Let me tell you how I deal with slugs/snail(Assuming that it is your problem too) 1) HUNTING: Nothing works more effectively than just finding and destroying them. ESPECIALLY early on so that they cannot multiply. Get one of those sharp pointed bamboo skews, just skew them one after another as if you would skew shrimps. (GRIN) . Put it somewhere on a sunny place. Hopefully some birds may enjoy them or they will become SUN DRIED slugs. hehe 2) use nylon netting around and over your seedlings. Make sure that it is well pinned down. 3) Slug baits of all kinds work fine. But they are expensive. Here is what I do: Make my own mix" --- 1 parts slug bait --- 4 parts used coffee grounds --- 2-3 parts play/mortar sand; has to be a little rough. Dry is better. --- ground egg shell : NOT too fine. You want it to have sharp points There you have it; You can use it more generously as opposed to pure expensive sluggo. This year I will add some crushed floor dri(DE) as well. Slugs have a tender belly. That is how slugo works, by tearing it down. Sand, eggshell, any sharp matter can also damage their belly and you will see them bleeding while running away. Your ultimate goal should be to destroy them, not deter them. As you continue doing this the population will be reduced, and there will be less muliplication. BUT always be on the look out. not just around the vegetable garden, but everywhere in your yard. HUNT THEM. a salt shake can also work instead bamboo skewer.

I have bad soil, half your garden size, and it greatly improved for things not effected by juglone, squash, corn, melons, etc. You wouldn't believe the size difference of the year before, so I'll always compost or at least throw leaves all over garden area. All you have to do is dump bags of leaves about a foot or two high over the whole garden area, maybe mow them to speed up decomposition, and you will have given your garden lots of great leaf mold, plus you already have your manure. I think the manure could be new because it can age all year before you throw it down. I wouldn't waste the manure until about a month or 2 before planting, or maybe even half at the end of the year, save the other half at the beginning, but some in the middle of the year too. I've got beds for next year, waiting to put them in, but I'm waiting for the leaves to fall and looking into local pastures for manure. I couldn't give advice on weeds being I'm going to plant some good weeds over the area until the beds are in. Try ragweed, dandelion with the flowers pruned off, yellow dock, and a few other deep rooted types of weeds that bring nutrients to the top of the soil. They will make good compost.

for some reason, i thought astilbes were better divided in the fall.?? I would advise, if you have time now, to do this dividing/replanting now. That's what i am doing as we speak, w/ astilbe and maiden hair ferns, mostly because the spring just has way too many other things i have to attend to in the gardens. .I would also advise, from a design sense, keeping your astilbes and ferns apart in their own drifts. You might like the look of interplanting the astilbes w/ wood hyacinth bulbs. best, mindy front:Blue wood hyacinths, Polygonum bistorta superbum; rear: Philadelphus aurea, Berberis crimson pygmy

Hi Okieladybug! I wanted to share a lettuce tip that hubs and I discovered quite by mistake: a variety called Winter Density. Some years back it came in a French lettuce seed mix. It grew well that spring and summer, but it wasn't our favorite. We ignored it and it went to seed. That winter, and every winter since, we've had Winter Density volunteers to sustain us through the winter. It's still not our top favorite, but that doesn't mean it's not a good lettuce. Kind of like getting a homemade apple pie when you really prefer fudge brownies. There is something quite satisfying about growing your own lettuce nearly all year round. We've never even covered it and the only time we ever lost it was when we had ice on the trees (and lettuce) for two weeks. You could grow it in containers during the winter, moving it in for extremely severe weather. Winter Density also goes by a couple of French names. You can find it at Johnny's Select Seeds. Welcome aboard! Seedmama PS The OSU fact sheets have been extrememly difficult to access lately. I finally broke down and ordered some paper copies this week. The recommended planting dates for head or leaf lettuce, plants or seed, are February 15 to March 10.