Ants are an unsolvable problem, spraying only kills workers, and then you can not eat your crops. I was told to buy a bait to have the workers take back to the colony to feed the queen. No queen equals no workers. I bought every type of bait on the market and the ants would not touch it. They were too smart. If someone knows a cure for ants please post that. Try the soil forum, and add lots of compost. It costs a lot of money to buy a lot of compost and add it. It's a huge investment, but there is not much that can be done about the cost of it. Making compost takes time and also money for bins or other products to add to compost mainly browns or else you need lots of leaves. I have page up on my website about composting, if you want to read all my suggestions. Click on the soil link. Here is a link that might be useful: My website

Mary from NY, On the subject of midge and hybrid rugosas....in the wild we know that roses usually do not grow in large single species groups as we are prone to grow them in our gardens. There is one rose here and another yonder, in nature. For a midge to find a wild rose bush, and locate its growing tip specifically, could be a formidable task for a tiny insect that spends its life at ground level mostly, and rose bushes are far apart. I believe each rose bush has its own population of midge living at or near the ground beneath it. They appear to be home bodies, not usually traveling far in search of a rose except when growing tips are scarce, or other factors like the wind come into play. I was told by an entomologist friend that the female midge probably follows an unique scent trail given off by a rose's growing tips in locating the correct part of the rose to lay her eggs. Makes sense to me. Now comes into play our hybrid rugosas. I grew/tried over 30 varieties of hybrid rugosas, and found not one of them susceptible to midge....beautiful, powerfully fragrant flowers all season long. Why? Perhaps their growing tip scent trail is not alluring to midge? Maybe there is a toxic substance to midge maggots found in hybrid rugosa growing tips? The rugosa species is native to cold East Asia. Midge may not even exist there. The frilly growing tips of hybrid rugosas may not feel right to a female midge, so she goes elsewhere in search of a proper place to lay her eggs. Whatever the case, the hybrid rugosas I grew for a number of years never were bothered by midge. If they were, they would have been 'dead ducks', since spraying for midge would likely have severely damaged their foliage. Their foliage is tough, but not able to take chemicals of any sort, even foliar Miracle Grow feedings. Now a mild organic foliar feeding like fish emulsion, manure tea, or seaweed could not do any foliar damage. I never used these on my hybrid rugosas, so I don't know for sure. Sharon's Polareis looks like a real winner. I never grew it. I think it came out into commerce after I got out of hybrid rugosas. From the photos on HMFR, of bush shots of Polareis, it looks like the heaviest blooming hybrid rugosa variety I have ever seen! My favorite three hybrid rugosas I grew, were/are: Henry Hudson, Schneekoppe (Ger.); (aka. Snow Pavement, "Pavement" meaning ground covering or ground carpeting), and Roseraie de l'Hay. Mary, I hate to see you get out of roses. Midge is a very disheartening plague, and gut punches you like a street fighter. Hybrid Rugosas are the light at the end of the tunnel. Moses

I have an instant pot and I use it at least twice per week. The food that comes out of the pot is excellent. I does save time on a lot of things. I also just find it really easy and non-stressful to cook in the instant pot. There's no checking on stuff, no basting, no stirring, no worries if you're not ready to eat as soon as the food is cooked or you get busy doing something else and forget about dinner (the pot will just keep the food warm for you, without overcooking), etc. I do not babysit the instant pot. When I first got the instant pot, I didn't quite know what to make of it and I didn't really see how it would be that helpful. But, after I started cooking different things in it, I really started to appreciate it. It just makes things easy. Of course, it's not for everything you might want to cook (nothing cooks everything). But, it does save time and effort on a lot of things and, for some things, it really does make them better. I don't find it hard to clean. A turkey breast takes about an hour, total, including the time for the pot to reach pressure. It takes about 15 additional minutes if you want to let the pressure release on its own vs manually releasing the pressure. The turkey breasts that come out of the pot are moist and flavorful, the best I've ever had. All I do is put a turkey breast into the instant pot, add about 1/2 cup of water, then turn it on and walk away. There's no checking, no basting, no worries that it'll get overcooked, no worries that it'll dry out. I just put it in and ignore it completely. If you eat skin, you should know that the skin does not brown in the instant pot. I don't eat the skin, so it's not a problem for me and I just take the skin off. My instant pot roasts are tender and also flavorful. It seriously makes the best pot roasts I've ever had. I sear the roast before cooking, which probably takes about 15 minutes. Then, I pressure cook for 35 minutes, open the pot and add potatoes, then pressure cook an additional 10 minutes. I like to let the pressure release naturally. Then, I take the roast and potatoes out (when I'm ready) and I make gravy right in the pot. It probably all takes about 1.5 hours from start to finish, but my time in the kitchen is minimal because I do not watch the pot. I just ignore it and do other things. Afterwards, there's only the one pot to clean (plus serving dishes). Artichokes take about 25 minutes, total (including the time for the pot to reach the appropriate pressure) and my house doesn't get all steamy and smell like artichokes cooking. When I want chicken breasts to shred, I can have them in about 20 minutes, or less (this includes time for the pot to reach pressure). My best chicken chili comes out of the instant pot, made with dried beans, and the whole thing might take about an hour because I cook the chicken breasts in the pot first, then the beans, then combine (with the rest of the ingredients) and cook for a few more minutes. I have actually been thinking seriously about getting a second instant pot so I can have both of them going at the same time! :-)

I have both a 3 quart and a 6 quart IP Ultra and use at least one every day, if not both. Also have a Gourmia GAF635 air fryer, which I use almost every day. These have been life changers for me. I have a very bad back and could no longer stand for long periods of time cooking, so was not eating healthy meals. These two tools have now made it possible for me to, once again, eat very healthily. I cook nearly everything in it's frozen state; meat, vegetables, fish, poultry. Also cook fresh vegetables and they are wonderful in the IP or AF. Forgot to mention that I make yogurt about every 1 1/2 in the 6 quart IP in cups about the size of the yogurt purchased in grocery stores. I make it plain and unsweetened, so that I can use it in lieu of sour cream. When I want to eat one, I add one or a mixture of: apple butter, Nutella, jam/preserves, KoolAid, frozen fruit, fresh fruit, etc. One day I wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but didn't want or need the bread. So I mixed peanut butter and jam into my serving of yogurt; absolutely delicious.