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I do not think deadheading or not-deadheading is likely to make a big difference to the plant's health. Obviously if you deadhead you won't get rose hips but a whole lot of rose varieties won't produce hips *anyhow*. Personally I'd deadhead if the blooms were large (e.g. tea roses) and ignore if...

Hardneck garlic almost always does; softneck garlic almost never. Pat

It's probably best to. Most people will cut them as soon as they have curled into a full circle; some remove them sooner. Partly it depends on if you're eating them and want them very tender. Truthfully, I often miss some in my garlic and have not noticed that those plants produce any...

Some apricot varieties supposedly need crosspollination (that means with a different variety, not just another plant of same variety, and it often has to be *certain* other varieties not just any ol' thing) ; other apricot varieties do *better* with crosspollination but will still set fruit...

If it was just one clove, it is absolutely fine and will probably produce a bigger head than any you plant this spring :) In the north where you can get away with it, it's *preferred* to put your garlic cloves in in the fall, they grow larger that way. If it was a whole *head* that was missed...

What if you left a clear space, for dog use, of maybe 2' between the back of the border and the fence? The concept could be made clearer to the dog by putting in a bit of wire fencing or deer netting behind the plants (might need to flare the ends out a bit to 'funnel' the dog into it if any of...

Be aware that there are a lot of things that go under the "rugosa rose" umbrella (the term is usually used not just for the species R. rugosa [which comes in raspberry-sherbet-pink and in white varieties] but also for a whole host of hybrids with some rugosa heritage. There is a surprising (to...

Almost certainly a garter snake (that sort of checkerboardish-with-central-light-line pattern, and the color, is VERY VERY common in garter snakes in many areas, including where I grew up). Even in a given region, there is often variation in pattern, so even if your local garter snakes are...

I woulda called it a potato fork (just a small lightweight one) :P Pat

Another thing that Romaine takes to quite well, and can avoid some of the issues with funky tough/rough midribs on the most-mature leaves, is harvesting a few of the outer leaves every few days or week. My belief is that you get higher total harvest per plant this way than if you take the whole...

Yup, another vote for a "squumpkin" so to speak (i.e. a cross). You can TRY cooking and eating it, but usually they are more to chickens' tastes than to peoples'. OTOH there is certainly variation, both in "squumpkins" and in peoples' tastes, so sure, give it a whirl if you are feeling...

While it is sitting atop the soil as mulch, it will not break down much -- the finest parts will disappear somewhat (not clear to me how much they compost away to nothing vs how much they simply wash down into the soil where you can't distinguish them, I tend to suspect mostly the latter) but...

I would almost guarantee you can. I mean, I'd do it myself, for whatever that's worth :P "They say" that wood shavings, especially pine, makes soil acidic, but in the real world it usually *doesn't*. And if it did it'd be very easy to detect (do a pH test) and easy to correct (sack o' lime)...

What I described really doesn't take much in the way of daily attention. I mean, the worst that happens is you leave 'em more-protected than necessary for a few extra days, which is no biggie. An empty-except-for-plants cold frame in full sun will, of course, be hard to manage thermally. The...

FWIW I do things a bit differently (I am too lazy to carry lotsa plants around unless it is really unavoidable :P) There are three things you are hardening them off "for" -- temperature, sun exposure and wind/air-movement. All three are important, in the sense that if you screw up on any one of...

Actually I don't really wish to live a life that involves *quite* that much consumption of all the other animals' poo... but otherwise, yeah :) Me neither. I've repurposed the old tires to keep the sheep from knocking over water buckets and they are really mcuh more satisfactory for THAT...

I wouldn't fertilize newly planted trees at all til next year, personally. You want them a bit on the desperate side, setting roots outward and downward, not growing aboveground or setting too many roots right around where you planted 'em. If the native soil is not sufficient to sustain good...

David!! Hi! Good to 'see' you again! Post pics of new digs! (BTW, hey, I finally got a dog last summer, see, I really *did* want one LOL) Pat

How coarse or fine they are, and how many big spiky chunks mixed in, depends completely on the particular company and what equipment they use. So you would jsut have to see what they are like, if you're picky. Personally I think tree chippings are MARVELLOUS stuff, as long as you understand a...

Is this old growth or new growth that's looking like that? I would not draw any conclusions (or even have any suspicions) about soil until/unless I saw more than one pair of new-growth leaves (that is, come in SINCE planting in the ground) growing up yellowy. If you do see that in the new...