I have the same problem as you with having cats... coyote food. As to garlic.... one year, as fate would have it, I ended up planting several hundred garlics all over the gardens. They all grew so well that I thought I would have garlic into my old age. One day I noticed a particularly nice specimen... leaning. Upon further inspection I found that the leaning top was all that was left of the garlic plant.... eaten from the root up. Slowly but surely every garlic plant... leaned. Now, I plant garlic in pots... just like all my other food plants. The Iris bed is 8" deep on top of hardware cloth and it sticks up out of the ground another 4". ANything not a Salvia/Sage gets planted in an underground wire cage. PS: writing in all caps is considered to be yelling on forums... or super emphatic.

Well, I went with a solid brick raised terrace rather than piered decking so there wouldn't be a drainage problem against the house foundation. I suppose the latticing you plan can be backed by screening but if they're determined, they'll hang their nests under your deck stairs. Houses have landscaping and lights that attract bugs and spiders which are handy food for wasp larva. The bug bomb under the deck sounds like the easiest solution. On the deck at my other house I had the guys install a collar of two boards wide, parallel to the foundation and attached with easy to remove screws. This way, when it's time for termite treatments it is easy to get that treatment right there at the foundation in an area that seems always moist and shaded..a termite favorite.

jackieblue: I collect old cook books as space allows...so I am tickled to hear that I can download some free ones(takes up less space on my bookcase...LOL). I do have a cookbook that says Butter the size of an egg as one of the ingredients. If you find the Martha Washington Sweet Pickles...it is well worth the effort making them. Her mincemeat was fantastic if hard to make if you don't have your own butcher. I was lucky enough to have fresh beef suet from my beef so I made enough for 2 years of pies. I loss that cookbook back in the 70's and wish I still had it. As far as the salt preserved green beans: I have to agree that the technique my grandmother used was not fermented beans and they were whole beans that she added to crock or barrel minus whatever she prepared fresh for their summer meals. I wonder when she used a wood barrel if the brine leaked out and left a dry packed product? tgmayfield : You mentioned using spring water instead of tap water....I assume that well water would be same. That is something I didn't think about...so I will bring fresh well water home from the farm and boil it before using. I usually filter my tap water at my home which is where I do most of my canning now that my Mom and Dad are not able to can for themselves with my help. I much prefer to can at their place where the fruit trees are...but now that they don't keep a garden it is just easier to do it at home where I can do things MY way instead of their way. I swear I don't know how they can even cook with only a few cooking/canning tools that they have had since I was a kid. LOL! Dull knives and cutting veggies on china plates is not my idea of a good canning experience...but it works for them I guess. I have to have my gadgets. And lest you wonder why I haven't bought my elderly parents good knives and cutting boards...well I HAVE...they just prefer to look at them them and cover the cutting board with things. I'm 50 something and my folks still tell me how to do things the old way. Today I tried to throw out their dozens and dozens of QT's of plums that are 10+ years old and full of bubbles...YIKES! Guess I'll have to go raid the well house when they go to Texas for the winter and toss all that old stuff with bubbles and deal with their displeasure later.

Is there any kind of marking on him? Check on the back of his neck, bottom of his feet, back, and tushie. :o) Even a couple of letters can help identify a company. Can you post a picture of him? There were several different manufacturers that produced Jiminy dolls.