FT, David (DRH) turns the waterfall off, lets the algae dry up a bit and then pours Hydrogen Peroxide 3% over the waterfall rocks. It causes the algae to bubble up and then it can be blasted off the rocks, with a sharp stream of water from the garden hose. Hydrogen Peroxide 3%, will not harm the fish or plants in your pond and is a great deal cheaper to buy than those other products. I use a small stiff brush to clean off my waterfall rocks, with the water still running. The fish gobble up the bits as they fall into the pond. I have noticed, that as the weather warms up, the algae contains those little "Bloodworms" (Midge and Black-fly larvae etc) that the fish love to eat. "Horton"

Pat, We have them in all different colors here, though mostly browns, greens and blues. In a wet year we have billions of them, and in a dry year merely millions. Seriously, we aways have a lot because we have 5 ponds, 3 creeks, a swamp and at least 3 different areas where springs come bubbling up out of the ground. At the present time, though, only the lilypond has water in it, but only because we add water weekly with the water hose. Everything else is as dry as a bone. I always have them around the garden and yard, even in the worst of droughts. We have bats here most years, but I don't think we've seen any at all this year. We don't have a bathouse, but leave very tall snags (standing dead trees) in the woods for them. It could be that they are out there in the evenings, and we aren't seeing them because it is too hot to sit outside in the lawnchairs and watch them like we usually do. We're not seeing as many barn swallows either, so it may be the insect population (excluding spider mites and grasshoppers) is lower than usual so it cannot support a large predator population. Dawn

Charlie, If you dig them early enough and it is still very warm outside, you can cure them in a shady spot with temperatures of 80-90 degrees and high humidity. I usually cure them on the covered patio that sits beside a backyard lilypond. I cure then for a week or two and then move them to their storage area. If I've dug them long after the temperatures have cooled, I'll cure them in my garage which has thick insulation and stays really warm until the temperatures are hitting the 20s. How warm? I can keep potted tomatoes and peppers in the garage all winter and they will not freeze until the outdoor air temperature hits 18 degrees. If you dig the sweet potatoes after the nights are already dropping below 55 degrees, you can cure them inside for a week or two and then move them to their storage space. I have stored them in various places over the years...the tornado shelter, the spare room, the garage and the floor of the kitchen pantry. They do pretty well in any of those spots. Then, after you've cured them following the harvest and move them to storage, they continue to improve over the next 6-8 weeks. I'll link a document that explains curing and storage in more detail. George, You had to work for your dinner! What turkey breed was it? Our overnight low was 26, but the Burneyville Mesonet station went to 22. Tim has already checked the greenhouse and said it only went down to 35, which amazes me. I covered up almost all the winter veggie garden olants with floating row cover. I deliberately left several small areas uncovered so I could see what kind of damage occurs on those veggies at specific temperatures. I am about to go out to the garden and uncover everything so I'll know soon enough what kind of damage occurred, if any. I've already harvested all the Packman broccoli,but am hoping for side shoots. The other two broccoli varieties are just sitting there looking pretty but not yet producing. Carol, While I was covering up the winter veggies last night, I looked up and spotted a Seminole pumpkin at the top of the trellis in plain sight, just hanging there looking at me like....."hey, you took everyone else inside weeks ago and here I sit freezing to death on these cold nights". I have no explanation for how I missed it. It is sitting there in plain sight in all its buff-colored glory. Even if vines covered it at harvest time, I should have noticed it when I was looking for any I'd missed after the foliage froze and dried. In fact, I should have noticed it every time I walked into the garden. Maybe garden gnomes crept into the garden at night and attached that pumpkin to the vine or maybe my eyesight is really, really bad even when I am wearing my glasses. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: LSU Sweet Potato Info

Sorry this was worded so poorly. I'm trying again with a new post.