With these, you can prune around or just after bloom. You should be fine.

Rain, I am sitting here trying to imagine you in a black pointed hat chanting some kind of rhym that will give your potient more power. Unfortunately I have to fence in the garden now. They have gotten into my peppers and just gutted a couple of them. I am going to try the chicken wire and one of those big plastic owls first. But they are in the process of digging up my front lawn and I am getting really pissed. Especially since I live in one of those housing tracts that has an association. They tell me I have to repair the grass soon or I will get a fine. Yep those cute little floppy eared bunny rabbits. Just doing what nature taught them to do. Well, Iam going to do what my larger brain mass has taught me to do. If the pellet rifle does not get them then I will use something that does. And I am not into live traps. I'll just dispose of the evidence so that any PETA nut jobs don't give me hard time. Money is tight enough as it is, I don't need those so called cute little sweet bunnies terring up my yard - ESPECIALLY MY VEGGIE GARDEN!!! You get my drift? tom Tom

I did the same thing when the dees were nesting! I thought the babies had fledged since I hadn't seen the parents in awhile and no chirping coming from the box. With a spatula, I carefully attempted to remove the nest only to have 3 precious ones staring me in the face! Of course I panicked! Just a few minutes after placing the nest back in the box, Mom appeared and everything was OK. They fledged 2 days later and boy, was I relieved! Donna

I can relate! I don't know if I am making the best possible decisions trying to make this place work. At the age of 63 I moved from a rent controlled apartment to a 96 year old "fixer". I wanted to be able to grow vegetables, so I did not opt for a condo. They are not that much less expensive around here anyway, and for the most part, poorly constructed. The home inspector, and all the contractors who have worked on this place give it flying colors for construction. It is apparently a very solidly built house. We talked the seller down considerably, but it still wasn't cheap. I know going in it would need $35 thousand dollars to replace broken water heater, heating system, plumbing, etc. before I could even move in. I also ripped up the carpet and refinished the beautiful hardwood floors underneath. I also replaced the old, stained fiberglass bath/shower that was growing mold and made me shudder whenever I stepped into it. I figured I would bolt the house to the foundation (living in earthquake country) and leave it at that for a while. Then over New Years, the wind blew down part of my fence and the 20 year old cook top had a gas leak, so PG&E turned off the gas. I couldn't find replacement parts for the old corroded burners, so I bought a new Kitchenaid cook top...WRONG! It emits a low hum even when it is off. I looked it up in the manual, and sure enough, under troubleshooting, it says this hum is a normal part of the functioning of this product. My bedroom is fairly close to the kitchen, and I couldn't sleep, so I returned it (with a 20% restocking fee). Now I have ordered a GE Cafe model cook top. It scores consistently in the top ten cook tops, and I read reviews from two professional chefs who installed them and were very happy. I haven't received it yet. I can't help but wonder if I should have just called Kitchenaid and asked them if they had a quieter model. I live alone, This is all new to me, never having owned a home and not having to deal with these things myself. I don't have anyone to advise me on these things, except friends who laugh, pat me on the back and saying "welcome to home ownership". I am not particularly handy, although I am not opposed to learning. This was supposed to feel liberating, having my own home, but I've been here for 4 months and am feeling very stressed. I'm not thinking of selling though-yet.