Pros: I am excited that I can plant a lot of bulbs that I don't have to lift during winter: begonias, callas, dahlias, etc. I can grow plants that I never could back in MA, such as camellias, gardenias and hibiscus. Vinca and petunias, my annuals that would never came back in MA, reseeded themselves and grew prolifically this year, so much so, that I had to go out and buy about 6 more window box containers. They'll keep on blooming into at least October, perhaps even November. As a good friend said, they last so long, you almost want to kill them!! I'm looking forward to making more informed plant decisions this fall and next spring. From now on, I'm only planting deer resistant, drought tolerant, and insect resistant plantings. The past two years, I had such a large areas to cover that I was just putting in plants to fill in the huge expanses, but from now on, I'm going to put in smart plant choices. I can't tell you how excited I am to start gathering my information, researching my possibilities and then putting it all toghter. Cons: Bugs and pests. Maybe due to the harsh winters in MA, I never really ran into problems with pests. Everything I planted seemed to do just fine with a little bit of routine care, such as watering and feeding. It seems like everything that I've planted here, are plants that are prone to being infested by something. NOT my idea of enjoyable gardening. I prefer plants that you can just water 'em and forget about 'em. Also the clay soil is just unbelievable to dig in. I have several areas of my yard, that I'd love to plant little shade gardens, and I literally cannot get the shovel in to turn over the ground. I've mulched it, and hope in a year or two, it will soften enough to get to the point to I can at least get the blade of the shovel into the cement, er dirt. And the heat is unbelievable. After 2 years, I'm still not used to it. Last year, I gave up watering everything because my daughters were just too young and they couldn't take the heat at all long enough for me to water. This year, they're now 4 and almost 3 (practically grown-ups if you ask them LOL) and they love to help me water everything.

they do make very squirrel proof feeders- some that even have electric charges going through them that only squirrel's weight trips. one of our local nurseries carries them and the accompanying video is hysterical. they also say if you can suspend the feeder 10' off the ground & away from any objects, then cover with a baffle, you're good to go. so, a line stretched between 2 poles or trees with a feeder attached works well. ours is on our high off the ground deck, on a pole that we can extend to 8' or so, with a baffle underneath and has worked really well for years. til the coon found it this spring, anyhow. need to trim some branches and get a heavier/wider baffle for him. we stopped feeding this summer so hopefully he goes elsewhere before fall. closer to the mountains they have white and black squirrels as well as red. it's just around here that they're mostly grey. rascally things- strangest thing they've not left alone for me is christmas lights on our deck. i tried 3 years running to string lights along the deck and they chew through them in multiple places each time. i'd love to see that light show! lol. so we quite trying a while back- seemed pointless. nut-brains, i call them. that's all they think about, and it's all that's rattling around up there. they are fun to watch chase each other around, i'll give them that. boogers. gardenia makes up for many ills, doesn't it? i have a prostrate one growing by my front door and that scent is amazing when you walk by. you'll have to discover winter blooming daphne, which, admittedly, is very picky, but worth it for the fragrance in feb/march. mmmm.

Thanks. My fence was put in my Mike Bigham with BHT Fence in Charlotte. I opted for the design you can see without any additional horizontal crossrails. There was some debate about what 'officially' was up to pool safety codes in Union County, so out an abundance of caution I went with the one that was for sure up to code. Code believed to mean that there is 48' between crossrails. Either way, I liked the less obstructive view of fewer crossrails. The fence manufacturer is APG Meridian and is called Swedge Lock. It has no screws and no welds and is made in America. I guess there's been a big increase in Chinese aluminum and steel with other manufacturers and its likely to be inferior to the American made stuff. I put the fence fully surrounding my pool, then added the adjacent dog run area (that we sodded in the pictures). All told it came out to 240 linear feet of fence, three self-closing gates and one double gate so I can mow the dog run. All told around $5500. I'm not sure if big brother cared that much in my corner of Union County - but I felt better having it fenced in for the dog and any other random animal wandering through the back yard. So far, only a few small frogs and your standard assortment of bugs have made it into the pool. Here is a link that might be useful: Swedge Lock website

