I am in 5 and new to gardening. We had frost 2 nights one week, then 90 degrees for a week. Then the pattern repeated. This week we will have frost every night all week long. Today I picked peppers and everything I could b/c we might even get some snow by morning. I had covered everything with sheets, blankets and tarps. You need 2 layers b/c the moisture will be on the underside if using tarps. Tonight I covered the zucchini with 3 layers b/c we expect rain turning to snow. Even some plastic sheeting or trash bags might help. I put milk crates in the pepper row to keep the weight of the covers off the plants. I noticed the night of the first frost, that the leaf tops got frosted. Thats when I went to 2 covers and milk crates. Sheets are not enough. I even used some bath towels. I used rocks and clothes pins to secure it all from blowing away.

I have seen information that moth crystals (PDB) not naphthalene, can be used as a fumigant to help control infestations of peach tree borers, but not for voles. What do you mean keeping them off? Voles eat the roots of trees and shrubs, and the bark of young trees if snow piles up around the trunk. A hardware cloth cage will keep them off the trunk of young trees. Keep the mulch and grass away from the trunk in the fall and winter. There is rodenticides that can be used, but probably are restricted use pesticides.

Now that I have learned to grow citrus with no problems I have 3 Poncirus trifoliata of grafting size and 4 sweetlee tangerine trees of vigor that will be graft-able next spring. That's 7 root-stocks that I can graft my twigs from the grafted tree I can purchase. My purchased tree will grow faster by waiting a year and will out grow anything I bought a year earlier. My decision is to not buy a grafted tree and to grow what I have. If it fruits, great If they don't. Well we'll see My from seed Nagami kumquat for grafting to poncirus trifoliata Seed grown Meiwa kumquat tree. The tree fruit I am interested in. To be grafted on to the poncirus trifoliata moots through the Nagami inter-stock. May also go directly to my sweetlee tangerine tree root-stock, Seed grown sweetlee tangerine tree for root-stock #1 Seed grown sweetlee tangerine tree for root-stock #2 Seed grown sweetlee tangerine tree for root-stock #3 Seed grown sweetlee tangerine tree for root-stock #4 Seed grown poncirus trifoliata to be grafted on Is posted above . Its in a blue 55 gallon half drum. This completes what I have done and what I have. If I think of anything I'll add on to this thread Steve This post was edited by poncirusguy on Tue, Nov 5, 13 at 18:29

I don't know about other families as my family is no more than 30 miles away at the most. The other 3 and families live from a half mile to about 4 miles away. We get together every holiday, birthday, any day we want. On the second of Dec. We will drive the 30 miles to attend Great Grandson's 3rd birthday bash. When our parents were living we would go to both places on Thanksgiving and for Christmas, it was Christmas Eve at my folks with family and his on Christmas Day. We are just used to being all together whenever we want. Sue