Believe it or not I was dealing with the same thing. I put pvc piping to redirect the water. I'm considering running a pipe from the drainage spot towards the natural spring hole. In past years the spring hole never froze but this year it has thin ice over part. I'll have to check to see if the neighbors have made (as before) blockge measures. Perhaps we can come up with a plan together so water doesn't back up into my yard. I have planted water lilly in the hole and blue flag in the "drainage ditch" I have relocated some wild water plants threatened by development. I had pitcher plants, cat tails etc. If you clear from sides of wet spots make sure there is at least one side you let nature or help nature stay overgrown. This will help nature wildlife help you. Remember to research native (not just naturalized) and use those plants. Don't INTRODUCE anything where you can't control it.

You're certainly right to be concerned if sodium is a problem for you. But it needs to be remembered that only 5-10% of the population actually IS sodium sensitive. Drs always tell everyone diagnosed with high BP to avoid as much sodium as possible. I was put on meds for high bp 20+ years ago, and also avoided sodium for years, hating how bland food was, then learned that it's only a small percentage who will have a problem with it. I've gone back to using as much salt as I please. Was just at the drs on Wed--BP was 120/72--not bad for an old gal like me! There are, of course, other medical conditions where sodium needs to be avoided, but it's time for drs to be honest with us about who needs to avoid it in the case of high bp--not all do. Cooking from scratch from fresh ingredients (which I do a lot) is a good way to reduce a lot of the sodium added to processed foods. It's the 'across the board' suggestion that makes the most sense, really. But you know what really gets me about sodium use? We are being told to all avoid it, pretty much, right? And yet sodium is now being wholesaled in stuff where it really doesn't belong--what about all the sea-salted desserts, candies, goodies out there these days? And bacon--turning up in desserts, under chocolate, etc? This post was edited by azzalea on Sat, Feb 16, 13 at 9:25

Itsmce - I don't think you have to worry about the cabbage worms going forward. I haven't seen any of the moths for a couple weeks up here and I would imagine the hard freeze would have killed any that had already hatched out. As Chris mentioned, the carrots should continue to sweeten up as well as size up the longer they are exposed to cool temps. I'm going to wait until at least Thanksgiving week to harvest mine and may leave some of them until December as long as it doesn't get cold enough for the ground to freeze solid. I've still got a lot of garden cleanup to do. I still have 26 broccoli plants that are slowly putting out more side shoots. I'll probably leave them be until I get around to starting my new compost piles and then chop them up to mix with the fall leaves. Chris - Yes, I'm still planning to build the 3 new beds. I need somewhere to put the soil from the beds that I am ripping out. Besides, I have a $100 Home Depot gift card burning a hole in my wallet I need to use. That's great that your friend is going to let you use his garden next year. More food! Naturegirl - Yep I am going to make my goal. The potatoes didn't put me over the top but they sure helped get me close. I didn't know my garden had fans rooting for it...thanks!!! I don't know what I should set my goal at next year especially if I use my friends garden too. Maybe 1250 lbs. would be reasonable. Did your bunching onions multiply this fall? I overwintered them one year and then separated them the following spring and they did well but I think I prefer just planting new seedlings in the spring. It sounds like you really got dumped on this week and now it looks like snow is coming down over most of Michigan. There is some snow in western KS heading our way as I type but it is supposed to turn into a cold rain before it gets here tonight. Perfect for the little Trick-or-Treaters :-(.

Good Morning, Y'all. We only dropped to 28 degrees so, surprisingly, many flowering plants survived and look half-decent. When I looked at the garden around 7:45 a.m., I still could see flowers that looked fine on the Cape honeysuckle, begonias, lantanas, marigolds, some of the Texas hummingbird sage plants, mealy cup sage, autumn sage and the globe amaranth plants. The remaining herbs (rosemary, sage, chives, parsley and basil) also looked fine. Even some of the remaining zinnias looked good. Everything else probably is gone though. If the butterflies that were flitting around the garden yesterday survived the cold night, and it is likely they did, then at least they still have some flowers for nectar. Jennifer, I need to give our dogs a bath. Maybe on Monday. I have one grandchild here for the weekend, so just don't want to mess with bathing dogs while she is here. Larry, Mud has us at a standstill here as well. I'd say that I'm hoping we'll dry up in this cold, dry air, but more rain (and snow) are in the Monday forecast so I guess we'll just have more mud. You're quite a bit colder than us this morning, but then you're quite a bit further north. Our Mesonet station went to 26 but at our house the Min-Max only shows 26, and it still was at 30 when I got up at 4:40 a.m., so we really weren't at 28 degrees for more than a very few hours. A mole has tunneled across our driveway, from the neighbor's pasture to our yard. I hope he or she isn't planning on sticking around. When moles show up here, the cats usually take care of them so they normally aren't a problem for us. I kinda felt sorry for the mole having to tunnel through all the mud. Some people that I know dig up their regular potatoes with some sort of attachment they pull behind their tractors. I don't know if it is some sort of mechanical digger or what, but it merely turns over the soil and then they can easily find the potatoes. I wonder if such a thing would work with sweet potatoes? George, I bet y'all were cozy and warm with that fire going. Jen, That's a lot of dogs. Are you dog sitting? Jennifer, If you know what caused the injuries to the dog, I'd just explain it to the vet. I suppose if the vet questions why you didn't bring in the dog you could just explain you used your own holistic methods to heal the wounds? Lots of folks here that have lots of animals do a lot of the routine day-to-day doctoring of their animals (not just cows, horses and such, but farm dogs and cow dogs as well) and don't take their pets in for every injury--not if they can heal it themselves. Wherever the hair is not regrowing there probably is scar tissue. We've had that with snakebitten cats---the hair did not grow back in the snakebite area. Our cat, Shady, is 18 or 19 years old and still has a circular scar that is white flesh with no hair growing there in the same spot where he broke out in a copper-colored rash after a copperhead bit him in the abdominal/groin area when he was only a couple of years old. I just think of it as his copperhead bite scar. In the early years I did think that hair eventually would grow back there, but then it never did. Today is sunny and bright and it looks so nice outdoors, but it still is very chilly. Looks can be deceiving, I guess. The leaves on the red oaks look a brighter red this morning, so at least there's that. Everything that had yellow or golden leaves left on the trees has lost them over the last couple of days. I expect the red oaks will lose the rest of their leaves soon, although some of the red oaks have foliage that still is 95% green. It is odd how some trees are so slow to change color and lose leaves this year. There's not much consistency. The post oaks are still green too, but usually are about the last trees to lose their leaves here and some of them will hang onto their leaves all winter long before dropping them in early Spring so new leaves can emerge. We had a lot of hungry deer waiting for deer corn this morning. They remind me of cows standing near a fence waiting for the rancher to show up with cattle feed. I don't go back there and put out food for them until they've all moved far enough away from the feeding area that I feel safe. Generally, I feel safe if they've jumped the fence into the adjacent pasture and moved at least 30 to 50' away from where I feed them. Deer that are too friendly can turn dangerous in the blink of an eye, especially bucks during the rutting season, so I'm always extremely careful. I hope everyone has a good day. Dawn