Weeding - for many, one of the more odious gardening chores. I personally don't mind weeding; find it therapeutic. How big a space are you dealing with? Biting the bullet, hand weeding it out and covering with a thick layer of mulch might be your best bet - taking care not to smother your desireable plants in the process. Preen stops new weeds from germinating/sprouting; it will not kill existing weeds. So you have to weed first in one fashion or another every season before using Preen. Grass killers are pretty much equal opportunity killers - can't distinguish between a dandylion and a daylily.

Ugh! I know your pain! Jazmyn loves to dig a nice cool den on warm summer days. She also likes to dig in the fall. The year before last, she dug up a single bed (in which I had planted 300+ spring bulbs) no less than five times! I kept having to go out and frantically rebury the dang things, and by spring time, it was the most random planting I think I've ever had! I have dealt with it a number of ways. First, we have Invisible Fence. I called the company back out and had them add flower bed loops wherever possible. This wire isn't actually buried but sits just below the mulch (so I can easily find it when I'm planting and don't cut it with the shovel.) This might not work for you, as it would involve putting e-collars on all your dogs, but it has made certain beds of mine completely off limits in my dogs' minds. Secondly, I buried some pieces of chicken wire beneath the mulch. I put them between the plants, was able to move them to plant more, and the plants come up through them just fine. Jazmyn hated it though, because her toes got all tangled up in it when she tried to dig, so she just gave up. Lastly, I learned to embrace the junky look of random plant stakes. I took this photo just a couple minutes ago. In the bulb bed that Jaz dug up a zillion times before, I buried a bunch of tall stakes under the mulch, and poked a bunch of dahlia stakes randomly in the bed to make it inaccessible. They aren't too noticeable really, since they're green, far from the sidewalk, and in front of some green evergreen shrubs. As the plants grow, I'll just be moving them to support the Asiatic lilies that are planted in the area, and the plants themselves will block access, but for now it does look a little goofy... (not the greatest pic) I suppose you could always grow cacti or yucca or thorny plants, or even lay thorny branches in your flower beds to act as a deterrent. Some people (especially people with good-sized yards) will create a special spot in their yards where their dogs are allowed to dig. Of course there are some dogs in this world that are so awful, they're just going to dig in your beds no matter what. I don't know what to advise in a case like that. Frankly, I can't imagine how a person could live with a dog like that! ;o)

