When I rolled over an old log on the ground and there was a nest of baby garter snakes under there. Loudest scream I think I have ever uttered. The big ones generally don't bother me but that nest....eeeew! When my dachshund slurps up the garden slugs on the sidewalk. Truly gross, she also eats other bugs. My old (deceased) one used to go after bumblebees and eat them and she didn't seem to mind. (That dog was as indestructible as a cockroach though, lived to 16 and a half years old). Seeing my old sugar maples die of verticillium wilt disease and there is seemingly nothing I can do about it. Even worse when I have to pay $300 (actually a reasonable rate around here) a piece to get them taken down.

Hi..I'm writing this on behalf of sumala..I wanted to let everyone know that he passed away this past Wednesday April 25 at the Veteran's Hospital in WPB. He thought he had the flu but just couldn't seem to shake it. We went to the VA on Monday thinking we'd get some meds and he'd be coming back home but that wasn't the case. I suppose our Creator in Heaven needed an avid gardener up there because he passed away Wednesday from heart failure. None of us, including him, had any idea that he might not be coming home..He rode his bike daily and was super active especially in his garden! I know he really enjoyed 'chatting' and sharing gardening tips with you all! My thanks to Minderella who helped me to get onto the site so that I could let everyone know-as you can guess, he's already been truly missed. When we would come home he was either on the computer chatting with different ones about his garden or out in it-so it's still hard walking into the house & he's not here..I will probably be signing on using his name so that I can read some of his posts-I was just reading all of his posts here along with everyone else's and the info will help the family to keep his garden going. He was also really getting into 'putting up' the different things he was growing so this will also help to preserve waht is grown. Thank YOU ALL for being such wonderful friends of his-I know he respected & enjoyed all of you. I'm not sure where all he would gon in GardenWeb but I would appreciate if you spread the word..Anyone may also email me at tirtle1@aol.com if you'd like. Thanks again,keep your green thumbs up (and hopefully ours will turn green as well) Take care & God bless

I know mint grows fine in the ground in central FL and the 'soil' is all sand with way too good drainage. I wouldn't put potting soil in the ground, I think doing that right around a plant tends to cause more problems than it solves, I would instead amend a larger area of soil by mixing in compost. You do have to water mint it likes water. You might give it a few days to see if it perks up, if not maybe move it to an area that gets more water like near a gutter outlet or under an eve (not standing water but more water-you kinda have to work to drown mint though it's possible, my mom's done it). You might mulch too to help retain water. My mint is all munched on too. I've seen cabbage loopers (I believe-light green caterpillars that make a loop when they move) on them and the basil next to it, you could take care of this with Bt (Dipel). I mostly blame crickets at night for the mint, but they were also eating the leaf heads right off my garden seedlings. That made me mad. So, I went on a murderous cricket rampage, placing glasses filled with a mix of molasses, lemon, vanilla and water all about my garden. The crickets happily dove right into the glasses and drowned. This seems to have helps my seedlings, I'm not sure about the mint yet. Oh, holes in just the center of plant's leaves often suggests snails and slugs, look at night with a flashlight for them.

Now this may be a total myth, but would a cat LICK the medication off their fur if it ended up there?? Many years ago, had a Dobie who had a litter of 7 pups. She was absolutely inseparable from them for about 3 weeks or so. She wouldn't even go do her thing out in the back yard. We had to walk her on leash to get her out of the house. We coulda walked her a mile from home and she would have been standing at the front door waiting to be let in. Doing all the things a momma dog does for puppies before they can start eating solid food gave her a MAJOR case of the poops! Vet suggested Kaopectate... same dosage as an adult person... something like 6-7 teaspoons a dose! Knowing a spoon would be ridiculous, I came up with a "brilliant" plan... after all I did graduate from college!!;) I measured the Kaopectate into a cup and sucked it all up with a turkey basket, slid it into the side of her mouth (whileI held it closed) and squeezed... genius, right?!? I sat and rubbed her throat a few times and figured she had swallowed. WRONG! The second I let go of her snout, she shook her head and me, the walls and most of the puppies got splattered with the stuff! BUT it worked out well... she licked it all off of them, so got most of the stuff in her. I was SO tempted to dip a few of the puppies in the stuff... but didn't!