What is BT? I noticed my clumps of hibiscus is actually trying to grow back so I purchased Sevin. I've tried all kinds of products so now I'm caving in and purchasing some serious stuff. There's just too many of these sawflies. Because I have pets, I'm establishing a fence around my hibiscus that I'm going to spray to keep them safe. I'm not concerned about killing bees or butterflies because there's no flowers so nothing is going to attract them. If there were blooms, I'd remove the blooms and wait a bit before I spray.

I have found that hibiscus are heavy eaters and need lots of fertilizer. I use Miracle Gro Bloom Booster and that works well with mine. I have three around three feet high and one that has been trained into a tree and they all seem to like it. All are in pots, however one is taking a long time to bloom this year. Their blooms are lovely but they are tempermental and prone to white flies and sometimes I wonder if they are worth the effort! I usually fertilize twice a month using a tablespoon for each gallon of water. Hope it helps. I'm in exteme southern GA.Flossieann.

nfmgirl, Wow, you ask a question and get many different solutions! You can see that there are many different ways to approach this. That's why we're always learning on this forum. Personally, I would do it the way ill-mannered ache suggested. Cut the weeds lower, put the cardboard on top, and then place as much organic material on top as you can scavenge (grass clippings, leaves, compost, coffee grounds, etc.). Then cover with mulch. You will be shocked at the weed control that will give you for a long period of time. Even after the cardboard dissolves. I find that pulling weeds out disturbs the soil and brings more weed seeds to the surface to germinate, so I try never to disturb the soil. It also displaces the soil structure and upsets the drainage (think earthworm tunnels, soil organism homes, etc). Soil is expensive and precious. The longer it has been there, the longer it has had to develop the wonderful organisms that help our plants grow. I would add stuff like organic material, but wouldn't take anything other than the weed tops out. The cardboard will kill the weeds beautifully, and fast, and for a long time. I have to add that you are so lucky to have this perfect spot for your veggie gardening! Looks like the sun exposure and the bones of the garden are perfect. I know you will have so much fun with this. Keep coming here, there are such wonderful veggie gardeners on this forum with amazing results. They are inspiring. Lastly, I agree with Florah. Wait a year or so before you cut any trees down. Maybe limb them up. After you live with them through the season changes, it will become clear if something needs to go. Shade is wonderful in summer and trees take years to grow. Sounds like the previous gardeners put a lot of love in this place. You are lucky. Anna

Larry, my favorite part of gardening is the eating, so perhaps we shall trade those tasks, hmmm? Just kidding - actually, I am not sure which is my favorite part, but I am certain it is not soil prep. I do like the planning, the day-dreaming, the planting and the harvesting. The only thing missing from my like-list is the weeding and watering and prepping. Lisa, the purple is onion as mulberryknob (Dorothy?) says - I'm sorry, I'm not good with forum REAL names but that just popped into my head. I have several bits where the onions seemed to shrivel and die last year before doing anything, so were not harvested. This winter they have popped back out, as little bunches of three or four sprigs where I had planted only one. Am letting them do their thing to see what happens. They should set seed, but I don't know yet if that seed will self-sow and I might get onions next year. Onions confuse me very much for some reason. Bulbs, sets, plants, seeds. Ugh. Just give me onions already! And Mulberry - the green stuff in the lower right is rosemary and it's weathered just fine. I have some I had in huge pots with cannas and hibiscus that I dragged into the garage in the fall, am hoping it will bounce back as well. There are a few plugs of garlic there, too. Dawn, it is very tedious (but strangely satisfying!) and I knew once I ignored it I was consigning myself to this task before I could do anything with it. I neglected to mulch anything except the paths last year, too, I was a busy/lazy gardener for sure. This year I will do better. Have plans to lay a path of bricks around the exterior of my plot, to create a "kill zone" for the bermuda. I am trying to keep from applying herbicides to the garden, but might do some judicious bermuda-cide in the two foot perimeter if needs must. We also had to cut down a wild sprawl just to the left of the photo that used to have blackberries, elephant garlic and some kind of onion or chives all over, as it was overrun with tall grasses, scrub trees and honeysuckle. We weed-eated it to the ground (except the elephant garlic, I found the leaves still green so we could work around it. Am hoping the blackberries will come back and I can start them on the right foot, and train them a bit, otherwise/in addition I plan to put in some new fruit trees/shrubs to create a more perma-scape than the usual veggie plot. Our peach tree is in sorry shape and DH cut it back severely so I don't know if it will do anything this year.