Lori, Cattails are a mixed blessing. You can do much with them and depending on your desire to utilize them, rotate the use as you would any crop. There is a season to all things. If you chose to erradicate, please before destroying all the cattails, contact several groups of people: Native plant societies/ native plant nurseries; local Native American tribal groups; Wildlife and Habitat restoration/conservation groups; local college if they have an educational department you think would be interested in harvesting; and primitive technology groups. Many of these will be willing to come take them. Maybe with this long list, you may see there is quite a variety of peoples interested in cattails. I would like to take this time to also point out that its not just the human peoples that utilize the cattails. I'm not from Ohio and have only visited briefly twice so I'm not sure of the animals in your area that may utilize the cattail as a habitat zone. Here we have birds that use them: marsh wrens nest there, blackbirds, various water fowl, fishes use this area as a nursery for their fry ... I could go on and on but I think you understand. While these plants may a nuisance, they provide and import niche in habitat for many species. I read your bio real quick and I would like to address the SAHM part. I'm a homeschool mom of three and always trying to be frugile or ways to gather a little supplemental cash. I hope in a year we will be moving out to our piece in the country to homestead. We live in a wonderful area rich with diversity of peoples and places. But our area is becoming increasingly crowded with people. We spend much time at the marshes, forest and beaches but these are shrinking. People keep coming, the tourist and those wanting to escape the cities, and they want to see the wildlife, they want to experience it and in their desire to do this, they often love these places to death. So what does this have to do with SAHM :) Have you ever thought of a side business? A small aspect of a working farm with a side venue for ecotourism and agtourism. It could be seasonal; it could be weekends only; it could be by appointment only; it could cater to just educational groups. It could be something that the whole family could participate in. So ... cattails can be fun. Cattails can be useful. Cattails are niche habitat. Cattails can be educational. Cattails could equate income. Think about it, play with the ideas. It all depends on how you want to look at the cattail that will be the deciding factor. Best of Wishes for you and yours!

Check to see if your community offers free mulch; many now recycle leaves by shredding them and they make a really great mulch costing only your time and labor, with a few dollars spent for a pitchfork - and 6-mil garbage bags if you don't have a truck or trailer for hauling. GardenWeb is a great resource. While you are hunting for a local advisor, take time to look over the weed forum and the plant index as well as visiting the forum for your state. Don't hesitate to ask "what is ?" but remember that a picture is truly worth a thousand words and when it comes to plant IDing, a photo is worth a couple thousand words! Spend a bit of time learning about "lasagna" as well as what makes earthworms happy. Use the search feature at the bottom of the page. As you find out names, mark the "good" plants with name-tags either fastened to a small stake or hung from a branch. Waterproof marker on a strip of plastic bag will last a few months. It's okay to use a generalized common name at this stage - a daylily is a daylily is a daylily - but if you can get the "real" name, use a paint-pen and write on a jar lid for a label that will last a couple years. Use a different color label for plants that you or Advisor think are "good" but not positive - if you have a digital camera, photos are a big help when trying to ID. Since you are a newbie and the beds have been long ignored, remember to check each plant's ID twice and only pull weeds once. Sometimes it's easiest to begin by pulling up weeds you are positive about: dandelions, clover, grass, etc. Once the commoners are gone, mentally - or string lines- divide the beds into sections that are about 5 feet square. Unless you have a tremendous amount of time and energy, that size is usually about right to do in one session. Now remove as many weeds as possible (and all weeds pull easier when the soil is sopping wet), then mulch. If you are fairly sure that there won't be self-sowers (or that you don't care if there are!) you can lay down several thicknesses of wet newspaper on the soil and then spread a 2 or 3 inches of mulch on top. The paper makes a light-proof barrier so weedseeds won't sprout, and eventually it decomposes to nourish the soil. Lasagna-mulch uses from 5 sheets up to 1/2" of sopping wet paper on the ground before covering with a standard mulch of shredded leaves or wood chips (I recommend a minimum of 1/4" wet paper). When mulching around bushes, woody shrubs and trees, spread a 1" to 2" deep layer of pea gravel around the base of the trunk, out about 10". This gravel makes a type of mulch that helps prevent weeds while being of a nature which discourages critters from nibbling the bark. By doing just one section at a time, you won't get exhausted and you won't feel too stressed about how much needs to be done, while you can feel good about what *did* get done. It is way too easy to look at a 40' bed and think you can do it all in one morning -- and I was in my 30's when I learned that wasn't always possible :) When the bed is basically clear of weeds and bare soil is mulched, you can go back over it and learn to move/divide/transplant those "good" guys which are too crowded or not in the right place. Weeding again should NOT be an issue because when a section is mulched properly, your only weeding should occur next fall or spring, to pull up creepers and the occasional surface sprouts before laying replacement mulch. BTW, this is where those who 'lasagna' differ from those who mulch with compost -- compost does indeed prevent or slow some weed seeds from sprouting, however it IS soil, and it will provide a home for any passing weedseed not to mention that clover and crabgrass both think it was put down just for them. Many weeds including dandelions are not fazed by a few inches of compost - indeed, compost simply provides them with a nourishing layer of soil. Lasagna and lasagna-mulch is meant to *prevent* weeds from growing up through the mulch as well as prevent the sprouting of all those millions of weedseeds in and on the soil! Lasagna is more work to start with, but once it's down you are done -- which allows time to do all the other gardening stuff which is much more fun.

Get that "someone" to fess up and say what that "something" was that they downloaded. Are you using AOL for your dial-up internet service, or are you just using the AOL service via your broadband Internet provider? If its the latter, I would seriously consider getting rid of AOL. Its far more trouble than it is worth.

OK when you go to the Holiday Forum main page, where you see all the topics listed...You will see a box where you can start a new topic (give the topic a title and beneath that you can post your comment. Underneath the new topic box you will see: 6,477 Discussions | Holidays Latest Activity --------------------------> 3 Icon Boxes The 3 boxes over to the right give you viewing options. Click on the middle box and you will see the difference: the first sentence of the last post appears under each topic. If you highlight the sentence it becomes a link to the last post in the thread. Also, if the original poster posts a photo in their topic, it appears on the left hand side of the topic (looks pretty and colorful - you can see down at the bottom some of the older posts have lovely pictures next to them). You have to select the middle viewing icon to be able to see them. If you click on the far right icon you will see all the responses on each topic. A couple of other tips Once you open a thread, if you click on the comments under the OP, it will scroll you down to the bottom of the thread. To post a photo, click on the photo camera icon at the bottom of your comment box, click on browse and file the file name on your computer. Highlight the file name, click open and the photo uploads to you comment. You can't preview your post first, but to edit it once you have submitted it, look for the little pencil icon on the upper right corner of your post. Add the Holiday Forum main page to your Favorites in your Browser to find it quickly.