I use the shredded hardwood mulch, sometime,shredded cedar. Although the shredded hardwood sponges up more water, it is 1) cheap, 2) stays tidy longer, 3) easy to walk on (including barefeet), 4) easy to handle, 5) breaks down faster. I put about 1/2" directly around the plant for 6-12", depending on the size, then 1" for another ring, and then 2" between plants to prevent weeds. Come winter, I can just push the 2" back around the plants to keep them warm. I do this very casually: I sprinkle, I throw, I dump. I do not measure. Ideally, you should till last year's mulch into the soil, or at least every two years. It's not so important if you have an active garden, where you are constantly putting in plants or adding compost or fertilizers or otherwise turning the soil up. Another thing I do (at my house, not with clients): when I have a lot of kitchen compost (vegie peelings from a big salad, coffee grounds, last night's tea bag, etc) I dig a hole in one of the beds, dump them in, cover with dirt, rearrange the mulch. This not only adds compost and turns up the soil, but it also keeps me informed about what is going on under the mulch.

I had a couple of pink flamingos in my yard for awhile. I named them 'Tongue' and 'Cheek'. They finally died. I think of,embarrassment.

Gary, So far, we like every variety and have no complaints. They've all been good so far. I haven't seen a single, storage issue of any sort and that's wonderful because lately I've been too busy to cook much of anything except brownies and cookies for the firefighters. I think I've baked 9 batches in the last two weeks. Some varieties are starting to leaf out a little bit the last week or so. I'm going to make a sweet potato pie or cobbler this weekend or on Monday for Tuesday's fire meals. (I guess if there are no big fires on Tuesday, which is unlikely, Tim and I will have to force ourselves, lol, to eat the whole pie or cobbler ourselves.) Fire activity is on the rise here, especially in our part of the county and we've had units out at fires pretty much every day. About the only time I'm "guaranteed" there won't be a fire is really early in the day when humidity is highest and wind is low. I'm having a hard time getting anything done, inside or outside, and feel like my seed-starting, planting and transplanting is falling behind more and more every day. Every time I step foot in the garden, the fire pagers go off so I'm almost afraid to step foot in the garden, but I'm about to go out there and work anyway (or at least attempt to work) since this will be the last day we have in the 70s for a few days. We're expecting frost here on Sun. a.m., and likely a light freeze (hopefully not a heavy one) as well, but I haven't put anything in the ground yet that cannot handle frost or a light freeze. Dawn

Great report and pics Mike! There sure were a lot of herpers there that weekend. Seems like the migration was more spread out this year. We were still very pleased to find what we did. That area is so unique with the bluffs and swamps and of course the road itself. We also came across those giant puffballs!