“When moles are most active, about 20 percent of the calls agent Dave Pehling takes at the Washington State University extension office in Everett, Wash., are from people exasperated by moles.

“There’s not really a lot we can tell them,” Pehling said. That’s because nothing really works for long to get rid of a mole, and if it does, another will just move in”.

But if you can contain your irritation, there is a plus side.
“People should be grateful for moles, agrees Linda Chalker-Scott, associate professor and extension urban horticulturist at Puyallup for Washington State University.

“They are definitely your friends. They are nature’s little rototillers; they aerate the soil and do a wonderful job of bringing a lot of organic material into the soil. They are doing all this great work for us, we don’t have to pay them anything, and most of us are out there trying to kill them.” Read more..

And the soil from those molehills can be converted into excellent potting compost. Read more..

Slugs are another common problem for many of us. The way that they nibble at our emerging plants I find particularly annoying. Suggested remedies are many and varied. My bookshelf contains a slim volume entitled “50 Ways To Kill A Slug” which lists all the conventional forms of control plus several weired ideas. Kym Pokorny writing in The Oregonian has her own suggestions. Read more..

The fact that there are so many different ways to make compost tends to make the process seem more complicated than it really is. Here’s a suggestion for making compost indoors using some rather unusual ingredients:

Related posts:

1. Exploring the Compost – Garlic Connection
2. Slugs And Snails And How To Save Your Plants
3. Green Lawns, Children And Beneficial Pests

Of the many ways of propagating plants division is one of the simplest. There’s no fiddling with seeds or complicated grafts, just dig up the plant, divide it into smaller pieces and then replant small sections where you want them to grow. Of course this is not suitable for all plants, but works well for many perennials as Tony Tomeo explains. Read more..

“THE quest for gardening’s holy grail is over. It’s a blue rose – and it will be gracing flower arrangements near you thanks to an Australian company”. The article continues in similar vein and then almost breathlessly confides: “The blue rose has almost mystical connotations. Associated with royalty and ‘love at first sight’, they are also symbols of the ‘impossible dream’ – most likely because of the difficulty associated in developing them”. I’m not sure what all the fuss is about since we have had the rose “Blue Moon” for years although that is not regarded as a true blue, but rather more lilac or mauve. Then again this new Applause rose is being described by some as a “wishy washy mauve”. See what you think. Read more..

And finally I couldn’t resist this quote from Mel Gibson:
“Some of the best advice I was given, a long time ago, was from a guy who said, ‘You want to make yourself better, go and dig a ditch.’ So, a lot of that’s been going on, ditch-digging, vegetable-growing”.

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