@Smivies I think alliums - or at least the non-miniature varieties - do benefit from deadheading. Year to year I routinely cut some Allium "Purple Sensation" flowerheads off after they are declining, while allowing others to go to seed and then scatter the seeds. I do leave the entire stem, just cutting off the head. I've noticed that the ones that I deadheaded return with larger globes the following year. Digging up bulbs that were deadheaded also reveals they are much larger. Lastly, the ones that are cut back are more likely to "double" and turn into two mature plants after 2-3 years. However, whether deadheaded or not, they do return and bloom, the only difference being the flower size. So if you want a truly naturalized garden, neglecting to deadhead is fine. It makes sense there would be some energy loss when alliums go to seed, because the leaves are dormant by the time the seeds are developing so the only source of energy is stores in the bulb. I don't know if that would remain the case for varieties that keep their leaves longer or even stay green all spring and summer. @Highlander I'd be pretty optimistic your bulbs will perform well, but I do think they should be kept cool to begin rooting. Bulbs begin rooting quickly in fall as temperatures drop but don't plummet. So a cool - but not frozen - garage will probably be better than a room-temperature basement or closet. As for your problem with finding sunlight - is your yard covered by deciduous trees, or is it conifers? One of the best things about spring bulbs is that they do most of their growth before deciduous trees leaf out. Since that means they still get sun, many gardeners use the opportunity to put "full sun" plants in what would otherwise be shade under a tree. I'm in an especially sunny climate here in Colorado - Denver has very low average % cloud cover in addition to more solar intensity because of the altitude - so in general we get to push sun plants farther into the shade than is possible in other regions. But I've found that bulbs planted under trees actually perform better, by leaps and bounds, than those planted in full sun. I've also found that bulbs planted under trees keep their leaves around much longer into the summer, whereas those scorched by sun go dormant sooner, which results in weakened performance the next year. So in the cool spring months, they get full sun which is truly unfiltered, in the summer as the weather warms they get gradually-increasing shade to protect them. But there are other reasons spring-blooming plants can adapt to shade in May/June: the total solar energy increases drastically in summer because both the day length and the sun's intensity do, and both those factors are compounded. I am not sure of the exact figures, but I remember from a college class discussing solar energy that there energy availability is something like five times stronger on June 21 compared to Dec. 21. So for a narrow period in late May/early June, many "sun-loving" plants will do OK in shade - and in fact the average 24/hr brightness in a shady area is close to the average 24/hr brightness of a sunny area at other times of the year. I'd try planting a few bulbs in areas with dappled shade or under late-emerging trees, and see if they perform; I suspect they can.

i feel your pain. last year i had serious vole problems.. between the voles and the dogs digging for them, i lost60 plants.. my garden is only 30x30 but i plant heavy knowing the hazards.. this year, i planted about 4 weeks ago. has been raining like crazy here in northern california and the water just stop leaching out of the ground long enough for me to plant. then, it has rained 7 of the last 10 days. poor plants are drowning. havent grown an inch. finally sunshine/clouds today. saw a lot of new growth ready to take off as i was brushing all the mud off the leaves from the last inch of rain yesterday. my zen is increasing.. :)

If you have squirrels in the area, they of course have excellent climbing ability, and one of their behaviors is to prune the tips of tree branches off, presumably in the course of feeding...which sounds similar to what is being done to your tomatos. After one particularly bad spring, my whole neighborhood was littered with branch tips thrown down by squirrels. Squirrels and chipmunks also both dig random holes here and there in the search for food, or--in the case of chipmunks--preparatory to making a nest. If you used mushroom or any other form of loose mulch, you may have imported a mouse, rat, or something else along with it, in which case it is probably living in the garden itself. Therefore, the protective screening would of course not solve the problem. Repellants might do a better job if that is the case, but if your garden is the only feasible home in the area for the critter, it will probably resist leaving. I know that chipmunks can climb up an entire sunflower stem to eat the sunflower's seeds; maybe other rodents besides squirrels also have climbing abilities. The random nipping and destruction sounds suspiciously like a groundhog (they like to take nips out of things as a sort of turf-claiming thing), but unless you have ever seen one of them around or have a mound with a rather large groundhog-sized hole, you can rule that out, especially in the city. If your mulch is from a more rural location, I would incline toward the chipmunk theory. They are also quite territorial, and used to demolish the contents of some of my plant pots-- mainly because, I think, they didn't like where I had placed them. Chipmunks like to clear certain areas so they have a clear line of sight. If your mulch was from a more rural location, a chipmunk could have made a burrow in it, and been swept up along with the mulch.

I "stumbled" upon this thread as I'm reading quite a bit on snakes lately. I moved into an area in Alabama that is known to have Copperheads, (unknowingly until AFTER we closed on the home) and there are other snakes (Cottonmouths, rat snakes...) as well. I haven't seen Cottonmouths but I have seen other snakes. I have eliminated quite a bit of the things that provide food and shelter for them. I plan to expand quite a bit of hardscape (concrete, crushed aggregate, river rock, pavers/patio) and ALL monkey grass, jasmine, pine straw, and other ground cover including shrubbery will be history. The goal is to keep everything clean and green and incredibly unpleasant for snakes. I have also found rodent holes and filled them with crushed aggregate, and rocks. I make certain to use long garden tool handles to push the rock into the holes and pack them to the point where no further material can be packed. We have killed two Copperheads to this point. one was under my vehicle as I headed out one morning. We have younger children, visitors, dogs and cats... that may not be aware of the dangers. The Copperheads are particularly dangerous as they can be aggressive and may not be easily seen by an unsuspecting visitor... We want to decrease the likelihood of an encounter but we also don't allow the snakes to live once we discover them on the premises.