I have experienced the same as snappybob and cmoser. We use well water- lots of sediment and lots of minerals. Do you have any kind of filter between the hose spigot and the beginning of the hose connection? It's a very good idea, if not a requirement, if you are using well water. I have used many soaker hoses, different diameters, from the micro soaker tubing to the largest avilable, as well as the most and the least expensive soaker hoses available. To go with them I have used all types of compression fittings (for those who don't know-the soaker hoses push into them tightly,giving you a way to join soaker hoses, connect to black poly feeder tubing, connect to a garden hose etc.). On the 1/4" micro soaker tubing I have used all forms of barbed connectors, (these go into the soaker hose instead of the hose going into the compression fitting). My first experiences with them- I unfortunately buried at least 4 different runs of 100 feet each and at least 1- 50ft run, all just a few inches deep plus mulch, throughout a number of new perennial flower beds. They worked great for about 2 years, then less well for another, then stopped working completely. I had added a fitting at the end of each hose run. It was a compression fitting on one side where the soaker hose went into. The other end of the fitting was (male) threaded to connect to a garden hose, or in my case a cap to screw onto and off. I used it so I could flush the system. The end of the line with this fitting stuck up out of the soil, at the end of each line. This allowed me to make sure the water was running through to the end. Also, I bought an inexpensive pressure gauge with a garden hose connection on it. I can put it on that end fitting and measure the pressure coming out of the end, meaning also along the whole hose- very handy. By the way, if you have a well these are a great idea to stick on your hose spigot or the end of a garden hose to test the PSI pressure coming from your well. Your well water comes through a pressure tank buried near where the well was drilled. Each pressure tank has a preset pressure, ours is (I'm drawing a blank here- maybe 22 psi.?), so the water coming out at the spigot remains a steady (for example) 22 psi. When your pressure tank starts going bad (oh yes.... we've replaced an old one), the pressure can at first become eratic- the pressure gauge check helps check your pressure tank. The end fitting is also great for flushing out loose sediment from the well water. You'd be amazed at the amount of actual crud that comes up through your well! Unfortunately, after a few short years, the hoses stopped working- just a dribble came out. I tried to pull them up to check for leaks in the hose etc., but the groundcover and perennials and tree and vine roots had completely surrounded the hoses- (I had made some really great raised beds, the plants had grown great!) I'd have killed everything if I'd started ripping/tearing the hoses out. So lesson # 1 for me -don't bury soaker hoses with your perennial veggies, flowers etc. So, I cut off all my fittings, (hard plastic so unaffected by the deposits), to disinfect and recycle onto the soakers in the newest veggie gardens- where the hoses were going just under the mulch (MULCH IS GOOD with soakers !!!!) The entangled soaker hoses still remain in the perennial beds, still snaking around just a few inches down. By the way, I attribute the hoses closing up to 2 things- the minerals and sediment in our well water and then the hose itself leaking after getting nicked or sliced with trowels etc. when replacing or adding bulbs & plants to the beds. In that old veggie garden I added an inline filter, just after the hose spigot of the well, and new (better) hoses. But the same thing happened, as far as the mineral deposits in the hoses eventually making them too ineffective to use. I did a lot of research and found there are ways to back flow/flush, or 'soak' your soakers in vinegar or hydrogen oxygen based solutions to try and remove the deposits and get those hoses soaking again, but the time and expense and just plain hassle of it all, after my first experience stopped me. Putting in a new well necessitated, 4 years ago, our moving the entire vegetable garden. It's taken all these years now to clear the trees and then the stumps (we live in the woods) and to get everything together to grow most things in many large pots. The pots sit on recycled plastic covered pallets arranged in bed lengths, on TOP of our hard/no dirt/shale surface. Currently I have (12) 'pallet beds' each 4' wide and 12' long. Each holds a variety of different size pots with different fencing, caging, trellising, insect netting or plastic covering etc, depending on the crop. I have just about finished drilling all the side/at the bottom drainage holes. In the bottom of the pots, covering the holes up the sides, I use either metal screening or landscape cloth to keep the soil in and the bugs out. The next few days after that are for filling the pots with 823 gallons worth of growing mix. Then next week, the 85 seedlings under three tiers of light in the bedroom (I have a patient husband), will find a new home for the season. The week after that (yes I know how late I am)- the veggies being direct seeded will go into their pots. At a 'bad back/knees/neck' 60 years of age - there will be no more double digging raised beds for me, nor any more soaker hoses. Tomorrow I'm ordering drip emitters for all the pots and also for the in ground beds that I have already growing. I'll continue to use an inline 'Y' filter (with even smaller filter holes) and also get the least clogging emitters I can find. Luckily I can still use most of the old fittings etc., since I still have to come from the well spigot to a garden hose, to black feeder poly pipes, to the small tubing, to the emitters. As long as I match the size of the feeder poly pipes to the size of the old soaker hose and use the same size drip emitter micro tubing as I used for the micro soaker hoses, I can use the same compression fittings and barb fittings. Then I'm only out the cost of the soaker hoses themselves. But no more long runs of soaker hoses for me- not with well water. Hope this helps. Good luck to you. Rebecca

