Yes, one hard lesson this year is that prevention is a must. When I had my last garden I used to wait to see signs of pest damage before attacking. Now, that first sign of pest damage is often a total wipe-out of my plants. I also thought that maybe if I let the aphids "have" my sunflowers and ornamental sweet peas, they'd leave the rest alone. That was a huge mistake. Now, I'm having to come out full guns the moment I plant, and I intend to stay away from ornamentals that attract the aphids. But I don't remember having to do that in my last house. It could be that in my new neighborhood, I'm surrounded by agriculture, which wasn't the case when I lived in Petaluma. I had snail problems before, but one of these teeny weeny slugs that are impossible to control without bait. Barb, I don't have lizards, but I do have lots of birds. (They looove my pea seedlings, the little turds, but I encourage them to come around anyway). I have been very pleased that there aren't any hornworms in the new house, and I don't know if that's the birds or the BT. I had those in my last garden and they give me the heebie geebies big time!

Another location could end up with the same problem as this bed has. I would go ahead and plant them in the location you want them in and be prepared to treat them at the first sign of trouble. Move mulch away from the plants if you have it around them. I've noticed that my plants with mulch around them seem to be more prone to insect problems than those that I haven't mulched around.

I wonder if your house had my plumber -- or at least a cousin. Hope things have calmed down for you, but I understand the feeling of one thing after another and fearing what's next. Had I known ten years ago what I know now, I would have pulled all the sheetrock in my house and run new plumbing. But that still wouldn't have found or fixed the section of main drain line that was under the slab -- neither end of it secured to anything. Just lying there. Leaking. Filling in with dirt. Waiting to back up sewage into our bathtub and shower. Just managed to stop it before it ran onto the floor and into our carpeted closet. Was apparently left that way by the original plumber and took nearly 19 years to create a blockage that couldn't be cleared by more conventional methods and led us to ripping out cabinets and jack hammering the slab to find it. This summer, several years later, I walked into our bedroom and heard water running in the bathroom. But DH was sleeping in the bed. I turned on the light and saw sewage coming from the ceiling. Fortunately, it fell mostly into my tub. My brother was in town, so the next morning, we started ripping out sheetrock and discovered that the plumber had run the water heater overflow into the main drain line by installing a T junction just past the toilet -- where any paper or solids could catch and create clogs -- then backing up into the water heater pan. The toilet had clogged and my DB and SIL had plunged it. The pressure caused the muck to come out through the junctions in the pipe and through my ceiling. We also found a leak at the upstairs tub drain while we had the ceiling open. When we did our kitchen, we knew we had a leak in the wall behind my pantry and had turned off the water at the sink above until we ripped things out to fix it. While we had that wall and the ceiling open, we found 3 or 4 more "minor" leaks waiting to create major problems. I am not considering the expense of installing tankless water heaters so I don't have a tank to flood. Won't eliminate all the issues, but I still like the idea. My water heaters are 10 years old, so the time is coming to replace anyway. Might as well invest in staying here. The sales disclosures will require us to list all these things and I'm afraid no one would ever buy the house.

You guys are too funny. I'm working on a birdhouse for my mom that is using tiny pieces and I am nipping them inside a bowl so they stay on the table. I was going to agree to participate in the swap, but after working on this birdhouse, not sure I could torture myself so soon after finishing this project....LOL. Oddly enough, I purchased a pair of balls a couple of weeks ago (before the exchange was announced), so I could still participate if I get up the nerve. You all are so talented that it can be intimidating. Can't wait to see everyones balls and hear the funny stories that are sure to come out of all this. Have a great day everyone!