An animal has been gnawing on our front door for years. We've repainted repeatedly to discourage it, but no luck. What can we do?
Many animals chew on things that you would not expect in order to find salts or wear down their teeth. Squirrels, for example, have been known to chew on front doors. Even deer might find a front door tasty if salt spread to melt ice has splashed on it. You could try setting up a wildlife camera to catch the critter in the act. Once an animal has established a habit of chewing on something, it is hard to stop it. Commercial products with ingredients such as hot pepper may work. Reapply until the critter gets trained to leave the door alone. Call the USDA Wildlife Hotline for additional ideas: 877-463-6497.
My cucumbers won't ripen. Other vegetables in the same garden ripen just fine, so I don't think the problem is the soil or how I water them. I haven't had a big green cucumber for years — just yellow ones.
Immature cucumbers are green or whitish-green, then dark green when mature. Large yellow fruits are a sign that yours are past ripe. We suspect your cucumber variety hits its prime when small. Pickling cucumbers should be harvested at 4-6 inches. Even slicing cucumbers are best at no more than 7-8 inches long. Allowed to get larger, they get more and more yellowish. (There are some yellow cucumber varieties, but we doubt that's what you have.) There are a vast number of cucumber varieties available. Throw away all cukes presently on your vines. This will stimulate the vines to produce more cucumbers. Harvest when they are green and small, before they start to yellow.
University of Maryland Extension's Home and Garden Information Center offers free gardening and pest information at extension.umd.edu/hgic. Click "Ask Maryland's Gardening Experts" to send questions and photos.
Cloudy spot
Cloudy spot appears as white blemishes on young fruit and as yellow patches on mature ones—often on tomatoes. It is not a disease, but rather the result of piercing and sucking by stinkbugs. Fortunately, damage is shallow, extending only slightly below the surface of the fruit, and can be cut out. It does not affect flavor. However, gardeners should get a handle on stinkbugs before they cause damage on other vegetables. Effects include: causing blossoms and pods to drop prematurely, introducing disease in lima beans, and forming pimples or warty growth on okra and beans. The brown marmorated stinkbug is now established in the U.S., while green and brown stinkbugs have been around for a long time. All need control. Search stinkbugs on the HGIC website for control tips.
—Ellen Nibali