Okay, I'm ready for tonight, so I figure I'll reply now :-) Pit, I made instant beds since I heard about it on WS forum two years ago. Even convinced my FIL on it. Amazing how the worms flock even to an area with one piece of cardboard on the ground! And thanks for the tip on the Soil and Compost forum. I think that was why I have such a hard time getting the point from things people say when I lurk there...too much underlying contentiousness. I have had to use black plastic for reasons other than weeds (to keep my and the neighbors dogs out of the beds. My dog is good with the beds any time of the year except when nothing looks like its growing in them. She digs holes and lays in them). But staking the area seems to keep her out, too, so I may just stake more areas this year. It just makes me feel guilty...lol. (I spoil EVERYBODY'S dogs) I'm nervous about mulching in some areas because I don't want to prevent reseeding annuals from doing their magic. Will they still come up, or is there something about the timing of when I put the mulch down? Laurel I do have mulch in the beds from last year-- thanks for the tip on not disturbing it, Laurel :-) I'll just reapply on top of the old stuff. I have TONS of Escar-Go and Sluggo, bought from previous years. We had VERY dry winters those years, so I have lots for this year (which I suspect is going to be a slug fest, due to a wet Fall and the snowstorm). So I'm prepared like a Marine, there :-) Vera Straw...will that prevent reseeding annual flowers from coming up? Straw sounds like a great mulching product-- it's cheap around here. I like your method of weeding, fall and spring, because when it gets really hot, I have to stay inside. I garden in the morning and evening, despite my allergies, but sometimes it's just too much and I have to stay indoors. If I could get the beds to be "self-sufficient" by the time big allergy season rolls around, that would be great! Then I could just go out and cut flowers and that's it! Thanks so much to everyone for all your advice and help. I know I'm looking at a busy summer (hubby's having minor surgery and I'm working on graduate courses and applying to grad school, along with painting). Since I'm the only one who does ANYTHING to do with the yard (other than mowing the lawn), I have to prepare EARLY and really stay on top of things to have a good growing year. Thanks again, you wonderful bunch of people ((hugs)) Linda

The one that looks like a Chinese lantern is what you think they are perennials and do adapt very well. Dig em and burn em and keep and eye out for a season or two if you don't want em they wont turn back to there original time of purchase color. I can't help you with the ivy thing though. When in doubt pull it out. Post a pic of it if you can and maybe someone can help you more than I.

We pick only nettles in spring, a must for delicious nettle soup. When we first moved to this garden 22 years ago there was an edible mushroom under an apple tree, Lactarius deliciosus var. deterrimus, but it took me too long to realize what it was and it went bad before I'd picked it. It has never come back. There are other mushrooms and toadstools here but I don't trust them although I have a good fungi book. I am familiar with only five edible varieties none of which grow in the garden now. This promises to be a very good bilberry year and perhaps we can freeze a year's supply of them from the woodland or else we'll go out in the forest and pick them. We grow lots of garden berries but wild bilberries are the best.

Thank you Carol and summersrhythm, I agree with the "can't keep up with the weeds" because everyday I do a stroll I seem to have to pull little seedlings out around my plants and they just continue to grow and grow. We live next to wetlands as well and there are tons of native grasses and plants and those seeds end up blowing in with the wind. I would be so much more at ease with grass to smother out some of the weeds. Every year I have a huge job at the beginning of spring. I may want to try that cardboard or newspaper technique next year instead of digging it all up. Probably just use a string cutter than lay the cardboard over the top and mulch. The digging is so much work, and I have 4 kiddos as well, and it's hard to find the time to complete it every year. Well thank you all for your kindness and compliments! The passion is real here. I love browsing this forum for all of the pictures of other people's roses and hard work. They all are so beautiful!