I expect I am going to have some problems this year with bugs and birds and IâÂÂm still resisting growing under cover. By next year, I may be thinking of it again. I donâÂÂt know how you all do it with the covers. IâÂÂve been reading about using tule or other fabric, but I have seen a couple of photos of very well covered rows, clipped onto plastic hoops and weighed down with bricks and it just seems like a lot of trouble. Then I imagine you might have to pollinate every single plant under cover by hand? IâÂÂve also read that sometimes the bugs still manage to get under the covers, aphids and others get under there somehow. Why is that? Is it when you have to get under there to pollinate? And does using row covers cut down on sunlight? I don't get a full day of sun as it is, so I wouldn't want to add to that problem. Bird netting is always suggested for strawberries, but you need a framework to put it on and that also has to be weighed down properly, IâÂÂd think? But maybe as with many things, it's just a trade off and it's one kind of effort against the effort of dealing with bugs and ending up successful with the covers vs losing crops without them? Those of you who have problems with aphids, donâÂÂt the aphids attract lady bugs that take care of that problem?

Hi Renee, I finished my feeder and it has been up a week! If I could figure out how to post a photo, I'd show you my handiwork! (My brother converted my computer to Linux and now I can't get photobucket to work right---anyone have any ideas????) Most importantly, the blackbirds are GONE. It's very similar to yours but I used threaded posts in the four corners (my handyman's suggestion) and then clamped the wire square mesh to the posts. I made a door on one side and mounted the base on a post. I'm very pleased and happy to say the blues have been in & out of it! My only concern is that the cut edges of the wire square mesh are already rusting...but I guess I'll keep looking for replacement mesh by the roll, or something? Maybe I can dab some rust-preventing stuff on there? Thanks again so much for your ideas! Happy bluebirds, Ann

I have moved 12" and 24" tall Sabals with a fair degree of success. It was explained to me that all sabals will kill off damaged roots all the way to the base of the plant and this is why so many transplants fail. If the plant isn't big enough to hold enough water on its own, it will dry out and die. So to get a transplant to take, you need to keep the soil around the 'bulb' moist, but not wet. The bulb can take a few days of dry weather, but it is better to water at least every other day until you see growth, but only water the soil. Naturally, there isn't much you can do about rain, but the drier you can keep the above-ground bit, the more likely it won't rot before it has had a chance to establish new roots.

I love making soil. I love it even more when someone else is doing most of the work for me. I'm itching to start some spring planting in my tiny garden, but it's technically still a bit early (our last frost date is supposed to be around the 18th or so, but these days who even knows) and I'm impatiently waiting for the contractors to show up and replace my rotted fence before I can do any planting in the back half where the pile of rock mulch over weed cloth used to be. The fence would have rotted anyway, but the bottom of it was completely eaten away where the rock mulch was piled against it. I have already put down a tiny new tree (Amelanchier x "Autumn Brilliance") which arrived bare root and needed to go in the ground ASAP, but it's not next to the fence, so it should be fine as long as the fence guys don't step on the 18 inch high forked stick which, seen with my eye of faith, is already a handsome small patio tree. The tree went in the spot where the old, scrawny, unhealthy cherry plum used to be, where I have been piling vermicompost and leaves ever since last summer. I didn't amend the planting hole at all - just dug and filled in. Enough leaf mold and vermicompost just fell into the hole to make me feel fine about the start my new tree's roots are getting. Anyway, the "someone else" who is working for me outside is a healthy passel of earthworms, which I can see out there every time I pull back last autumn's leaf mulch, which I diligently collected from the sidewalk in front of my row house and brought out back. Even if I can't set to work yet, I like knowing that they're hard at it. I've seen some of my red wigglers who rode out from my indoor worm bin, and at least three separate species of native earthworms: slow gray short guys, some really huge red nightcrawler types, and a longer, thinner, super-active wiggly worm that's new to me. I've also scattered out some seeds and grains for the sparrows and squirrels, inspired by some videos of composting chickens I've watched on Youtube: so there's been lots of pecking and scratching and digging going on in the layer of leaves, which is both fun to watch and will serve to further shred down the leaves for incorporation in the soil. When I do get to the planting along the back fence, I'll try to remember to post a soil pic as a "before and after" to the one at the start of this topic.