Carlota-----How nice to hear from you----I'm Florence/zeffyrose from Pa----I understand about back problems----I've had three operations since 20001----two hip replacements and one back surgery---I'm unable to garden like I used to but I can still smell the roses--thank goodness--- Antique and rose forum are still pretty active but Conversations is not active like it used to be which is sad----we hardly hear from all the old regulars-- I check in every so often and I'm so glad I saw your post-- Sam hasn't been here for a while----but I'm in touch with her---She lost her precious DH Gary last August---It has been very painful for her--he was the love of her life-- She still has her horse and has added a goat to keep it company-- I'm so happy to see you posting again Keep in touch--- Florence

Stalks means flowering stems ~~ is that what you have? I don't live in borer country (we've got every other pest) but have never heard of cutting off new foliage/leaves. What I do hear is folks removing dead/dying leaves. A search at the bottom of the page will yield lots of information on borers. The FAQ at the top of the page has lots of basic info. Rhizomes are planted at least 6 weeks in the ground before the first frost date. I plant, thoroughly saturate the ground, and leave them alone for a month! Then I soak the area again. You can pre-soak you rhizomes but it is not required.

Jay, and y'all.... Knowing that bermuda is e-vile in a garden, when I bought this place and had started the remodeling project on the inside and exterior, and with an eye to eventually tackling the bermuda ridden "lawn" for a future garden, I solarized a huge area with heavy duty visquane and just left it for a long long time in the summer heat. When the time came to plant garden, I had zero bermuda to deal with. Since then, I have always left a buffer zone between garden and bermuda areas. It has worked very well for me. If I see some bermuda getting into the buffer zone, I get out the tiller and go over it until it gives up, pulling out any sprouts I have loosened with the tiller. Jay, the WORST time I had with bermuda doing damage was when the DS was doing a lot of lawn work for local folks and came home with a ton of grass clippings. Instead of letting them dry thinly in the paths, I piled them high in and around my melon patch. Bad move. The depth and moisture created a fungus and I lost my entire beautiful cantaloupe crop that year just as it was ready to start being harvested. As you can well imagine, I was sick over it!!! Back to your problem, the only way I can think of to deal with the bermuda sprouts would be to relocate the pile of grass clippings into a safety zone away from the garden and your fence line, maybe into a compost pile, and then black out the sprouted area with boards, cardboard or anything to keep it from seeing the light of day. One thing bermuda needs is light to grow. Deprived of that, the end result is death and good riddance to it. Good luck with the dilemma. I feel for ya :( Barbara

rosiequilts, I lost 50 pounds last year by calorie counting, which is just another way of saying "eating-loads-of-fruits-&-veggies-so-you-can-eat-the-most-food-with-the-fewest-calories". I learned to love vegetables! A pile of eggplant, onions, mushrooms & peppers with a little spaghetti sauce on just 2 oz. of pasta & 1/4 cup grated mozzarella is delicious & filling. Spaghetti squash can be substituted for the pasta (just put the spaghetti squash whole in a crock pot & it's done in 4-6 hours). For salads, I love to mix spinach, lettuce, diced raw green beans, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes and use 1/3 cup dried cranberries for dressing, or sometimes green olives and a little of the olive juice in the jar. If fresh produce isn't on hand, then combining frozen veggies & cooking in the microwave is tasty: kale, lima beans & cauliflower, for example. Veggies in combination taste much better than just plain. In winter I enjoy turnip greens & squashes. Cabbage is a versatile veggie, good for filler in soups & stews, sauteed, microwaved, or sliced for low-fat cole slaw made with Splenda. For munchies, I love to microwave a tub of Brussels sprouts or cauliflower & keep it in the fridge for mindless snacking (you know, when you get those urges to eat but you're not really hungry). A little butter or oil won't hurt you and, in fact, makes the vegetables more nutritious. Your body absorbs the nutrients better when a little fat is present with the veggies. Sometimes I like to make a green sauce of chopped fresh spinach & French parsley in a little cream & parmesan cheese, heated in a sauce pot. I serve this over a big plate of broccoli & cauliflower, and it's delicious. There are so few calories in the veggies that you can afford to indulge in the cream sauce. But then, that's dinner -- no bread, no side dishes, no heavy meats. Anyway, didn't mean to hijack this thread. Just wanted to pass on some good veggie food ideas. When you walk through the cookie/cracker aisle with indifference, but your mouth starts watering when you get to the produce section, you know you've made a good change!