Just a note "Dio Tenaceous" earth is actually "diatomaceous earth" (aka "DE"), as it is made of diatoms. :) When you use it either for garden or pet, there are some cautions to take. First, always use "food grade" DE. Pool-grade DE is too sharp and can be harmful; it is not meant to be ingested or used on pets or plants where humans or pets could ingest (or lick). Fresh-water food-grade is best, but most organic gardening places and many online shops sell food-grade DE. Second, as with ALL dusts, please do not use so much that you can really see it or breathe it, and always make sure either to not breathe it and use eye protection if there is a wind (and cover your pets' eyes), or use a dust mask, etc. One way of distributing it is by using a pizza cheese sprinkler. Planting tomatoes: When you plant them, pick the leggier plants. Pick off the lower branches of your transplants, and plant the tomato at an angle / Various: Look up "companion planting" there are many plants that grow well together. If you plant companion plants at the base of taller plants, you will have to do less weeding, and you will water more efficiently. One example is planting greens between onions, or basil at the feet of tomatoes. Strawberries. Plant radish patches near your strawberry patches. The radishes will draw the lygus bugs away from your strawberry blooms. You can them vacuum them off of the radishes or use your organic chemicals there without hurting your delicate berries.

Its not often someone asks about something I actually know anything about but snow ... well we do know about snow in this neck of the woods. The commonly used ratio of an inch of rain equals a foot of snow is a useful approxination though packed snow or ice is a bit denser and contains more water. Typically, here, winter cold lasts till mid march and then the days routinely get above freezing for the high - the snowpack of roughly18 to 24 inches melts. It is gone by the end of the first week of april with breakup of the Rideau River about the same time followed a bit later by breakup on the Ottawa River. The ground thaws by mid to late april. So where does all the water go during the melt? Into the rivers just as any rain would. The ground is frozen rock hard (frost line here is 42 inches) so the water simply runs off on the surface. In the rivers it raises the level of the solid ice floating on underlying river water and eventually is the primary cause of the breakup. Tremendous ice damage is relatively frequent around bridge abutments and structures near the shore like docks and boathouses. Flooding is common almost every spring in lower lying areas. For hostas ... conditions are perfect. The snow pack protects them from a premature thaw and by the time they send up shoots at the end of april into mid may, the worst is over.I have never had noticeable frost damage despite late frosts up to the beginning of June.

I have enjoyed viewing the gardens pictured here immensely! It always amazes me that a garden can be so stunning no matter if it is an immaculately laid out planned garden like some of those shown above or like my garden where there is no well thought out plan . ( well, it is stunning to me when in bloom ......this time of year ......not so much !) You see, I am a plunker . There is no rhyme or reason to where a plant is placed . No defined shape of gardens or preplanned "what will go in where" . If I plant a plant and it doesn't like where it is , I move it and plunk it somewhere else in due time. I live surrounded by farmer's fields where the top product produced is dandelions by the millions. I have learned to embrace the weeds. I know that I will never in a million years master them so I resign myself to the fact that I will always have to vigorously thin the weeds. All spring , summer and fall I simply cannot afford to put down mulch in all 43 separate gardens ! If I had the ability to have one wish granted, I would wish for the funds to be able to put up a 10 foot tall fence in order to have a backdrop for my gardens and to also maybe prevent some of the quadrillion dandelion puffs to not reach my gardens . found a few more pics

Smivies, I think mine are Green mountain varieties. It is so strange because so many of them did not suffer at all, then I had ones that were totally destroyed. All the same varieties Gardengal48, i don't suspect blight, I took it to the garden center and they confirmed that as well. It's just so puzzling. Roots were healthy as well. Im leaning towards the cold damage being the culprit as Smivies suggested. Should these be protected in the winter ? I certainly don't need to go through this again next spring