I use a regular light bulb - heat lamps are TOO HOT! My light is on an extension cord with a metal-cone shield around it like the heat lamps, but it is not a heat lamp. I have had it for a long time. I think you can still get them at lumber yards and hardware stores - maybe WalMart too. I have it strung up to the ceiling and hung on a large teacup hook over their cardboard box. I laid aluminum window screens on the top to keep them in and safe. The lamp lays right on the top of the screens. It should not be too close to the chicks however. No closer than two feet anyway. You have to check it often until you figure it out. Much depends upon their brooder box (container). They need room enough in the box to move away in case they get too warm. Don't set the lamp over their water. I just use a large, carboard box for my Brooder Box (a lawnmower came in the one I am using now). No need to buy fancy equipment. They grow too fast to put out money for a few weeks worth of use, unless you are going into the chicken business for earnest. Put the box in a safe place where other animals cannot get to them and where they are out of any drafts and weather. In the bottom of the cardboard box, sprinkle just enough pine shavings (or you can use cedar shavings) to lightly cover the bottom (about $9 per bag). This is their litter and it is also their bedding, so it needs to be changed regularly, as you would any baby. Once a day or every other day, clean it out and put in fresh shavings. It scares them, but as long as you talk to them calmly when you care for them, they will eventually calm down. You can put the soiled litter in your compost pile. Their droppings are tiny beads, about the size of a pea, but very odoriferous. Change their water several times a day. Clean it out with Clorox bleach and water once in awhile to keep down germs and other icky stuff. Make sure they have fresh, clean, cool water, even on cool or cold days. They can go longer without food than they can without fresh, clean, cool water. If the chicks huddle together under the lamp, then it isn't warm enough. If they huddle together away from the lamp, then it is too hot. If they are scattered all around in the box, pecking and softly peeping, then the heat is perfect. If they are peeping loudly, then something is wrong. Check all of the above to see what is the matter. They do prefer to huddle together when they sleep however. As they get older, each week you can raise the light lamp up a little. During the day if it gets warmer where they are kept, and more and more as they grow bigger until they don't need it any longer - when they get their real feathers. I have noticed that chicks get so accustomed to the light that they are afraid of the dark, so I keep a nightlight on in the chicken house. If you ever need to move them or take them to the vet, box them up in a pet taxi or cardboard box with a lid on it after sundown, at night and in the dark. (you can use a flashlight.) Chickens don't put up a fight in the dark, even the meanest old rooster in the world. That is why foxes and other predators raid the henhouse at night. Easy pickins! The hens don't even make a sound. If you go to a feedstore, you should be able to find little booklets on raising chicks and chickens. Also, there are a hundreds, if not thousands of websites you can go look at. Everyone does it a little differently, but the basics are all the same. Mine are only three weeks old. Already they are flying about in the bottom of the box. They hop up onto the top of their watering pot (which gets pooped on - ugh). They also have started to hop onto my hand or arm when I reach in to change their food and water. I have just this week begun to give them very finely clipped bits of tender grass and chickweed. I use kitchen scissors. Chickweed tastes like juicy lettuce. They love it and fight over it, even though I put plenty in the box for every chick. This is normal chicken activity. You learn as you go. You make mistakes, but you become "The Mom" very soon. ~Annie

I found this thread hunting for a way to keep my puppies from digging up EVERYTHING I've just planted. (They watched me weeding a while back and now they want to "weed" everything... especially plants that their Momma has just planted! Arghhh! I should've noticed how attentively they were studying me as I weeded!) So far the only thing that's worked is putting ugly metal chicken-wire type fencing around the new plants. They seem to leave them alone then. I made the mistake yesterday of planting a little ground cover plant between some boulders, and I only covered it with a wire shelving-type thing that I happened to have out there. I just now went to check it, and it was politely moved to the side, with a hole where I'd planted. *banging head on wall* (Oh, and when they dig up a plant, they are helpful enough to rip that thing to shreds so Mommy can't possibly salvage it. I can just picture them shaking it vigorously in their teeth!) We're going to build a sand pit for them as an outlet for their digging... but now I know that I have to put fencing around EVERY little thing that I plant or it's puppy-bait! One comment about the Invisible Fence. I used to be adamantly against them, because I would never want to shock or hurt an animal. Well, I have completely changed my tune about the Invisible Fence and think it's nothing short of a miracle. First of all, it's a static shock like the kind you get touching a doorknob in cold weather. It's not painful so much as it is surprising and unpleasant. The key is the training that you do for the first four weeks. I honestly think it would fail without the training (the Invisible Fence company has a trainer come out for three of the training sessions). The fence keeps not only my two adventurous puppies in, but my older VERY stubborn dog as well. And they're so HAPPY!! They know where the boundaries are, and they gleefully run and play throughout the entire front, side and back yard where they're allowed to, as well as some of the forested area adjacent to us that we included. We initially only considered it because it was $1300 for our acre of land vs. $5,000 to $8,000 for a regular fence (and that was only 2000 sq. feet of the back yard!!). Plus, we knew our little adventurers would easily climb over or dig under any physical fence. That's not an issue at all with the Invisible Fence! Just wanted to add my 2 cents about that since it's been truly a God-send for us and our puppies. It's wonderful to allow them to have the run of the entire property and know that they are not at risk of escaping and getting killed by a car. Soooo worth it for that peace of mind! They also offer add-ons so you can protect flower beds etc... only problem is that I have plantings in so many places, that wouldn't be practical... so I'll just stick with my ugly-fencing-around-the-plants solution for now.