Went to take down my Topsy Turvy planter from last year 'cause I saw a wren taking twigs into it and I wanted to get it down before eggs were laid. Got hubby to unhook it last night and, when I looked in to check for eggs, I saw a little mouth hoping for food. Too late for wrens too!!! Dumb thing didn't yield me any tomatoes but looks like it can grow birds.

I used to do cleanouts in fall. But as the garden and garden chores increased over the years, I stopped getting to that chore. Now I notice that they re-use them just fine without cleanouts. I think some of them might do the cleaning. Sometimes I see material on the ground. As far as I know, its okay. but I'm no bird expert.

Denise, Landscape roses like Knockout Roses are very vigorous growers, so you prune them to give yourself some control over them. Otherwise they can get amazingly big and start looking kind of wild. The "rules" for pruning them are not necessarily the same as they are for some other roses like hybrid teas because they are landscape shrub roses. Some people don't prune them their first year because they want to get a good idea of how the natural shape of the Knockout rose is going to progress. Some folks prune them back only every other year because they want them to be huge monsters but know they have to maintain some sort of order and control. You just have to figure out what works for you and the space you have as well as the vigor of the particular Knockout you have. Some Knockout types get larger than others and some grow more vigrously. When you prune in late winter to early spring, you are doing so in order to control the shape and size of the bush, and to keep new growth coming out near the bottom of the plant. Remember that I mentioned my mom quit pruning her roses and the base of the plants became very ugly. Well, that "ugly" is what you want to avoid. If you don't prune, then the new growth comes out higher and higher every year and the bottom of the plant looks awful. I haven't grown Knockouts, but they probably should be pruned back to the 5, 6 or 7 largest canes each spring--removing what you need to in order to maintain the shape you like and that fits in with your landscape. You always remove the oldest and woodiest canes, because as they get older they just get woodier and woodier and don't look that great. Because Knockout Roses can be very vigorous growers if planted in ideal conditions, they sometimes need "corrective" pruning in the middle of the growing season when they send out an occasional limb that just shoots out from nothing to 2 or 3 feet almost overnight and is growing in the "wrong" direction, like directly into the wall of the house or a pathway or whatever. I don't think you have to deadhead Knockout blooms though, as they are self-cleaning. A friend of mine describes the more vigorous Knockouts as taking on the appearance of a drunken spider if left too long without corrective pruning, with long legs sticking out this way and that way, and she's not the only person I've heard describe them that way. I have a couple of David Austin English Roses that get that same "drunken spider" look in the middle of the summer, especially after a big rainy spell. They just send out canes out of nowhere that go this way and that way. I prune them out as needed and don't seal the cuts. They heal over just fine on their own. I googled and found you info on "Pruning Knockout Roses" and linked it below. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning Knockout Roses

I have been SFG for years and never heard cukes were to be trimmed back. Tomatos, yes, cukes? I just take the vines mine put out and force them up a trellis netting (7" openings) by wrapping them around in it. I don't care how dense the trellis gets as long as everything is off the ground. Kind of anal that way I guess, I don't like vining plants laying on the ground. Here are 4 young cukes, each a different variety: Anyway, it's never too late to just shove a vine up into the trellis, but if you are using vertical strings it might be hard to get them to climb, that's why I prefer square netting with large openings.