michelleann1 Any advice on squirrel-proofing?

Sigrid @Paul D'Amico
Gardening advice is usually for the climate the largest group of readers is in. In England, this is the South. In Russia, it is Moscow, so I always laugh at the Brits who think if hey are north of the M25, they are practically at the north pole in gardening terms. I grow tomatoes outdoors in the Moscow region.

You need the right varieties. The article's list included Ozark Pink, which is great in heat and humidity; Oregon Spring which is supposed to do well in cool springs; and SubArctic which was (depending on what story you heard) either developed for Alaska by an Alaskan or Greenland by the US Air Force for troops stationed there. Russian varieties are good, but sometimes people call Black Krim (Ukrainina) or Druzhba (Bulgarian) Russian and the Crimea and Bulgaria have resorts on the black sea.

You need to start indoors early and get some season extenders, like wall-o-waters. You need to not think that advice written for Italy or Surrey applies to you.

You need to figure out what blights are common in your area and pick a variety that is resistant. I remember England as being buggy and blighty. Nothing like those cold Russian winters for killing off diseases and pests.

Joyce Fenner Sheila & lalmstedt, I had the Goldfinch problem last summer when we had a drought. They ate all my flower leaves!

Joyce Fenner When my son was young we planted sunflowers & supported them by tying to the shed. This summer I have trellises & I'm planting sunflowers below them with his son, my grandson!

Marianne Lipanovich I love all these ideas for designs and the photos. Using gutters around your deck railings for shallow-rooted plants is a fantastic idea.

The weather doesn't seem to be cooperating in a lot of places, does it?

lilion So...finally I had a beautiful day and the time, while doing other neglected outdoor chores, and planted my spinach and lettuce. It's late, but I figured I'd at least get a bit before it bolts in the heat. I thought I'd try something new. I had a small piece of trellis and I lay that in the bed, and used the open spaces to plant in! I figured I'd get some nice plants with no weeds between and the trellis would deter the squirrels from digging. (My bird-netting has bitten the dust and I didn't want to buy more. It's so much work making my critter fortress!) I was so pleased with myself. Then yesterday I walk outside and a squirrel runs away and I see he had neatly dug up in about half the open spaces. :( I think the trellis just gave him a place to stand without getting his feet dirty.

Have I mentioned I hate squirrels? I hate them so very, very much.

Steve Masley Consulting and Design Squirrels are the worst pests, by far. Rats are a close second. The only thing that could be worse would be monkeys. Imagine trying to keep monkeys out of a garden!