulbs, and shallots as well as seeds and certified organic 6-pack starts of lettuces, spinach, chard, kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Asian greens and much more. It would be a good time to give perennials a light pruning if they have finished blooming. This will remove spent flowers and keep plants from getting too leggy. Clean and fill those bird feeders. Fall brings increased activity from hungry Finches and other wild birds. Medium Sunflower Chips and Nyjer Seed are Finch favorites. *********************************** I suggest that you watch the weather and protect, especially, your newly planted babies from freezing, or ask at the nursery for particularly hardy selections. Also, be sure to water if there is a warm spell, or no rain for long enough to dry out your plants. A strawberry farmer that I know puts in his strawberries this time of year. Then they bear all spring and summer. This is also the ideal time to prepare the soil for rose planting. New bare root roses will arrive in the nurseries in December, and you will have the best selection and highest quality stock available. Roses are happiest, here, planted in winter, as they put on root development for a few months that support greater growth next spring. Bare root fruit trees are available as well. Any areas that you want to plant in spring can be sowed with a green manure crop, which is turned under when it's time to plant in spring, fertilizing the soil.

Have to second Mindy on digging the fence into the ground -- we had woodchucks (large family living under the garage) in our old house, and a 4-foot fence around the vegetable garden which wasn't sunk more than a few inches (maybe 6) into the ground. Woodchucks had a field day with the green beans and peppers in particular (for some reason, they were particularly fond of the jalapeno plant ... I think they must have had the makings for margaritas in their den, needed some salsa for the chips, or something...) We found one fat one sitting right smack in the middle of the garden not five minutes after the trapper had left one day, having retrieved his empty trap, inspecting the perimeter of the garden, and declaring "no signs" of digging (no entry, or "plunge" holes inside the garden, either). We never did figure out how he got inside but either he climbed the fence, or he (or she) was exceptionally neat when it came to digging (and they were NOT neat anywhere else -- I had a mound of dirt about a foot high on the side of the garage where the main entrance to the burrow was!) We fought/trapped them for three years. Every year, a new family was back. GOOD LUCK!!!

shambo, I think your right. I don't think dad can tell the difference with what's going on with his body. When he was living at home alone he got to where he'd drive himself to the doctors office for the one thing or another but the next day when I'd see him he'd tell he didn't trust the nurse when she'd tell him he was fine. He also has problems with both doctors and nurses at frist he thinks they're ok and then he'll tell me that they turned on him and not treating him the same. Maybe they got tired of his complaint and always insisting something was wrong even when they fixed the problem but he didn't think it was fixed. I did not mention that the day nurse called me Friday but I missed the call but she left a message. Telling me that she needed to talk to me about my dads condition. Needless to say I worried the rest of the weekend as to what she had to tell me but was sure if it was serious they'd keep trying to contact me or leave a message to call them ASAP. I planned it out to call the nurse to fins out what she had to tell me and when I called I find out that Friday was her last day working there. I talked to the new nurse and told her I'd like for my dad to be placed on something for his depression or anxiety. He's been on zoloft and said he didn't like it. I went and checked on two homes today but they were rehab/memory care centers. One looked really nice but no room the second one didn't look near as nice and the area they hold dementia care persons is very small with only one short hallway. I'll look into a nursing home that handles someone with problems like my dad. Problem in Texas is that if the person becomes combative they can call me up and tell me I have two days to fine a new place for him. Now you know it's not that easy to find a place and it's not good move them around so much. I do not want to be caught without a place for dad to go, this would not be good at all. It does not make since to me at all. It's not like your a normal person renting a home or apartment and making to much noise. It's a case of them being ill and the home should not take them in unless they truly handle all cases or stages of dementia. I also found out that they can get a machine to hook up to the phone that links it to dads doctors for a check up on the pacemaker, Now why they don't know this or if it's a case of not wanting to do it. I haven't a clue but I will be asking them tomorrow about it.