don't know tha i can help much, but first up i would suggest you are watering too much, in summer here we would water twice a week max' seldom 3 times (we are in drought), but we also use our second hand water on the gardens and we mulch heavily 6"-8"s and have heaps of organic matter in our beds with oodles of worms. so i would suggest you look to the nutrients side of things, organic matter incorporated, if your bed realy do need that much watering then the aforementioned maybe be missing or in very short supply as well as mulch. add compost under the mulch don't dig it in let the worms do that job. here we don't have the type of critters who visit your gardens so we tuck our food scraps in under the mulch, go to the organic garden section here ans check the urine thread. for now for a quick fix spread some of that organic lifter stuff you know chook pellet stuff over the root zone of the plants about a handfull or 2 for each plant water it in then mulch the bed totally. and cut down on the watering. might be some ideas in there for you, check our site for more. all plats will wilt in the heat of the sun that is their survival method, so long as they rejuvinate after the sun is gone then they have enough misture, if they don't water them and in summer in the evening in winter in the morning. deep water the root zones only not the foliage. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens straw bale garden

Hey Ken, Talk about "eye candy" how about that recent purchase that you came across? That's some good stuff!!! LOL!!! Thanks for the email!! Hope you received my reply!!! Statenislandpalm, Sorry that I missed your post... Thank you so much for the great compliments!!! You are right on with the Jungle Golf site at the beach!!! They probably were the very first to plant Sabals here in VB. I even called them along time ago when I first thought about trying to grow them here at my house... We used to wrap them in black plastic to winter them over!! LOL...we sure have come along way from the early eighties (late 70's) when they first planted them!! I'm glad you had a great visit here in Vb...Pungo Palms has some great things!! Looks like you had a car full of plants and trees when you had to head back north!! The pictures on the other post of your plants and trees look great!! Have a great summer everyone!!! P.S. I did manage to capture some of that rain from the last storm!!! Hopefully that liquid gold will help my plants like it does for the guys in the midwest!! Big day coming soon Don!!! : ) Laura in VB

Many years ago, our gang (grandparents, three brothers, wives, children) went to the Jordan Hollow Farm Inn in Stanley, Virginia. What a wonderful weekend we had! I highly recommend it: http://www.jordanhollow.com/

Boy, things sure can go sideways in a hurry. I think the question was would you not return just because of the sock/sneaker issue. With a possible caveat of owner attitude and action there's no way a dog taking a sock (or a shoe) would in and of itself make me not return. Other intangibles would have more impact than a dog grabbing something. To say whether the rest of the stay was enjoyable is irrelevant. Like or dislike food is irrelevent. Weather is irrelevant. Dirty bathroom is irrelevant. Bedbugs would also be irrelevant! The question was whether a dog (puppy or not is irrelevant too!) stealing a shoe or sock would in and of itself make you not return and I wouldn't not return just because a dog took a sock! That simply would not make my decision. As I was reading and saw the website comment that perked me up. I thought for a second that may be a consideration, but after thinking a bit, why should it? That's a separate issue and would only be a rationalization to say your site says, and then say you wouldn't return because of a sock. If you said you wouldn't return because the dogs were to be out of the guest area and weren't that's different, but again, the sock issue is separate. I'd investigate a few things ahead of time before staying at a B&B, such as do the rooms lock. I keep some "somewhat valuable" things and don't want them stolen. If I know an animal roams then I know the possible consequences, but would just expect a proper attitude and response from the owners. I'd think it was funny personally and as I said wouldn't not return, in fact, I'd probably bring a pack of socks for the dogs next time I went there! Everything BTW applies if it's a sneaker too, but for that I'd fully expect to be reimbursed. I'd probably hope a credit or compensation would be offered for the sock issue too. Same thing if something fell, haven't you heard of accidents? If it's clearly from poor maintenance, I don't think the concern would be whether you return. Accidents happen. FWIW I usually carry pet treats with me when I'm going someplace with critters. And often they come looking for more! You're far braver than me to have the dogs around. I would be worried about the liability issue. Granted that's what insurance is for but the headaches associated could be incredible. Gentle or not, any animal can and will bite in certain circumstances. The first time a dog bites is always the same comment, they've never bitten before. And just knocking someone over or something... but that's me. I've seen too many trivial lawsuits over stupid things. And I have been bitten before by dogs that have never bitten before. But I still love animals and would appreciate having them around. I think it would add to the fun. Note to self, bring extra socks next time I travel! Oh, and I guess with this group I'd better give the disclaimer I'm not saying they have dirty bathrooms, bedbugs or anything like that, I'm making a point. Just as I was hitting submit, it hit me. I need to withdraw the owner attitude caveat. That's irrelevant to the question too. Even *if* you said you snooze you lose, even if you said YOU TRYING TO POISON MY DOG??? None of that would be relevant! The question STILL is would you not return *just* because a dog took a sock/shoe! The answer is a resounding no. Owner attitude is separate and may be a reason to not return but doesn't affect the dog/sock issue. If I felt mistreated, that's not the dog's fault. So that even makes it more clear to me. Hope business is going well. Give the dogs a biscuit (or a sock) for me!