Guthion is another one that will be sorely missed. Cherry growers really don't have much of a backup plan after it's phased out in the next few years. They have a zero tolerance threshold for cherry maggot (due to stringent requirements of exports, as I recall). None of the proposed replacements for Guthion work as effectively. Currently extension personnel are telling cherry growers to find solutions for maggot before Guthion is completely pulled, but are not really telling them how to do it. Growers are essentially left to themselves to try to figure out some spray program that will work with the current insecticides available. Not to be misunderstood, I think the EPA on the whole has done a good job removing older more dangerous chemistries and encouraging newer safer ones. Although I'm not in complete support for the ban on Guthion and Methyl Bromide (given the increased restrictions for its use i.e. increased buffer zones, monitoring of drift, notification of neighbors, etc) what I'm mostly opposed to is the knee-jerk reactions which seem to be taking place with neonicotinoids and the current bee crisis. As far as competitiveness of U.S. ag, the U.S. farmer has been able to compete w/ countries where labor is very cheap. Traditionally this has been done through automation. A combine running through a field at 10 acres/hr. can compete with a Chinaman harvesting the same field, no matter how little he's paid. Some of our crops are still labor intensive (I'm thinking of fruits here) but that is changing. Thinning and harvesting are in the early stages of becoming fully automated. When that happens, cost of labor will no longer be a factor, as is the case currently with field crops. I do think environmental regulation may tip the scale. Not that I'm against regulation, just that we need to recognize there is a fine balance between adequately protecting the environment and rendering our food growing sector non-competitive. Perhaps that sounds like a severe statement, but the uncomfortable truth is that huge yield increases (and thereby the abundant cheap food) we've enjoyed over the last 50 years are largely the result of synthetic fertilizer and effective pesticides. I'm not trying to start an organic vs. conventional debate, just explaining my rationale for claiming environmental regulation can have a pretty big impact. It would be unfortunate if regulation got so aggressive as to take us back to years where pests took a significant percentage of the crop.

Good Morning, Everyone! Thank you all for the "welcome back". I missed each and every one of you. Stormy here today on this Good Friday. Dark and a bit chilly out. Good weather for gardens though. Glad for the rain though. We've had high temps and high, dry winds this past week and wildfires every day. Nothing close to here, but close enough that I could smell the smoke. My dogs erupted in chorus with every firetruck that passed by over on the highway.(hehehe). I took pictures of the gardens on the 31st. Glad I did, as the hot, dry winds dried out all the pretty yellow Jonquils later that day. Blasted hot winds ruined them before our Easter Sunday family picnic and egg hunt. They were magnificent in chorus with the yellow forsythias, white Bridle's Wreath, and Redbud trees now in full bloom all over the garden. My beloved Jane Magnolia is breathtakingly beautiful this year and smells so wonderful. I planted out some Orange Perfection Phlox yesterday. Tried them last year, but they didn't make it. This rain may ensure these do. I dug around in the bin at the store until I found one, just one package with moist peat inside. Holding it up to to sunlight, I could just make out something possibly alive in that dark green plastic bag. Makes me mad to pay five bucks for dead rootstock. They are not the best looking root stocks I ever saw, but think they will make it. I only need one to survive to establish a nice clump this year for next year's blooms. I also planted a package of purple Liatris and a package of Freesia bulbs for summer blooms. I love the smell of Freesia. Yummy. All the Peonies are up and beginning to make tiny flower buds. Hopefully the red ones and deep magenta ones will bloom this year too. If they do, it will be their first time. Some deer came into the yard this winter and ate the top branches off the one surviving River birch sapling, but it is recovering nicely now. I caged it with a tomato cage and for now they are leaving it alone. They are "camped" up on the hill, hiding in wait for my juicy, delicious roses to start blooming, no doubt. :[ I've been taking the dogs for walks up there every morning and hopefully their pee and poop will make them think twice about coming any closer to the back yard. My English Shepherd could easily take down a whitetail deer. DH said this weekend he would finish stretching field fence around on the inside of the existing barbed wire fencing to keep out critters. That won't keep deer out, but it will keep our dogs in, so we can let them run loose on the property. That will be great. They need the exercise and I need them to do their job protecting the place. They love it, too. Hopefully the raccoons & coyotes will take the hint. Keep Out! Anyhow, so far so good. Gotta go check on my chicks. They poopy up their water really fast and will be ready for breakfast. :) Talk to you guys later. ~Annie

Oh my yes...well, I am sure she did and was trained before we got her. When we rescued her, she was starved nearly to death! Only weighed about ten pounds and the ticks! My god. She bellows at the cats and chases them up trees and stays there until I come.Well, now she is learning that the cats are not varmints and they are getting along better. She still does a "little" It is her nature and training. Last week I took her up on the hill where DH was clearing a path to string the fence. I told her, "Go find Daddy." She took off and soon was bellowing and had treed him...or she thought. He had hung his hoody up in a tree. She stood there stretched out and pointing and looking over her shoulder back at me. "See? I found his scent...up here!" She was so proud. It was amazing, really. She goes out every morning and tracks the critters that came up on our patio the night before or in the wee hours of the morning. No sooner than she has exited the back door, she finds their scent and I mean RIGHT NOW! When I call her, she comes straight away. She is a very good dog. Learns so fast. Very sweet. Anyway, glad you like my Bonnie Bell. She's a dandy alright. Poor little girl has gone through a lot in her young life. She deserves a loving family to call her own.

HI GRAMMA JAN! I'M DUANE. I AM A "NEWBIE". WE RE-ENTERED THE COMPUTER AGE A FEW MONTHS BACK, AND I DISCOVERED GARDEN WEB. THIS IS WONDERFUL! WE HAVE A COTTAGE ON AN ESTATE: A FULL ACRE TO PLAY WITH, THE PREVIOUS OWNERS DID VERY LITTLE WITH, I'M STAYING MOSTLY NATIVE WITH MY PERMANENT PLANTINGS, PERENNIALS AND ANNUALS NOT SO MUCH. BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF RURAL PENNSYLVANIA SUNSETS OVER THE BACK NEIGHBOR'S MENNONITE CORN FIELD. AND MY LOVELY WIFE, TWO DOGS, DAUGHTER, AND TWO TOE-HEADED GRAND-DAUGHTERS TO SHARE IT ALL WITH. ISN'T GOD GOOD! A SMALL KITCHEN GARDEN, SOME FRUIT TREES AND BLUEBERRY BUSHES, EVERGREENS, SUNFLOWERS AND BUGS (LIGHTNING BUGS, LADY BUGS) IT'S ALL A WONDER TO A 2 AND 4 YEAR OLD (THEIR COMBINED B-DAY PARTY IS TOMORROW. AND THE JACK RUSSELL LOVES THE GRUBS AND JAPANESE BEETLES (SHE'S BEEN SCOLDED FOR EATING BEES). SHE LOVES TO FETCH, AND SHE'S THE ONLY DOG I'VE EVER KNOWN TO BEG TO PLAY IN THE WATER HOSE. AND MY WIFE (DID I MENTION SHES'S LOVELY?) LOVES TO BEAT ME AT CROQUET! I'M THANKFUL TO BE HERE AND LOOK FORWARD TO ENJOYING THE COMPANY OF LIKE MINDED FOLKS LIKE YOU.