Robin, if I send you some bare-root divisions of plants, will you send me a few steaks and some hamburger from the animals you're "rescuing?" Sounds delicious!

Not quite sure what you mean by bulbs. Bearded irises have a rhizome at the base of the plant. from this rhizome, new ones grow, which will produce new leaf fans, and eventually new flower stalks. These can be divided and planted as seperate plants when the clum is big enough. Dutch iris grow from a bulb which is smaller than a daffodil bulb, fairly rounded and has a brown papery outer coat. Sometimes bearded irises produce a seedpod at the top of the bloom stalk. This is green, oval in shape and can vary in size from tiny, up to as big as 3" long. This may be empty or contain seeds. If you get one of these, and you haven't deliberately hand pollenated your flowers, then you have what is commonly called a bee pod, because, presumable the bees did the work of pollenating the flower. This will contain seeds from an unknown cross. These can be planted and grown to produce new plants, all of which will be genetically different from each other and both the parent plants. Hope that helps. Cheers, Jan in Australia

I have a woodchuck that has lived in my yard for years. He's never bothered my tomatoes in the past, but he discovered them this year. He will eat them right on the vine, or pick them and sit and eat them. He rarely eats an entire tomato, preferring to eat half and then get another. I have also seen chipmunks eating my cherry tomatoes. Most of the advice I got on here involved killing or trapping and removing the woodchuck. But, honestly, he has been here for at least 7 years so I hate to relocate him, and killing him is not an option. He's eaten too many tomatoes to count. I've been removing the lower tomatoes and ripening them on the table outside so he can't get those. I also found he prefers the beefsteak tomatoes. I put out a few bars of Coast deodorant soap on the suggestion of a neighbor, and I haven't lost any tomatoes this last week. Maybe give that a try? My neighbor also said Irish Spring soap might do it. Good luck, I feel your pain!

Hi Plllog! "That is, I know it's possible, but might not be in your budget." See, there's the crux of it. This little beverage center idea of mine was not in the original budget. (Nor, alas, were new drywall in the livingroom and halls, the gorgeous walnut top on my used cabinet island, the matching gorgeous top that will soon be on the new media cabinet and the near full gut of the bathroom.) And we're still determined to get through remodeling our ugly duckling without taking out a loan or dipping into savings. Conventional wisdom says: Wait until the coffers are full again but that's so hard to do. First off, I'm a cheapskate. Even if the goose who laid the golden egg waddled up onto my deck and built a nest, I'm not sure I would willingly pay someone to mess up the walls I just paid to fix. Second, I'm not quite cheap enough. My new kitchen is starting to look pretty good but, gosh, it would look so much better if the microwave and coffee maker didn't take up so much room on that one counter. I'm willing to spend a little bit more to change that, especially since I'm going to have a piece of countertop leftover that should be just the right size. Still, it's nice to know that it's possible. Maybe when the coffers ARE full again I'll put a tile counter outside on my deck to shade the golden goose should she happen to wander by ;) Thanks for your help!