Kevin, I usually complain most about the lack of rain, because I have a huge garden. This year has been great, lots of rain at good intervals without the violent damaging winds that so many have experienced up here. But yes, I've ended up tying and staking more plants this year than I can remember, due to the wind.

Gary, a fellow Minnesotan who loves your optimistic and, I hope, increasingly realistic designation: "Zone 5."

Voles.

Hands-down.

But funny that you mention the wind. I haven't noticed any damage in the garden, but I sell cut flowers at a couple of farmer's markets, and the wind this summer has been noticeably stronger. The wind at the market has been beating my flowers to ... well, let's just say it has been beating up my flowers! Sometimes it even knocks over the vases, which does not help the flowers either! I always hope the flowers sell quickly, because if they have to sit in that wind for four hours, they will be unsellable by that time.

Gary, you obviously are not in New England, lol! No rain almost all summer here. While dragging the hoses around is pretty high up on the annoyance list, it's really more of a time issue for me than anything else. And lack of time will always be at the top of any list that includes annoyances, pests, or any bad things in the garden, lol.

:)
Dee

I really think my number one is mosquitoes. I cannot go outside for 2 minutes without protection. I would go outside more frequently and deal with the biggies: drought, weeds, and heat if I didn't have to cover myself with deet, sweat like a horse and have to shower afterwards always.

I'd have to say gnats and mosquitoes, too. Ugh. I could stay outside a lot longer if they didn't make life so miserable!

Whatever you call it.... i call it HOSE WRANGLING OR HOSE WISPERING!!!

I am laughing right now picturing myself just an hour ago "hose wrangling". You know what i mean, the built in murphy's law of hoses and how they seem to know just when you are a few steps away and totally pleased with the coverage, to roll or twist. Summoning your best colorful language and giving the mosquitos a chance to draw a bead on you.
It doesn't matter how much you spend on hoses, they all have their own innate program like they are saying to each other "hey watch this one, it really gets her going."

It is a conspiracy and one i do miss come December.

Doublenoodles

ONE WORD: RACCOONS

Biggest ongoing annoyance while gardening or just plain being outside in the gardens? Interruptions!

Since I've learned to ignore people who interrupt me, my expertise in ignorance is now their annoyance. :O)

Voles

The scope of our annoyances is broadening. I'll add mine:

Neighbor's humming/whining pool filter 24/7 all season long.

Skeeters have been bad this year! Other than the deer going after my maters, they have to be my biggest annoyance! We're on the lake, and when DH and I go out in our little jon boat, we have to take a citronella candle bucket, AND a pyrethrin coil! As soon as the wind starts to die down we're swarmed, especially when we come back from late day fishing.
So, on the upside, Aachenelf, the wind, as persistant as it's been this year(I'm in the same general weather area as you and it's constantly blowing over my container toms), really helps keep the skeeters at bay. Mixed blessings, I guess.

At least you guys have a good sense of humor about these things. I like that!

This freaking wind is driving me nuts! One more day I guess and then the storms come and totally destroy everything that hasn't been wreaked already.

I have yet to experience a vole. Couldn't even tell you what they look like. Off to visit Mr. Google...

Kevin

Oh - they're cute!

K

Bumblebeez pretty much echos my sentiments at the moment. Our prolonged 100+ degree heat combined with the drought would make you think that we wouldn't be plaqued by the little SOBs. But as I learned the other day, even a pop bottle cap full of water is enough for Mosquitoes to reproduce, and I have that much usually in the saucers underneath my potted plants. Also, I am so tired of being unable to run to the store because my hair is plastered to my head from sweat. Maybe it's a girl thing, but I feel like attaching a constantly running showerhead at the end of the hose over my head to keep my hair clean while I'm outside. Will summer ever end????...Maryl

Neighbour's Norway Maple(s).

Crabgrass. God I hate that weed.

OH - CRABGRASS!!

I just spent a week, on my knees in the blazing sun, digging out every single crabgrass plant growing in the boulevards on 2 sides of my property. I have no idea what possessed me to do it, but I did. Felt great when I was done.

Kevin

Goutweed! Can barely keep it under control and spreads to other locations.

