Jenny Wright

I'll have to give it a try. We have plenty of nettles to experiment with.

Thank you so much , M. K., for the clear directions! It feels so much better to have some action to take!

We have this weird wet and cool weather this week. Do you think it best to take care of it right away or should I wait until it dries up this weekend or next week?

I've had this plum tree for at least six years or more. It's always been very happy and has been producing for about five years. About a month ago I noticed some of the leaves dying but it was hot so I thought it was the heat. Then about a week ago I saw quite a lot of branches were dying and noticed a lot of sap dripping from the base of those dying branches.

I cannot see any insect frass with the sap. But I do see fine web-like strands on some of the leaves.

Any advice? I've had bad luck with plums (all the other varieties I've planted die the same year I plant them) but this one was doing so well for so long.

Timothy Norton wrote:Unfortunately my two transplants both failed to thrive. I put them in a semi-shade spot that was more on the clay side and perhaps that wasn't the best choice.

Any suggestion on the best spots for gooseberries?

My newest gooseberry transplants that I rooted last year are doing extremely well in a loose clay soil that I dumped composted cow manure on top. The top is pretty loose due to the 100's of buttercups I pulled up before I planted the gooseberries but it's heavy clay a few inches down. They only get sun until about noon and have a lot of strawberries mulching the ground around them. It's a well draining spot, having the tiniest slope downhill from them.

I think they like dirt that is heavily mulched with organic matter, like a forest floor. My full sun gooseberries are doing much better ever since I mulched them with wood chips and my black currant plant in the same area started sending out underground runners that are popping up all over the place. I'm glad they are doing that because Bambi 😡 has decided she likes to eat the tops of the main bush.

Also, I'm in the PNW so my soil is acidic and the gooseberries enjoy it as much as the blueberries do. We don't have summer rain and I'm watering once a week or less.

Hope some of that helps a little. 🤷

I think this looks so interesting and simple but besides this one video, I can't find anymore information about it. When I look up reel and stick I just keep getting fishing reels.

I don't think that would work. Plants can only "eat" so much fertilizer and then the rest just gets washed out when you water or burns the plants.

To make the best of the situation, grow plants that like shade. You'd be surprised how many shade loving plants there are out there. And if you are in a very hot climate, there are actually a lot of plants that like a break from the sunlight when it gets really hot.

Do you get any sunlight at all? I'm sure we can help you come up with a list of plants that will like your location.

Carla Burke wrote:There's enough shooting going on (not daily - just enough to keep 'em on their 'toes'), that the deer are a bit wary of the crazy two-leggers in the big log box...
I do love me some good Bambi steaks, roasts, burgers, stew, & chili!

I wish I could get our Bambi to be afraid of us but she just laughs in my face. My children are a little more successful at trying to scare her- she moves a little faster when it's a pack of smaller two leggers making crazy noises. When I try to chase her away, she just looks at me and lazily strolls behind a tree to wait me out.

She's eaten all the leaves off my grapes and all the josta berries and every single baby apple off our favorite tree and keeps mowing the strawberries and raspberries. It's amazing the damage one deer can do. It's not like there aren't other things to eat around here. Her mom and the new twins stick to the woods in the backyard and the blackberries that line it. I don't know why she is so much more bold and fearless.

I think I'll give the pepper spray a try before she kills everything in my yard.

I have my own before/after yard pictures.

I think it's hilarious that these pictures are kind of the reverse of the before/after pictures you'd see on a typical lawn and garden website.

Manicured lawns <---> Seemingly wild chaotic wildness

I was waging war against the invasive blackberries last week when I thought, "Hey! I wonder if I can do something with this stuff?"

Yup! A little time spent on youtube and I found a great video to help me turn this...

into this...


(working on the 20' for a BB, I got about 3' in the short time I have spent on it so far)

I don't have a single picture but this same daughter in the post above made a beautiful circle skirt from a bright pink damask circle table cloth found at a thrift store. It turned out super cute.