What are your problem insects? Sticking with organic fertilizers usually is all you need to do to control the insects. What happens is once you stop killing the insects that are there with insecticides, you will see the return of birds, lizards, toads, and geckos. These are insect predators and will do quite a good job of controlling the bug population. If caterpillars are a problem, be sure you encourage paper wasps to live under your eaves. They fill each cell of their nest with a caterpillar so the more nests you have the fewer caterpillars there will be. Paper wasps will leave you alone if you leave them alone. You have to fight the urge to swing and swat at them.

Bullfrogs will eat anything they can catch including fish, other frogs, mice and even birds. My friend saw one grab a duckling at a golf course! When you build a pond, local wildlife will come. Not sure there is any way to keep them out permanently. Catch and release to a nearby lake might be the only option. Or, froglegs for dinner.

Marcia, Please help me find out what kind of snake I came across today. While I was at the local dog park (near Orlando) I came across a yellow with black stripes snake. It looked to be between 3.5-4 feet long and did not appear at first glance (that was all I gave it out of fear) to be shiny. I was about 3 feet from it and didn't know it until my dog almost stepped on it. She obviously didn't see it either. The snake seemed a pit peeved about the whole thing but it decided not to attack and to slowly slither towards ME to get away from my dog. Needless to say, I took off in a different direction real quick and hollered for my dog to follow. I am not like you or others on this site. I am not a fan of snakes and am extremely afraid of them. Although, I don't mind the black racers that seem to have taken up permanent residence in MY back yard and they love to procreate often (or so it seems). I have seen a lot less field rats since the racers moved in and that makes me very happy. Anyway, can you help me figure out what this snake was? I have spent hours and hours online tonight trying to find it and just can't seem to find anything that looks like it. I am guessing that it is not dangerous to me or my dogs??? I am scared to take my dogs back through those woods that they so dearly love. As soon as I told them, "No more woods until the snakes are gone again," they "told" me to find it if it was dangerous or not and if it isn't that they want to go back again. So that is mostly why I am asking you for your help. We all love the walks but I am afraid of the snakes. Please help me feel safer about going back. Thanks in advance for your help.

Paula, For bull nettle, I cut it off at the ground and put down a couple of layers of cardboard and then cover that with mulch. Smothering it works better than trying to dig it or poison it. If it sprouts outside the cardboard area, put down more cardboard and smother the sprout. It cannot survive indefinitely without sunlight/photosynthesis. I don't have any nettle in my veggie garden, but it pops up in the ornamental beds. I think that my body, which usually is allergic and reacts to contact with a gazillion kinds of plants, doesn't react to bull nettle. However, I take Zyrtec daily because of my numerous allergies, so maybe that prevents a reaction? I don't know. I don't generally react to poison ivy either. The varmints like the melons because rain isn't sweet maybe? Today I went out to pick muskmelons and there was a turtle eating one. I let him keep it. He's my resident turtle and lives in the garden all the time, so he has to eat something, and I have tons of melons. Usually he likes low-hanging tomatoes, but I've harvested all them and he can't reach the higher ones. Rabbits generally don't bother my garden as long as I put henscratch right outside the garden fence to distract them. Sometimes they nibble at plants that grow through the fence though. Dawn