Beginner Gardening: new member, 1 by MaNewer

MaNewer wrote:
Thanks Rick and Lisa,

Below is a recent photo of the garden at noon which shows how much the garden is being shaded by the tree. At this point, I'm probably leaning towards cutting it down. There are hundreds of trees on my half acre here and I really can afford to lose one now and then. I'll post again if/when I get the nerve to 'pull the trigger.'

Lisa, your advice about cutworms and grubs is timely. When I dug up the sod I encountered a few and dealt with them at the time. I'll keep my eyes open now for more. Right now we've got hundreds of tiny (quarter inch) grass hoppers jumping all around. The only nibbling I can see so far is on the Mammoth sunflowers - and that was only on one of them. I hope they don't become a bigger problem. Another issue I may face soon (this evening maybe) is hail. I'll have to do a search here to see what you all do about that threat.

Thanks again for your comments,
Mary