Yes, crabgrass is nasty! I've pulled some, but not all. I'm going to pay for that. ;(

The humidity which caused everyone of my roses to get blackspot. It just sucks. We had so much rain, then in July we had 2 1/2 of intense heat which did helped.

I have a new one: Getting old!

In years past, I would be really sore at the beginning of the gardening season. After a few weeks (weekends), my tolerance would start to build up. For some reason, this year, I have spent all spring and summer feeling like someone's beaten the daylights out of me.

I've been out of the garden in the blazing heat of the past month and have moved the party inside to paint. Saturday I spent all day basically just sitting on the floor, painting some furniture. Monday morning and I'm still in pain! What is that about?! It should not be painful to sit on the floor!

And I also hate mosquitos, crabgrass and chipmunks. :D

* Crabgrass - The most evil plant on the face of the earth!
* Nosy neighbors who interrupt me while I'm pulling weeds or other yard work! I don't like socializing while I'm gardening.

I can't decide which one irritates me the most. At least I can spray the crabgrass if necessary. Is there something to spray neighbors with?

My sister in law...oh,you mean to do with gardening....;)

Weather: I hate how much rain and wind we have here.

Pests: Raccoons are a major problem for me since I have multiple water gardens and ponds.

Weeds: clover/oxalis, not the white stuff in the lawn but the yellow flowering stuff in the beds. It is impossible to eradicate.

Invasive plants: lily of the valley, so sorry I planted it.

Heath: fibromyalgia, my muscles hurt constantly and I don't sleep well even though I'm always fatigued.

Neighbors: guitar playing and tree roots

If anybody thinks that lily of the valley is invasive, it is nothing compared to Cicerbita alpina. The devil himself was involved in creating this plant. It is a plant equivalent of the Lernaean Hydra .

People who tour my garden and don't offer *any* compliments; rather, they compare everything I have to what they have - "oh, my XXX is *so* big and lush this year, you should see it!" WTF!?!

Mosquitoes for sure. I can take the heat (somewhat) but there is no pleasure or enjoyment just sitting outside or gardening when you're getting bitten to death. The flies are pests this year, too.

I hear you mxk3. It's not proper gardening etiquette, IMHO, to go on and on about your garden when visiting another.

You know, I had the same thing happen recently. I friend stopped over and I offered to show her around. Now keep in mind, this friend is not a gardener. I mean she has NOTHING in her yard other than trees and grass - NOT ONE SINGLE decorative plant of any kind. During the short tour around the garden, not a single complement of any kind - only criticism - "You need more color over here" - "What's that broken pot chard over there?" I was speechless.

Nothing really to complain about this year other than the heat and humidity, but everyone seems to have that. I guess I could complain about the overabundance of rain, but that would be stupid since I remember what those drought years were like. You know I think the last time I watered was sometime back in early May.

Oh I have something. The crabgrass. Last year I dug it all out by hand - every single plant. Made no difference. It's back with a vengeance.

Kevin

Next to no rain at all and 100+ temps for months, I would have to say my worst nuisance this year was the groundhogs that ate all my flower buds. They all went for a nice long ride in the country this summer. One way.

Last year when this thread started the drought was the biggest annoyance by far. The gardens were parched, and the only stuff that got watered regularly were veggies, butterfly and hummingbird plants. This year has been dry for stretches, but thankfully more rain than last year.

This year the biggest annoyance is the critters! The deer have decided they like not just the morning glories, but all the vines - Cardinal climber and Scarlet runner bean too. The rabbit keeps nipping down my Liatris and Scarlet runner bean seedlings (trying to fill in the other eaten vines). Although my cat has caught many voles, there are so many this year that they are wiping out whole plants of some of my favorite natives, Baptisia, Echinacea, Liatris, and Heliopsis. Also a couple Hostas. Throw a few insect pests into the fracas!

I got out the "Deer Out" and sprayed the remaining vines. Also laid down 20 feet of 4 foot wire fencing over the ground along the back of the trellis. Figure the deer might not like to walk over the wire. I am experimenting with a home-made vole repellent which is a concoction of cayenne and garlic powders, and going to dowse the roots of susceptible perennials.

