I hope someone out there is a seasoned gardener and can assist me. Just over two years ago we purchased our home. It is about seven years old and had an established yard when we bought it so we inherited a lot of plants we know nothing about.

A major portion of our backyard (we are on a corner of a cul-de-sac) is hedged by arborvitae. Portions of the hedge are dying. I can't stand to see the sickly brown against the healthy green so I've been chopping it out. Do I need to dig out the entire section and replace with a healthy young arborvitae plant? I have the unsightly bare spots in my otherwise thick, healthy hedge. And what causes it to die?

I also have issues with our pond. It is approx. 6 feet long by 3 feet wide. Our newest member of the family, Pepper the dog, has possibly punctured the liner from her many frolics in the pond. I've filled it twice already this summer and normally once is enough to last into the fall. My guess is her toenails left tiny holes. My thought is to cement the pond but I'm not sure how to do this myself and I'm too cheap to hire someone. Any ideas?

Oh...and just one more: we've got this fig tree that decided to grow a bounty of figs this year (last year only one lonely fig) and I have no idea when the fruit is ripe or what to do with it...sigh!

thank you for any help you can provide.
Peggy