Q1 How do you determine the optimum time release slow release fertilizer for use on Picea glauca grown in a 110 day growing season with average temperatures ranging from 8 to 18 C during the trees active growth period? A1 My Best guess: Native spruce shut down here by early to mid August. Their growth is finished before then. We are colder than the average 70F used for calculating release. So a 45-60 day release period is adequate. More than this is a waste of money. Spruce is a light feeder, so go at 1/3 of standard dose. Q2: What is the optimum soil characteristic drain time for large pots (#10-#15) when watered by a 1 gph dripper? A2. If the soil drains too fast, you end up with a column of wet down the middle. If it is too slow, the soil remains waterlogged too long, and will usually be waterlogged after a hard rain. My current compromise is to 'tune' for a wet spot about 6" across in the top of the pot. Increasing eh spread can be accomplished by putting a chunk of uncoated kraft paper or several sheets of newsprint under the mulch. Q3: How do I selectively breed wind pollenated trees? A3: Haven't started this one yet. I know the theory. Damn flowers are too far up. Need a picker truck to do this one. Q4: How do I effectively recruit workers in a low population area? A4: At present I have ads running on Indeed and on Kijiji. In addition I put up signs in the local town aimed at high school kids. It's not sufficient. Q5: How do I control dandelions and other airborne seeds in my pots? (Few herbicides are licensed for use in containers in Canada) A5: Mulch. I've tried chipped tree waste (power line tree trimming run through a chipper) chipped spruce, wheat straw, leaves, and now am using flax straw. Flax straw remains open after multiple rain and snow events, and is prickly enough to discourage mice. I still get some weeds at the trunk and edge. Q6: How do you educate customers? A6: Website helps: (Http://sherwoods-forests.com) It's not designed to sell but to inform. I advertise mostly on kijiji, and tend to go for very long (500-1000+words) ads. Even so, the average customer is here for an hour. Next step is education signage. Q7. What are effective irrigation systems for the small grower? A7: At present I'm using a mix of senninger wobble heads for my blocks and 1 gph flag drippers for my larger pots. The latter are non pressure compensating, so lines are always supplied from the top end of the hill. Sessions have to be started manually, as the temperatures and wind makes for very irregular evaporation. Q8: How do I determine the optimum orientation of a green house for forcing spring bulbs for mother's day? A8: Cute app for the iphone that superimposes the solar path for a given date on whatever you are looking at with the camera. Since the greatest need for heat is just before dawn, and most of the afternoon you will be venting like crazy, the right orientation is to maximize dawn heating at the start of your growing season. If you plant on spring equinox, the right orientation is NS so one side faces east. If you are planting a month after, you want the long axis to point somewhere to the southeast. I'm not confident in this answer. Q9: What are the tradeoffs of using recycled pots? A1. On the plus side: Cheap. Environmentally friendly. (Keeping them out of the landfill) On the minus side: Potential disease and pest transfer. So far not yet an issue. Cleaning them if you care to. Jamming in stacks. (I have over 25 variants on a #2 pot.) Non-standard 'untidy' appearance on display. Q10: How do you mix your soil if you don't have an extra $20K kicking around? A10: At present I use an old silage mixer picked up at the dump. A $500 Princess Auto 9 HP motor, and a thousand bucks worth of welding to mount it on a frame. I can mix 1/2 cubic yard at a time, as long as no more than 1/3 of it is my sandy silty field soil. Q11: What are good sources for liners in Canada? A11: So far: Jeffries, PRT, Boreal, PrairieTech, Linnaea, Prairie Christmas Tree Growers Association. Q12: What is the chilling requirement for white spruce to break dormancy? A12: This came up when someone wanted a live Christmas tree. If the chilling requirment has not been met, then keeping it inside will do no harm. Put it back outside at the end of the season. If it has been met, then all the buds will drop off if put outside. Thanks to UBC Botany forum, I found out that spruce as a genus vary from 300 to 1500 hours. Not useful. However a frequent weather pattern in Alberta is a February thaw where we will get a couple weeks spring like temperatures -- some years we lose all our snow -- then followed by cold weather in March. So either spruce dormancy break is initiated by day length, or it's long enough to not need to worry about being inside for 2 weeks. So next year we try it with our own tree. Q13: Where can I find a supplier of Prunus nigra in Canada? A13: Still open. I have an order for seed from Jeffries. Q14: What are suitable plum root stocks for grafting in cold climates? A14: Still open Q15: What is optimum timing and amount for final irrigation before freezeup to reduce winter damage on various species? A15: At present I give them a saturated watering after the leaves drop off the poplars. Not convinced this is optimum yet. Too much, and roots have to expell more water as it gets cold to increase the ion density. Too little and top tissues aren't fully hydrated to go into winter. Q16: What are the tradeoffs between grassed and non-grassed aisles? A16: I went with grassed. Actually a combination of 9 kinds of grass, dandelion, clover, harebell... I don't want to use enough chemicals to go bare earth. Q17: How can I modify common procedures to minimize pesticide use? A17: A few answers/ Feed birds year round. They don't each much in summer, but it's there. I use a combination of black oil sunfower seed and grease cakes. Alternate blocks are different genera. This makes a pest work hard to find his next snack spot. Fair amount of wild/semi-wild land in borders. Provide habitat for predator insects. Adjust mowing schedule to maximize clipping weed heads. Use cardboard and flax as weed control in demo gardens. Use flax on top of pots. This has reduced my Glyphosate use to about 4 years per 10 liter jug. Q18: How do I deal with porcupines? A18:: Lee Enfield Mark IV .303 Q19: If I'm using field soil as an ingredient in my potting mix, what is the best way to maintain that soil weed free AND also keep reasonable tilth? A19: Present theory is to sow with buckwheat. (Germinates as it flying through the air..) Till in after it blooms. In fall harvest dirt for the next season.