Sigh.

Blights, mainly powdery mildew and early tomato blight, which loved our June gloom and are going to let me get one crop off 6 brandywines, then crisp them all to lifeless stalks. Can't complain lately though, we've been 80 while the country swelters, so I'll take that trade-off. But I'm going to try sweet 100s from seed in another spot. The spores are neighborhood-wide though and the fog is like their magical carpet ride to every sensitive plant in my yard.

Dear seed firms, please test your pm-resistant strains along the SoCal coast, then get back to me. Many are fail.

Dicot: I grow Sweet Million every year - great crop and sweet as sugar :0). Not sure about disease resistance, but thought I'd throw that out there since you mentioned the Sweet 100. :0)

Mosquitoes, smell of smoke from chain-smokers next door, snails and slugs, clover.

I'll second the Sweet Million suggestion - a great plant and great producer. This year I only have 2 tomatoes - Carmello and Sweet Million. They're growing so close together they're growing into each other. The Carmello has started getting the blight. No sign of it at all on the Sweet Million.

Kevin

I guess mine is deer. I have narrowed my garden selections down to mostly plants I've found to be deer resistant. The few that aren't I spray with my magical homemade deterrent. Which works but must be applied almost daily. That's annoying but then... the deer decide they like something they have never eaten before. Something that's been growing for five or more years with no problem - suddenly the deer go after it. Grrr.

I tell these deer: "I own 40 acres of fields and woods. You are welcome to eat anything out there. Just leave my gardens alone!" Do they listen?

Definitely me. How many times have I caught myself breaking my/the rules and messing things up? I don't know why. I really get irritated with me sometimes.

Among the uncontrollable factors, it's definitely mosquitoes. Since I've had to spend so much time with this hose this year, I'm ready to go inside and SCRATCH when that's done, no desire to stay out longer just admiring, primping, staking, correcting mistakes, etc...

That bark potting mix that Lowes plants come in. I hate that stuff!

I have a very small piece of property 40 x 100.My neighbor has a lot double the size of mine.Planted on the lot line of her property are freakin Norway Maples and ungodly Locust Trees. They have turned my yard into one that is for the most part shade now except the front.
Another neighbor in the rear of the property also has a row of those ugly Norway Maples...pretty soon I'll be feeling like I live in a tree house.
I am constantly chopping encrouching branches, and it get to be a real pain in the butt. Wheww !!!now I feel better...thanks. LOL

My biggest annoyance is Thistles popping up everywhere, usually inside another plant or shrub. I have two different varieties and some get really huge. They hurt to pull out & digging them out of a shrub is often impossible. Their tap root goes deep and they regenerate themselves no matter how deep you dig or how much root you get pulling them, because you can't ever get all the root. I HATE HATE HATE them.

We also have those native plants that insist on growing in the midst of another plant. We have grape, black berry, fig, poison oak. Because of the location you can not dig them out, nor spray them without damaging your favorite shrub. We have found a tool with a long handle and a sharp,very sharp hook on the end. Locate the offending plant at ground level and with a quick pull you will sever the growing stem. It will grow back, thats true, but you can do it again, and keep it under control if not eliminated. We are also using the mosquito repelling device called "off", that has a battery operated fan with a tiny vial of repellent that we hang on our clothing when we want to enjoy the garden at the same time as the mosquitoes. It works very well. Al

The neighbour's freakin cats!
Fighting and yowling all night, flattening my peonies and hostas, pooping in flower beds, chasing off the songbirds.

I like cats. Mine doesn't go outside and isn't suffering major psychological damage because I deny her the joy of fights, ticks, fleas, disease, rain, cold that my neighbours bestow upon their animals.

***COUCH GRASS*** it is evil, evil, evil. Other than that it's my get up and go, it vanished into thin air. I've looked and looked but can't find that sucker anywhere.

Al - those Off thingies are fantastic!

Our neighbor's dog who likes to relieve herself in our yard. Picked one up bare handed thinking it was a piece of mulch...ewwwwwww!

I am finally able to relax and devote time to making gardens. Annoyance comes when I am digging a big hole and discover tree roots and have to start all over.