I am trying to make "hoop houses " over each bed,...but its slow going with over 20 plus raised beds. using 2by 4 wire fencing...and others are using 4by 6 opening fencing attaching it to various size boards.. most of my raised beds are 4 by 4 in size but quite a few are close to 4 by 8 foot..... s lots to do. reason for hoops is to try to keep out insects, etc covering hoops with row cover or tulle etc......plus having cattle panels around giant garden with poultry wire ...wired to cattle panels thought fence would keep out the rabbits . I did not consider outdoor only Kitty would be using them for extra litter boxes... Cat has several acres for his big litter box... Plus covering walk path with cardboard the mulch or deep old straw Only reason for cat.... is to keep away the horrendous number mice that plagued us for over a year.... and he catches lots of voles too.... just chiming in Jean

Not sure why opossums always get the blame in these nocturnal digging threads, I don't believe it's true. Skunks, racoons, cats, or squirrels are more likely culprits. Skunks in particular equate recently dug soil with grub hunting ground and will ravage innocent bystander seedlings in their search for sub-surface food. Question: I think opossums are digging holes in my roof or yard. Answer: The damage is not likely to be caused by opossums. Opossums have soft, delicate hands with nails that are easily ripped out. They are not capable of doing a lot of digging. Other animals are more likely to be causing the damage. Here is a link that might be useful: Oppossum FAQs

Tarainmd, have you found out what was making the holes? I just found a good sized mound of sand in my perennial bed. It was made of contractors sand that was used to build up my lot when they originally built my house. So it was odd seeing it on TOP of the mulch in my garden. I scooped it up and noticed a tennis ball sized hole. I have filled it in a few times. I thought I collapsed it with water but whatever is doing it is very persistent. Then I sunk really low and put some fresh dog poo way down into and it did not deter it. The hole is back. I have put in too much time and money in this garden to have it wrecked by some mystery critter. What can I do to get it to move to a new home? I am not into killing small animals but I'd love for it to just go away. Any help would be great!

I've really enjoyed reading about all the projects. Thanks for sharing! Maybe it will inspire me to get going. Very long, I'm sorry. This has been an odd year. It was not without its social drama. DH retired- twice- and DD got a new job in a new state (at least a little closer, only one time zone away this time). Then she got engaged, bought a house and got married. DS and DiL had baby #3 in June. We kept our older grandbabies for the month of June, at first only during the day and then full time. (Need a vacation? Keep an active 5 and 7 yr. old for a month then send them home. The relief and relaxation you feel will be as great as any you can get on a vacation.) Mom lives alone about 100 mi. from us and manages quite well. This year she fell. Fortunately someone was there to help. We were able to get there and take her to the doctor and nothing was broken but it continues to concern us. Next the weather- a long drought with less rain than normal at the beginning of summer, only a sprinkle or two for the rest of summer and then none at all for fall. Temps higher, at times recordbreaking. Till now. After Thanksgiving we began experiencing wind, rain, more wind, then cold, down to 20's and lately teens; actually not abnormal for early December. However, we had only about a week of fall and we are far behind in our fall chores. The biggest gardening problem we had this year came from a neighbor who decided to sell some of his wood in late summer during the drought. He cleared the right-of-way that he owned between our house and our neighbor to the NE and cut the trees behind our property and that of our other neighbors. He felled a good many trees that were deemed not market worthy and left them. However, very hungry wildlife, now with nowhere else to go, came into our yards hunting for food and water. The deer destroyed our vegetable garden and a good bit more of landscape and flowers. Even things that deer had ignored before were fair game. The exceptions were native salvias, lavender and rosemary or something deadly like digitalis or hellebores. So the projects- Drought and less time than needed for gardening have made me realize that I need to plan for these things in the future. With no water source in the front of our house, the bed beside the drive was reachable only by adding a long second hose to the first and then snaking it around to reach the bed. As a result, that bed didn't get the water it should have. The tree removal in the woods behind us didn't seem like a welcome change but it allowed more sun from the east in the back of our house. I am planning on making a new bed for those roses behind the play area/sandbox for our grandbabies. It will be a tight fit but I think it will work. I'll move my culinary herbs to the driveway. That bed is also a place where I planted a lot of my heirloom daffodils and iris, so I want to keep them where they are. Bulbs and herbs are better suited to low rainfall and not much supplemental water than the roses. Second project- On our own property, we also had a couple dead or dying trees removed that were likely to fall on our neighbors' buildings since the other trees between us had been removed. After clearing out some of the exotic invasives, we have some room to add a few natives; a sourwood, a carolina snowbell, a native smoke tree, cinnamon clethra, maple leaf viburnum and a couple of Guthrie chickasaw plums on the edge of the clearing. Someday they should bring in pollinators, provide food and shelter to some of the birds and forest creatures and be a delight to the people who live here. I don't know if we'll see much of it but it won't happen if we don't get it started. I will need to make wire cages to keep them deerproof. The weather has cooled and we have some rain so time to get started. Third project- I start most of my garden from seed or cuttings. I need to be getting my milk jugs ready for all my winter-sown seeds ready to go. First I have to finish planting everything that I couldn't get into the ground earlier this fall because of the weather. And somehow I have to get ready for Christmas. <Sigh>