You want a travelogue, Digit? Since Paige’s babies are in the ground, I think this thread is getting near it’s end, so I’m gonna hijack it! You have to work for my pics nowadays—click on the links if you want to see them! (STILL hoping houzz enables posting directly thru our hosting sites!) Ute Mountain Tribal Park – This is the MOST amazing place! Unlike Mesa Verde, the ruins have been “stabilized,” but not reconstructed at all. If you do the private tour you’re out there with JUST you and your Ute guide! No mobs of pushy tourists, or screaming kids, or crying babies! The Land, the Sky, the Ruins—and SILENCE! This will be my fifth tour! Eagle Nest Ruin https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GxsLQt3RvHg1gWGz0C-tJMu3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AoQUvkKLjaC9CDM48BVwUMu3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YgfdCcazTHji7WkJ3y2l0su3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink Anasazi check dam https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/a0SSpJMnc1v3vOHOtSbEAcu3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink Touching allowed! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Jp58XHPADGTzA6YvuNRyGAPPcO__tq0XI6jlKd1A8Lg?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XuYJwlNhZrKq3Z0ZqpoKEDXOWC84uOzz_SUFrOB4Ios?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Jp7CSWueIdrg27TupwW9OwPPcO__tq0XI6jlKd1A8Lg?feat=directlink Ute pictographs! Painted by Chief Jack House, last traditional chief of the Ute Mountain Utes, and the person who first suggested establishing the Tribal Park https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JGnl1XH75L8_NBDOjDPSATXOWC84uOzz_SUFrOB4Ios?feat=directlink Lion House Ruin https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sq3yZ41RqjUnlesC5N_1Isu3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7U6hAv8GZPbW4P4Ed71fusu3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink Might go back to Hovenweep while I’m at Cortez https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Z5pjdRMLxXpqSZjrnQ7KltMJwEJu7S9TmfnPFCLld1w?feat=directlink Chaco – This place has some of the “reconstructed stuff” going on, but it’s an AMAZING place! Not sure if I’m gonna do the top of the cliff again, or stay “on the ground” this time! Pueblo Bonito from the top of the cliff https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vrwxLUn8fJaRz1vZC-2aD8u3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aMzyD2DyM-GoVBnHs_pNS8u3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8vwum3K6epYqxx563LncaAHiQ7e0JaUkODLHPIo1yzQ?feat=directlink Anasazi gutters! (This is a “modern” attempt to prevent deterioration of part of the ruins!) https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RF9PPufGLQDg58SygeMUSwHiQ7e0JaUkODLHPIo1yzQ?feat=directlink Jackson (Anasazi!) Stairway https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iOOqMuSDHL2YdtufAjbqFsu3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink Part of Kin Kletso https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mwndUbg1fQLnogCVY0xzbcu3xild7CAM5AtpV5WZ988?feat=directlink Part of Chetro Ketl https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/y8T_eKISjMr4MbcFNjzf6BwHfw8Hw_uzbe74fAT89FY?feat=directlink And haven’t decided for sure if I’m going back to Aztec Ruins again this time. Another “reconstructed” kind of place, but, again, pretty amazing! (The captions on the pics are taken from the “walking tour” booklet and other Park literature.) https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Cv7CFpwe7dQSptIeyH0_WJczWxF2Gp7vK_a52GaQbUY?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GHx-mUMAn7MUBrRT3Iz5kJczWxF2Gp7vK_a52GaQbUY?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/u_GVTxVmG1LAP73lAKyypZczWxF2Gp7vK_a52GaQbUY?feat=directlink And might go back to Chimney Rock while I’m at Ignacio—it’s our newest National Monument! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/oEyYVolzRtiCxOY_rHqnRev5cuQDI7_41D0YsYe0_FQ?feat=directlink And I might even go back to Mesa Verde--where I've been going since the mid 60s! Did I mention that I’m interested in the Ancient Ones! If anyone is interested in gong to any of these places, I will gladly help with info about where and what to do—AFTER I get back from my trip! Skybird P.S. You may now have your thread back, Paige! ;-)

Hi, Etta. I live in Meridian, MS, so sounds like we are neighbors. Woohoo! I have been growing vegetables for about six or seven years now and am really starting to get the hang of it. First, your beans. I grow pole beans only because my garden is small. (I grow in raised beds, though that's not the reason for pole beans. It does, however, create perfect drainage no matter how much rain we get.) I highly recommend rattlesnake. Also Louisiana Purple Pod Beans and Emerite. If I could only have one, it would be rattle snake. It is utterly delicious, produces well into the hottest part of summer, and makes LOTS of beans.But, the other two are also truly delicious. I plant them in the spring (now) and they do extremely well until the really hot weather comes in July. Then I pull the plants and put in crowder peas. By the time the crowders are done in August, I pull those and plant more snap beans and those will produce all the way until frost. I get enough beans for two for the year this way with just one teepee. The teepee has a circumference of 3 feet, and I plant the beans all the way around the circumference about 4 inches apart. The teepee is wrapped a few times with wire which gives the beans something to grab onto as they begin to climb. I also grow pole limas the same way. One teepee of those will produce all summer long and give me plenty for the freezer. I grew Edamame last year as an experiment and will grow more of them this year. As I read your account of your first attempt, I wondered if you fertilized those beans? If you put too much nitrogen in the soil, you will get all foliage and very few beans. I take excellent care of my soil, but almost never add fertilizer to the bed where I'm growing beans. Beans are able to take nitrogen out of the air and fix it in their roots. I hope you have great success this year!

The socks were not all wool. Here's the picture. I thought it was a pretty clever idea, but I'm sure you still have to go out and shake off the snow. I covered all the hostas I could with big pots. I covered my bleeding heart with a large shrub cover like this one (http://www.improvementscatalog.com/shrub-jackets/13052). The nice thing about these is they open and tie on one side. Then I roll over the top and clamp with chip clips. I covered my peonies with other plant covers that are like pillow cases. I put one or two stakes in the ground next to them and then cover. My mom uses umbrellas to cover things. She collects broken patio umbrellas from the trash and uses those on large plants. This morning I went out and used a big broom to push the snow off my peach tree hoping not to lose any limbs from weight. Other stuff will have to fend for itself.