nc-crn: yeah, that's always happened to my ladybugs but this year I'm making a concerted effort to have year round planting of plants to keep them around. It might take me another year or so of purchases, but we'll see. I'll let you know. You are one GW member whose words are highly respected by me -- there's other members, but you're one of the ones at the top. By the way, I may have actually turned the corner a bit on building my insectary. There's actually been many sightings of ladybugs this season and I didn't purchase them. I live in a suburban subdivision so i guess one of my neighbors could have released some. I just know that none of my neighbors NEARBY would have a reason to release some. Everybody around me has either lawns or rock and drought tolerant natives growing. Thanks. Kevin

I know of some dog lovers who built their dogs their own digging space. Basically it's just a large sand box, you need a few slats of wood for the sides and fill it with sand. Then bury some of their toys in it and encourage them to dig in it. If you can't stop them then re-direct them.

Hi there and welcome. I'm new to the area as well (two months). Gardening in Colorado was a challenge- but in the winter months, not the summer! Horse manure is easier to tote when dry- lighter. When using it in Colorado, I did hear that there was some concern that the worming meds given to the animals could affect the worms in the garden. I didn't find that to be the case. Horse manure is best composted- usually it is too "hot" for most plants- will burn them fresh but my roses loved it in any form. As for tree trimming- we moved into an old house with a bunch of neglected gardens and 4 weeks after we got in we re'd a nastygram from the city- trees on the outside of the courtyard were in the powerlines. Those got trimmed for free but the city contractors hacked away. Then the city street manager called- what was left of the trees was hanging too far down over the street... I paid $350 for them to trim 5 trees. Not a complete trim, just the branches hanging in the street. Oh, and that included one tree that was so hacked up by the city that the arborist I hired had to remove it. It was basically a trunk with one spindly limb. I looked for someone licensed/bonded/insured with "no topping" in their ad and a-okay with the BBB. They wanted the same amount to trim a 15 ft long, 1 1/2 story tall hedge (labor intensive, ladders required) so we passed on that and think we may be able to deal with it ourselves. But- the quote was free so you can call around. As far as starting seeds in the chicken containers- it seems mighty hot and things have been drying out so fast that it might work but only when things are cooler. I've got some things I'd like to start myself but I am waiting. Even tough stuff like lantana is struggling during the establishment period. I know in Colorado they recommended no trees closer than 5' from the foundation. Here I have a historic house with multi-story jujube trees 2ft from one corner of my house- no trouble EXCEPT it's a flat top roof and it's a weekly job chasing derbis off the roof (I'm rather chicken and make my husband do this) as it clogs the drains. If you have a flat top, you might want to consider this problem. I don't have answers to the rest of your questions but I hope I helped a bit. The worm culture sounds interesting! Where did you live before?

GRAPES: Grapes grow just fine but they are very high maintenance. Several people have tried to start small vineyards here in Love County, but haven't been very successful because they aren't around (weekend residents) to give them the care they need. Lots of people grow a vine or two or three on a fence, trellis or pergola with only minor upkeep though. Here in our woods, we have native grapes too. I've grown grapes, but don't feel like I know a lot about them, so I've linked the OSU fact sheet below for you. I know in the past we've had some folks here on the forum who grow grapes, but I'm not sure if any of them are still active on the forum. STRAWBERRIES: I've grown strawberries in Texas, but don't grow them here. They are high-maintenance, have lots of pests and diseases, and don't give you all that many fruit per plant. We do have a current thread on strawberries and if you search the 2 or 3 most recent pages of threads, I am sure you can find it. If you are in a semi-rural to rural location like I am, you'll have to fight the field mice, voles, rabbits, possums, raccoons, turtles and birds for every single berry, so plan ahead to cover yours with bird netting or something similar. MULBERRIES: Mulberries grow OK here, but they don't really like the heat, so you will see a lot of leaf yellowing and leaf drop in July and August. Lots of bugs find the berries attractive, so you may have to fight the pests. We have mulberries come up occasionally in the yard after birds have "planted" their seed. I yank them out and get rid of them--they are very weedy. We had nice mulberry trees in Texas when I was a kid that produced pretty good berries, but the native ones I've seen here aren't as good. And, with any fruit you grow, you'll have lots of birds, especially in you're out "in the country" where there are large amounts of birds. PERSIMMONS: Native persimmons grow wild all over in southern OK, so if you keep your eyes open, you'll probably see some. You might be able to talk someone into letting you dig up a persimmon growing along a fenceline. Lots of people here consider them "trash trees" and don't bother harvesting the fruit because they are so sour. If you wait until a hard freeze has occurred, the fruit will turn blackish and their flavor improves drastically. You also can collect fruit in the late fall or early winter and collect and plant the seed. Persimmons have lovely fall foliage too. Our largest persimmon tree in the woods is about 45' tall, and we have several much smaller ones on the pond banks. We used to have a strip of them under the power line, but the local electric co-op removed them when they were clearing the area under power lines a couple of years ago. You'll need both male and female plants to get fruit, and if you raise them from seed, you won't know what you have until they're large enough to flower. You might find seeds of native persimmon from a seed company that specializes in hard-to-find seeds like J. L. Hudson or Trade Winds Fruit. You will have to fight the coyotes for the fruit though, because persimmons are one of the major native plants that coyotes eat all summer and fall. I assume the coyotes have poorly developed tastebuds because they eat the green persimmons. FIGS: Figs grow fine here and I think 'Celeste' and 'Brown Turkey' are two of the best-adapted in the state. They can be grown in the ground in zone 7 and sometimes in zone 6 with good winter protection. In a very hard winter, they'll freeze back to the ground but resprout quickly and you'll still get a good crop. NATIVE PLUMS: I like the Mexican plums, which grow on our property, better than the sand plums, which grow in the fencelines locally, but they all make great jam or jelly. Watch for the plants locally along the fencelines and 'snatch' a handfull of plums when they're ripe, and harvest the pits to plant. Sometimes you can find either type of these from companies that specialize in native plants, or you might find seeds of them from J. L. Hudson or Trade Winds Fruit. Don't forget the native blackberries and dewberries. Although they produce very small berries, they can be quite tasty. We have native blackberries on our pond banks and dewberries, which are not as upright and creep along on the ground, on the eastern edge of our woods. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Grapes in Oklahoma