In article ,
"DogDiesel" wrote:

Hello,

I'm hoping for some input. I'm pretty much done gardening this year. .
I've got a few tomatoes and peppers left. My eggplants did awesome. I'm
looking forward to next year already and my improvements. Here's my biggest
issue to overcome. I cant tell when my veggies are ready to be pulled. I
left the corn too long to the point the kernals got a little crinkly and
soft. The eggplants were lenient but should of been pulled. Some lettuce
bolted then I realized it was time. Some yellow tomatoes got real soft
last month. . I pulled some onion sets real early. Then lost the rest to
weeds mostly.

I've managed to get the weeds in check . The piles of hay and ground cover
actually worked really well. Ruth Stout wasn't full of crap. My work load
on weeds. was down about 75% .

Bug issues were not an issue . I only had bugs on fallen tomatoes. Flea
beetles early on the eggplants. And Japanese beetles were held in check by
sacrificing the grapes for the corn.

I have more trouble with ants in the house then bugs in the garden.

Look into oil of Pennyroyal which deters and sugar with boric acid
which kills.

--
Bill S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q0JfdP36kI
http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/index.php?lng=fr&acc=true