Hi Celbrise, You can't find anything better... Don't give up on growing these beauties!! Keep trying and hopefully you may have some set this year. If not, then you will have more experience under your belt. IMO.. i would think that the Half soap and half water hurt those buds. Im sure you are trying your best to do everything to keep this single plant growing to its best potential. I hope it will produce for you!!! Maybe next spring, plant a few more plants and then you can get a feel as to the different varieties too! I sometimes start from seed, but i find it is easier to by the little plants already started in the spring and repot them into the 5-1-1 mix. Good Luck.. They will grow.. Give them another chance!! : ) Silvia.. Great pics!! Love the "harvest" pic and the Caprese salad looks so delicious. Love that dish!! Ok.. I'm ready for a BLT with fresh Bread and of course.. "Home Grown Tomatoes" : ) Im hungry!!! : ) Take care, Laura

I'm in the Catskill region of NY. I overwintered 6 figs (Violette de Bordeaus, English Brown Turkey, Petit Negri, very small Chicago Hardy, LSU Purple and Celeste) in my unheated basement. I killed a Celeste and Brown Turkey in my barn a few years ago. I'm not sure if they were too cold, too dry, or both. I acquired these most recent trees from EL during their '08 Fall sale. THe VDB and PN have only just begun forming fruit. I have been going through old threads on over-wintering and I have decided to put a couple of trees in the ground this year and try to protect them this winter. Anyone have recommendations? C.J.

I think hand picking or vacuuming adults, planting beneficial-insect-attracting flowers, and using row covers on the grow beds are your best options for control. The following methods of control are quoted directly from "The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control" CONTROL METHODS: Squash Bugs - Maintain vigorous plant growth; handpick all stages of squash bugs from undersides of leaves; support vines off the ground on trellises; attract native parasitic flies with pollen and nectar plants; cover plants with a floating row cover (you'll need to hand-pollinate flowers. Stink Bugs - Control weeds in susceptible crops; remove or mow weedy areas adjacent to garden beds; attract native parasitic wasps and flies by planting small-flowered plants. As a last resort, dust with pyrethrin.

I've never had ambush bugs in my garden, but have the related bee assassin bugs (Apiomerus crassipes) and I deal with them merely by watching for them and snipping them in half with my garden scissors when I see them. As with any predatory insect, each individual gardener must make their choices based on their goals for their garden's ecosystem. One of my goals as a gardener is to be welcoming to bees and other pollinators. While assassin bugs and other predatory insects generally are welcome in my garden, I don't tolerate the presence of bee assassin bugs and wouldn't tolerate the ambush bugs either. While both will feed on other insects and not solely on bees, I like having the bees in the garden so tend to kill pests that prey on them. There is no pesticide you could use to kill the ambush bugs that would not harm other desirable insects including the bees.