Kirts, I hate those mosquitoes. You know how they bother some people and not others? Well, they eat me alive and almost completely ignore DH. I think y'all have had more rain than us this year, as we've had only 14" so far here at our house. We only have skeeters in large numbers when we have quite a bit of rain. Even though we have 4 ponds, we don't have many mosquitoes, but I assume that is because the dragonflies, frogs, toads, water bugs, birds (esp. the purple martins, perhaps), bats, etc. are doing their jobs and eating the skeeters. Some years, when there is more rain, I buy the mosquito dunks and drop them into the ponds--they contain Bt 'Israelensis' which kills the larvae. I don't like spending money on them because they are rather pricey. I really think it is the dragonflies and damselflies that keep most of the skeeters under control here. I have noticed that the more dragonflies and damselflies we have, the fewer mosquitoes, and there has to be a correlation there--I can't believe it is only a coincidence. I guess I need to do some research and make sure that dragonflies and damselflies actually do eat mosquitoes. We always had box elder bugs when I was a kid, but I've only had them one year here. I despise them. They used to simply cover the chinaberry tree we had in our front yard when I was a kid. We have about a million spiders per acre here. You walk through the woods at your own risk this time of year because they build webs EVERYWHERE, across every path or trail, etc. I like most spiders. I do kill black widow spiders and brown recluses (fiddlebacks) because they are dangerous. I don't care for the way they build webs in the garage and tornado shelter, but we spray with a non-toxic product called Cobweb Eliminator. It keeps the webs from adhering to any surface your spray with it, and it last several months. Mick, I hope Alvin isn't mad about getting those shots! Our dogs always pout for about a day after they get shots, kind of like they're saying "What did you do that for?" but they get over it. Nice photos. Squash is fun, but you have to watch it. When it does well, it often does really, really well and you end up with more than you want. Once, some friends of ours planted a garden....their first garden ever. They had something like 3 or 4 tomato plants and a whole long row of zucchini and a whole long row of yellow squash. Of course, they produced enough squash by themselves for every resident of Love County! It was a REALLY long summer and those darned squash plants just wouldn't die. It got to where you were hoping you didn't run into them in town anywhere, for fear they'd give you more squash or more zucchini. I love the toad. We always have lots of them and lots of frogs, newts and skinks as well. Some years we have horned toads. Well, I came inside to eat lunch and cool off, so now it is time to go back outside. If I pace myself, and come in for about 15 minutes out of every hour, I can usually stay outside most of the day unless the temperatures or heat index are just ridiculous. Dawn

I know this is old but if your still looking for the right thing to plant You might try hydrangas, tiny Japanese maple, a garden sculpture made of chicken wire with succulants, gardinas, cammillias and there is a beautiful Japanese holly that has sort of purpley leaves and berries (sorry not sure of the name) that might also work, there were some great ideas on this tread so hopefully something will work, I also have an entire back yard very shady some intense shade and some filtered, just b sure you have the soil amended and water and fertilize correctly, because I have figured out that that can go along ways in getting a plant that might not work in certain spots to cooperate with you and be happy

riverrat1 - this is one of the few places where people could understand someone having a jam collection! That is one delicious sounding package. I'm pretty sure no one else here would appreciate the tangerine marmalade as much as I would. Or the blackberry jam. So if you would be so kind, just put them back in the box, stuff a little newspaper in there (you know, to keep them from breaking - wouldn't want them bouncing around like bb's in a boxcar, now would we?) and ship them on over here. Oh, and I tasted pickled watermelon rind for the first time this past June asn LOVED it. You can put that one in there too, just to balance out the box. Thanks.

I am only aware of the Department of Agriculture providing what Jin suggests (how much and what to use to grow... info.), for homeowners when soil testing for "individual homeowners" is a service they provide. Nevada Dept. of AG definitely did not offer what Jin suggests, unless I was remiss in locating the services. I had my Nevada soil tested, using a company that provided that service. When the test was requested, I indicated what would be grown in my soil, and the final report not only came with results but suggestions regarding what to use and even how much per ... for correction. I assumed that because the test did not come from the AZ Dept. of Ag, this sort of testing is not a service they provide. If it is a service the AZ Dept. of Ag provides, I would be inclined to have it re-tested there, and/or proceed as Jin suggested... if that is feasible.