Lennie...sounds like fun. Are you saying all campgrounds are off limits now? Sheesh! We used to go camping every weekend..we found an 'unknown,' secluded area to set up our little tents. :) The area resembled an island..we named it Cujo Island, after our dog who loved swimming in the Des Plaines/ Kankakee River and play with the beavers in Channahon, IL. We had so much fun. I made breakfast, lunch and dinner on a 1.99 metal grill. Couldn'd do it anymore though. The meals were delicious. We used old wood, not coal brisquits or gas. We do not hunt in the literal sense, but we used to hunt for wildlife..to look at...not harm..sorry. :) Lennie, I have relatives in MI. As a child, we'd visit my aunt, uncle and cousins in Allegan, MI..Ever hear of Allegan? They had a beautiful farm. Think I was 4 or 5 when we first started visiting, that I remember..I also think, browsing large fields of greens initially got me hooked on plants. lol I remember standing in one field w/zillions of berries. I snuck inside, awestruck. Anyway, MI is a beautiful state. Well, at least cities, 'I remember Kalamazoo,' not too far from my aunt and uncles farm. Don't know if it's changed. My aunt and uncle passed away several years ago, but cousins remain in MI. When my uncle was diagnosed with cancer, they sold the farm, then rented. She once confessed how much she missed the farm. Sorry, talk about ranting. lol. Funny, we went from Pothos, to camping to MI. You're lucky you get to travel. Toni

Meleca, I am in the greater Cleveland area. My front lawn is looking great (now 3 years old). My back is poorly graded and has a ton of grassy weeds that I have not been able to control. In any case, I can send you some Nortron at cost if you want to try it out for yourself. I think 250cc will be plenty--for trial purposes and probably would last you a couple of years. If my math is right, that will probably be $15 shipped. I know the product is registered in Ohio, so I won't be getting into trouble. Buzzsaw, it's not that it's THAT expensive. 2.5 gal will treat quite a few acres. We homeowners are mainly spot treating maybe a few hundred square ft of badly affected area. It's more the packaging size than the cost.

mulching is supposed to insulate the cloves from being heaved during freeze/thaw periods especially if there is no snow cover at that time. seems this is from early december to mid march here in nw ct. tomnj, i'm going to check my garlic papers from jss and og mag and countryside and small stock journal..... ok per og sept/oct 1993 they speak out of both sides of their mouth. they say in 1 place someone mulches immediately after planting and on the same page they say mulch is applied soon after planting. either way do it soon after planting not after the ground is frozen. hum.... ok, per johnny's selected seeds garlic planting suggestions (apparently i bought garlic from them in 1996?), they say mulch "after the soil has frozen or in late fall". they say to plant from 1st frost to as late as november. so that's where i got it in my head to mulch after the soil is frozen. but jss is in mid maine and they sell garlic to many areas. is the sheet different for say the carolinas? not sure. jss catalog says only "garlic is very winter hardy but should be heavily mulched to prevent heaving". no mention when to mulch! terriorial seed company catlog does not mention mulching. from rodale's garden problem solver "plant cloves in september, mulching the garlic beds with straw to prevent repeated freezes and thaws from heaving the bulbs". well for the past 3 years that i have planted garlic i always mulched in late november or early december when the ground is so frozen i can walk on it and not break thru the soil with no problems. apparently it does not seem to matter. personally i'd rather mulch immediately after planting as it finishes the job vs doing it 5-6 weeks later when it is 29 degrees and the wind is blowing! so thanks! i will now mulch immediately. tom

viper75, I see you are doing avocados in Livermore. Those hardier Mexican varieties should easily survive your winters, as some of your other fruit trees and shrubs are not even that hardy. Mexicola tolerates at least 20f, which is like a once in a lifetime cold snap. The bigger challenge is the soil and heat. Also, if your cherries are not prolific, then that's a good sign that you microclimate isn't getting a ton of chill hours, which would bode well for the avos. When I was growing up in Walnut Creek, we had tons of cherries and stone fruit, benefiting somewhat from a dry creek bed behind our property that would funnel in cold air in the winter. After my parents moved to a property less than a mile away with some elevation, they had almost no frost anymore, and the stone fruit and cherries don't produce like they did at the other property. However, they can grow more tender things much better. Sounds like you might be in a similar spot which is probably pretty good all-around for a lot of different types of plants. Would love to see some pictures of your subtropical fruit trees.