Larry,

That is so funny. Your bees are good animal trainers.

Yesterday I pruned back the ornamental sweet potato plants I have growing in the main veggie garden. I used them as a living mulch underneath pepper plants. It mostly has worked out great since the dense growth shades the soil and keeps the soil moist, but the plants are growing out into the pathways. I was thinking as I pruned them and carried the long branches of leaves back to the compost pile/deer feeding area that the deer were going to have a real treat...and they did.

We have a crazy high number of bumble bees this year---even more of them than the honey bees, and they aren't happy when I am picking cucumbers while they are pollinating the flowers. I'm just glad to have so many bees.

Dawn

Something trained our deer too well. There are very few leaves or flowers on our sweet potato vines--after spraying them with deer repellent twice. But not after the rain we got a week ago which must have washed every trace of it away.

Dorothy, I have good luck just stringing a hot wire along the edge of the vines. It looks like I am going string one along the sweet potatoes also. They have stopped eating my cantaloupes, melons and peas, but moved to the sweet potatoes. I hate stringing wire all over my yard, but may have to. It seems as though once they get against the hot wire a time or two, they eat some where else. I have not hooked the fence up yet, and did not last year. We may have some new deer or maybe their memory is getting like mine.