Although birds will sometimes clip off the stem of a young seedling, this typically occurs during the day. If it's at night, this is probably the cutworm, as others have already written. Alan Chadwick had a technique for dealing with these larva which I have not seen mentioned here so far, so I'll briefly describe it. In the morning, when you discover the severed plant lying on the ground, look carefully within a circle of about 6' from the stem. Most often you will discover a small hole in the surface of the soil (about 1/16' in diameter). Take a table knife (not sharp) and dig down abut an inch or two to the side of that little hole. Flip the soil up onto the surface and look for the cutworm. They are quite easy to catch that way. As one or two of them can do a lot of damage, usually there aren't very many of them to worry about. Just be careful not to disturb the soil around the stricken plant, so that you can find the little hole. Chadwick called these larva by the name used in England where he was trained: Leatherjackets. More information about his masterful gardening techniques can be found at the link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick garden techniques

My sister has a book called "Back to Basics" and it shows you how to put sterilized dried dirt on the bottom of a crate, a few vegetables like carrots or whatever on top, add a few inches of dirt, another layer of vegetables, etc, etc, until the box is filled and topped with a few inches of dirt and then put the top on. I can only tell you what I've read because my gardens have been pretty pitiful. I'm sworn to composting because it's too expensive to fix the ph and what ever else is wrong with the soil. I have no experience at preserving anything with the exception of how to blanch them and put then in a freezer bag. I did some green beans from my uncle's garden that way, also sliced green tomatoes and froze them without any treatments, we thawed them out and dipped them in cornmeal, salt, and pepper, and fried them. They were as good as fresh ones. Maybe you can get a cheap freezer? You can dig the cabbage up root and all, dig a hole 2 feet deep in your garden or somewhere, place the cabbages upside down with the roots up, and bury them. Radishes, beets, carrots, and parsnips and even tomatoes can be kept above ground by covering them with straw to maintain a temp of about 30 or 40 farenheit. It shows how to keep potatoes by laying down several inches of straw, stacking the potatoes in a conical mound or pyramid, cover them with straw, and bury them with 4 inches of soil. There is also a storage chamber out of bales of hay where out of 9 bales laid next to each other to make a square, leave the middle one empty and store your vegetables in it, then put a 2 x 4 across the opening end for airiation, and put two bales of hay on top. The book I'm getting this information from is "Back to Basics" by Readers Digest. It also shows you how to make your own bread yeast. I hope some of this might be helpful. Some crops you can just leave in the ground all year round.

Thanks Mr Baby and Harvestman, you've been most helpful. Guess i do not need to "stick" another tree in the ground for pollination. Found this at Naturehills.com: Pink Ladyî Apple, which is also known as the Cripps Pink variety, is a new hot climate apple from Western Australia. Pink Lady is a very good apple for those of you south of the Mason-Dixon line. It is a large apple with a pink blush over a yellow undertone with no russetting. The flesh is creamy and crisp. The flesh resists browning when cut. It has a sweet-tart taste similar to, but generally rated better than Granny Smith. Pink Ladyî (Cripps Pink Variety) maturity date is 10-15 days after Granny Smiths. This apple tree does not need a pollinator. Pink Ladyî (Cripps Pink Variety)\ will not mature properly in USA in zone 5, due to low autumn temperatures.>>> Much relieved down here in the deep south! I didn't know some apples were self fruitful. Looks like I have a tree with all the characteristics of Granny Smith, and better. Harvestman, I've never seen a Granny growing down here, but I've seen them in local nurseries for sale. Mr Baby, thanx for the heads-up on this tree, looks to be perfect for my little tiny orchard!

I thought I would update, Thanks for all the responses. My peppers are still doing well and giving me a big crop. Still going strong even now. Also, my 3 varities of eggplants did well also. I still have more to harvest in the next few weeks. My cucumbers died as well as my summer squash (mildew) and... my tomatoes got really really infested with aphids and some green worms of some kind along with my cherry tomatoes splitting...have to read some more on the tomato forum to figure out tomatoes more. My cucumber plant had an okra plant in it so I was able to have the surprise of some really nice okra, and my strawberries are growing, but no fruit yet! They are still going strong though. I will do my fall garden in Sept. and see how it does in the fall. I am planning to throw in some worm casings this time, as well as sea kelp, and a few bags of cow manure and garden soil. I will add in some 6-6-6 to get some nutrients back in. Please let me know if I am leaving anything out here! :) TY I want to cover with plastic for a few weeks, but since the okra, eggplant, and strawberries are doing so well I am not quite sure how to get rid of anything bad in the soil, have to think about that a bit more.