Tiffany,
Those chamberbitters sound like a real garden thug. It's tough to keep on top on the weeds when they grow so fast . The raised beds sound like a great idea, easier to weed, you can choose the soil and it's easier to keep the bugs off
TK,
I'm also in Ontario, maybe a bit further north than yourself. Am going to look up those peppers, it's always nice to try new types. There were hundreds of gypsy moth caterpillars crawling on everything but only a few moths so far...I guess they're still coming. It could be JBs eating your maple, I saw some red maples not far from me and all the new branches were almost stripped down to nothing. I found about 8 beetles on one Zinnia flower alone
