Q:Is this creature a pest that should be killed or is it harmless to a home and garden?

Good for a garden, snails is among the fauna you want, along with but not limited to worms, ants, and praying mantises.

Q:My friend father died and asked that his ashes be spread into the garden of his home. He had cancer and will this pollute this garden? The bible speaks of ashes to ashes and dust to dust, so will this affect the growing of the plants or fruits?

Often there are more than ashes (such as teeth, etc.) inside the jar. Please make sure that ashes are all that are there before exposing your friend to it. No one would want to see that part of their parent! Just check it before you let him spread it. PS these are considered a biohazard so do not tell very many people. You don't want a health code violation.

Q:The Statistical Abstract of the United States gives the median size of a home garden as 663 square feet.

that means that exactly half of the gardens in the US are bigger and exactly half are smaller than that area.

Q:I lost my favorite recipe from a cookbook my grandmother gave me. I know the cookbook was Better Homes and Gardens, most likely published in the 1960's as a souvenir edition. The specific recipe was for lasagna on page 166. Does anyone else have the same recipe?

Well, it's page 182 in my mother's old BHG cookbook. I can't tell you what year it's from other than the 50s or 60s because the first few pages are gone and the binder is held together with carton sealing tape! But some of these recipes are the same as in my edition from 1982 and some are totally different so I've kept both books. Lasagne (notice how it's spelled with an e at the end!) 1 pound Italian sausage, bulk pork sausage or ground beef 1 clove garlic, minced 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley 1 Tablespoon basil 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 1-pound can (2 cups) tomatoes 2 6-ounce cans (1 1/3 cups) tomato paste 10 ounces lasagne or wide noodles 2 12-ounce cartons (3 cups) large-curd cream-style cottage cheese 2 beaten eggs 2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1 pound Mozzarella cheese, sliced thin Brown meat slowly; spoon off excess fat. Add next 6 ingredients to meat. Simmer, uncovered, till thick, 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Cook noodles in boiling, salted water till tender; drain; rinse in cold water. Combine cottage cheese and next 5 ingredients. Place half the noodles in 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish; spread half the cottage cheese mixture over; add half the Mozzarella cheese and half the meat mixture. Repeat layers. Bake in moderate oven (375 F) 30 minutes. Let stand 10 to 15 minutes before cutting in squares. Makes 12 servings. I sure hope this is what you were looking for after all this typing! Enjoy your lasagna!

Q:the state of new mexico will allow medical marijuana to be legally grown by persons who qualify for it. federal law enforcement officials may still be able to arrest those who DO grow marijuana for possession.

If regulations MUST be applied, the Health Department should determine where it's grown, in that context, individuals growing it would certainly present many problems. Federal State law conflicts like this are absurd. Until/if this is settled, ...patients will have to buy pot wherever they can find it. That means they'll have to buy it from illegal dealers, at great cost possible risk. Note ajunker's ..far safer than having a lot of marijuana coming in from outside.. Legalizing it nation-wide would stop border smuggling border patrol corruption. In spite of anti-marijuana advocates who claim marijuana leads to use of harder drugs, I have never seen any studies that have credibly drawn this conclusion. I HOPE EVERYONE WILL READ THE LINKS PROVIDED BY AJUNKER. I do not prescribe medications, but I'm quite well informed about them, their side effects contraindications with other meds.

Q:I have a relatively small garden and I would like to take take care of the pests using an organic treatment. Any suggestions for DIY remedies, or commercial products?

I too have a small garden. I have stopped using pesticides. When there is a really bad infestation of greenfly or those grey/black larva that hide under the cherry leaves etc I hose them off with water (A garden sprayer that takes about 5 litres, can be pumped up to a reasonable pressure and has a shoulder strap so it is easily transportable) If it is really bad I spray them with ecological soap mixed with water. But strange to say that since stopping the use of pesticides a natural balance of predatory insects seems to have become established, and I have no real problems anymore. I admit to using stuff called Bordeaux mixture on my roses - a fungicide.

Q:were they do a sort of quot;chess gardenquot; were instead of chess pieces they have black and white river stones,i am doing the same design on my house, but there are a few instructions missing, like i need to know what is mean to go under the stones , like a protective covering,these things prove viatal, for this is a gift for my father as he does not know of my doings for this gifts!!thank you , your help is infact, much apreciated!!!

i did some searches on hgtv and on diy and couldn't find anything about a chess garden with river stones. the product you are looking for to put under the river stones is called landscape fabric. it keeps weed from growing up thru the stones but allows water to drain thru. if you have other questions you can e-mail me. good luck.

Q:How do u get rid of lizards & garden snakes outside your home? Pls help!?

soak a piece of cotton in water and throw it towards a lizard....make sure it has enough water content to make it stick on the wall.....the lizard would think it to be an insect and would pounce on it...but it wont be able to take the piece of cotton inside it....so......it will desperately try and be free from it....it would then go out of your house..... make sure the piece of cotton is not big enough

Q:I am looking to fix a relatively cheap soil test kit, most likely one that you send out to a lab for results, which will tell me if my soil is safe to plant a vegetable garden in. I have found a bunch of different soil test kits, i.e. PH, moisture, etc. but none for contaminates. Thank you for all of your help in advance !

I can only speak from experience which is slightly old now that I'm retired.......The tests for contaminants is contaminate specific, that is you must specify what contaminant you are looking for and then the appropriate test is made.......at a very high cost......$150 a pop back then. We could not do a broad screen contaminate test.....we had to have an idea first. I'd suggest you have a typical soil test done by a Laboratory and include micro nutrients such as iron, etc. Contact your Cooperative Extension agent in your county to learn about the soil test process, how to properly gather the soil and how to package and of course, how much $ to include. The agent can also help decide if the soil might have been contaminated. A simple test for herbicides is to gather some soil into two pots. In one grow lawn grass or corn and in the other grow beans. Certain herbicides work on either a monocot or dicot type plant. For example if you can't grow the bean but can grow the corn you know the soil has residual herbicide for dicots.

Q:Please share your thought.

All seed packets are dated. All you have to do is look at the date.