Deepest sympathy to anyone who has to deal with digging and burrowing varmints. When I lived in Bellflower, the neighborhood was infested with gophers. I did a little research and found that the recommended method of getting rid of them pretty labor intensive and required buying special equipment I didn't want to pay for. I could really understand Bill Murray's motivation in "Caddyshack." I've put a lot of rocks into a couple of tiny spaces I'm using as gardens here in Dana Point. Happy to report I've found two Pacific salamanders camped out under paving stones. For some reason, they seem to love flat manmade rocks with a little moisture beneath or between them. It's been so long since I've seen any live amphibians in a natural setting. Even the toads in Texas seemed to have disappeared during the amphibian die-off a few years ago. These salamanders are really neat little critters, easy to mistake for earthworms.

Yes, be very careful what you use if you have pets. I have 2 cats and 1 dog. One concoction I found on the internet recommended adding peanut butter to the bait. Ha! I have a dog that LOVES peanut butter - so no, that one won't work for me. I am currently using a commercial product that has boric acid as it's main ingredient along with a sweetener. I have done 3x3 squares of parchment paper (could use wax paper), placed them on the ant patch (I have 12-18" diameter sand circles in my lawn) and placed a small rock on top (to keep the wind from taking them away) that creates a depression on the paper. I let a couple drop hit the rock and then puddle under the rock. The ants can squeeze in there to get the bait but the cats can't. This only works on dry days. If it rains you'll have to start again. I had it all set up yesterday, then it poured. Freak thunderstorm. Had to start over today. I'm testing on 16 of 40 or 50 colonies that are in the lawn. My commercial product sounds very similar to that already described. It would be cheaper to brew up your own. I tried my own last year with honey instead of sugar. It didn't work for me but I may have given up too soon. BTW, ants are good for Peonies (almost necessary) and a couple of other plants but I can't think of any reason they would benefit a daylily.

The willow in the pictures above is growing about 15 feet from our house. It is also planted only 10 feet from our Water Well. The water is over 120 feet down. So far (knock on wood), we have not had any problems with our well system - not even during droughts and we have not found the well core clogged with roots at all. Willows have been given a bum rap. All trees drink thousands of gallons of water a day and tens of thousands of gallons of water a year. Pines are some of the thirstiest trees on the planet! They don't have that stigma. Our big Cottonwood tree out front, for instance, takes in approximately 80,000 gallons or more of water every month! Isn't that amazing? (having a nerdy Einstein-like scientist for a hubby can be interesting...) All trees seek out water. Everything on this earth is in competition for the same water...which gets recycled over and over and over again. If that ever changes, we are done for. If your sewage system has tiny leaks in it, all trees will seek it out and grow into to it, no matter what kind of tree it is. Willows propagate themselves with the aid of water, so they will seek out any source for that and their roots can really clog up pipes. I know this. They also drop a lot of plant debris and old limbs need to be pruned so they don't drop on your house. You also have to trim them so there is one main trunk. A split trunk looks pretty, but it is trouble in the making. An off-shoot limb that tries to become the dominant trunk will cause a willow to split. They also invite pests. They are not a care-free tree. All trees help to not only clean the air, but their shade cools the air temperature which helps conserve water - there is less evaporation. Their roots hold the earth, so their is less erosion. That area was the hottest, driest place in our yard before the advent of the willow. The grass was thin and the ground hard as a rock. Fire ant city! Now it is an inviting place to be and the grass is lush and green. The soil is no longer hard and compacted. I have to believe the weeping willow had something to do with that. I haven't done anything that would have caused those changes. My rose garden (formerly the potager) has filtered shade in the afternoon now because of that tree, and in Oklahoma's hot summers, your flowers and veggies will thank you for some afternoon shelter. I am not advocating that any of you just go out and plant a Weeping Willow right up against your house or over your sewer system for gosh sakes. Heavens no! I sure as heck don't want to be responsible and blamed by some furious spouse for one of you thinking I mean you shouldn't be responsible, but just be more knowledgeable. I am just throwing out a few facts for you to think about and consider. ~Annie

Good thing I checked - though it's a smaller sale for me. He didn't realize they weren't storage, so only took 2# of YG. Good choice - I cut up a couple of the largest ones for us last night (along with some RN) and OMG those are even better than the RN we ate the beginning of the week! I'm tempted to keep the other 6 # for us but I know we won't eat them all this week, but I am seriously thinking of keeping those separate and charging more for them. I stopped by USDA organic farm yesterday to check their prices, they hadn't set them yet (still digging, said they had to wash in tumbler - thought that would bruise them?), they should have them today so maybe I'll take the long way to market to check again and buy some of their dill (and parsley?) to go with my potatoes. Good idea about the baskets -I did lurk on the other thread, was thinking of CSA next year, but baskets may be a better way to ease into that. I'd have to ask DH where most of the people he works with live. Of course there is a huge regional (wholesale too, not all locally grown, lots trucked in) market in Hartford but the office workers can't get there, it's such a pain. But this may be a start - at least for this one guy - he's already asked what else we have, and what we'll have next week (I have 1 baby zuke that I am so tempted to pick, but it's a little on the small side yet and only one, so I will just tell people zukes and yellow squash coming next week). He wanted cherry toms to go in the salad "B/c it's going to take a while to get anything off that plant you gave us" but I told DH to tell him all I have are tomato blossoms right now! Maybe if the others see DH making a delivery to one person every week, he'll start getting more inquiries. I know one guy (gotta think - maybe he retired) had a garden and used to bring in excess to share, so maybe there won't be any market for my stuff if most people are growing and/or sharing. I just don't have a huge variety right now, in fact, I don't even know about later in the summer, nothing unusual, just typical high-season stuff, no corn and so many people grow tomatoes. I guess I should start some seed for fall crops soon - just hard to start thinking broccoli and beans when it's 90 degrees out!