Anyone Garden?

[valley ranch]

Some plants are ready to be planted. The greenhouse at the lower ranch is small, for starting seedlings. The plastic covering is tinted, the back half is covered with shade cloth, seedlings are moved into the front half once they sprout, than into the garden when strong enough.


We should have a section for gardening. Maybe the Webmaster will do that for us.

Richard

 

[Adios Pantalones]

No need to bury fence- just chicken wire that extends along the ground for a foot or so. The groundhog infiltration stopped as soon as I did that almost ten years ago

 

[billb3]

part of my front yard

some zucchini, summer squash and watermelon




some of my tomatoes

 

[begreen]

Very nice billb. Do you save up fall leaves for spring mulch?

 

[bsruther]

We grow vegetables every summer and get a lot of enjoyment from it. We've been planning for a few years to make a tiered box garden for the unused space behind the retaining wall and finally got around to it this spring. It was cheap and easy and wish I'd done it sooner. Needed a better place to grow peppers and it's working out very well, so far. The top box has potatoes, it's our variation of a potato tower. We don't expect to get a lot of spuds out of it, just wanted to experiment a little. Definitely the tallest potato plants we've ever had though.

Last year we grew corn in the big garden (silver queen). We only got about half germination which I think was due to planting too early, when the soil was too cool.
This year, we tried a hybrid corn from Gurney's (gotta have it). Waited until the third week in May to plant (tested the soil temp with my temp gun) and germination was 99%.
If we like this corn, we'll plant it in the big garden next year. The weedy looking stuff at the end of the corn is Asparagus, we got a lot of it this year and it was great.

If everything grows well, we''ll be canning tomatoes, salsa and green beans this year.

 

[begreen]

You have beautiful gardens bsruther. I like the tiered box wall. We have tried several corn varieties, last year was Kandy Korn. This year we are growing Sugar Buns again which is our favorite. It tolerates cooler soils better and has good flavor.

What do you do to keep raccoons out of the corn and deer away from the box wall?

 

[bsruther]

You have beautiful gardens bsruther. I like the tiered box wall. We have tried several corn varieties, last year was Kandy Korn. This year we are growing Sugar Buns again which is our favorite. It tolerates cooler soils better and has good flavor.

What do you do to keep raccoons out of the corn and deer away from the box wall?

Thanks bg. raccoons haven't been much of a problem the past few years, I think the coyotes are keeping their numbers down. Just to be safe, I'll put a trail cam on the corn a few weeks before it's ready to pick and if I see any, they'll be dispatched with the 10/22.
The deer are pretty skittish around here and don't come close to the house very often. The corn's a little further from the house, so in a month or so, I'll plug a radio in behind the garage and leave it on and turn on the motion light, that seems to do the trick. We do other scenting type things to keep the deer from eating our young trees which also helps.

Chipmunks are the only problem we have at the moment. I got one, but there are more. I'm hoping at least one of them will go for a swim in the 5 gallon bucket tonight.

 

[BrotherBart]

 

[bobdog2o02]

That coon is having a bad day. I dont think its PC to say how i would have handled that..........

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Just remember, the raccoons will think the corn is ready a day before you do.

 

[begreen]

Or a few weeks. We've had them take down the stalks and chew on them. Now I put a portable electric fence around the corn if in the ground based garden and 4ft of deer fencing around them in the raised beds.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

My buddy uses the motion sensor attached to an old radio to keep the Bears off his bird feeders works well. Like that idea for garden intruders too.

Had a bear in the yard two says ago, must've been 350 pounds easy. First time I had shivers sent down my spine from one. Thankfully my feeders are down for the year and they don't bother the garden, that thing would devour it all in a nite if she liked veggies.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Any idea what the little black and brown buggers are that are devouring my lillies?
I'll try to upload a better picture later from the pc but they're slug like, may be slugs? About 3/8" long and clusters of them.
Gonna try to neem oil on them later unless anyone knows a better way?

 

[Bobbin]

Bet it's woodchucks, Warm., those suckers will eat pretty nearly everything, and bulbs/tubers are really yummy (unless it's narcissus).

 

[billb3]

View attachment 134568

Any idea what the little black and brown buggers are that are devouring my lillies?
I'll try to upload a better picture later from the pc but they're slug like, may be slugs? About 3/8" long and clusters of them.
Gonna try to neem oil on them later unless anyone knows a better way?

Got ours too.
I thought caterpillar from the size of the poops but couldn't find one.
Ate everything but the flowers and stem.
I had screens around them because the rabbits were eating them.

 

[Bobbin]

Bright red beetles (actually quite pretty)= Lily Leaf Beetles. The larvae are about a half an inch long and have the attractive habit of cloaking themselves in their excrement... nondescript=grey/brownish. They're capable of defoliating lilies in no time flat! Lily Leaf Beetle is pretty recent to New England (spreading west steadily) and you have to get out daily to pick the adults and plunge the grubs into a "bubble bath". They suck! lilies used to be "bullet-proof", but no longer.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

http://bugguide.net/node/view/403597

Yep. That's the culprit!

I'll let ya know how neem oil works on them. They'll be getting dosed shortly.

 

[billb3]

Ha !
I just checked mine and after picking a couple leaves to see how the heck the poops are on the ends of the leaves crushing several big ugly poops on the nearby fence noticed that inside the poop was a larvae.
Also have a couple red beetles fornicating away.
I only had garden powder .
I remember looking up what these weird things were a couple years ago too.

 

[johnpma]

Slow start up in the hills where I am due to the late winter and wet spring. Temps are usually 5-8 degrees cooler up in the hills then down in the valley. First time garden in the farm home we purchased back in January. Was told by the old timers in the area that the family who owned the home farmed the land and it is pretty fertile. Decided to put in a trial plot consisting of tomato's, cukes, summer squash, zucchini, pumpkins, kale, green beans, and peas. The raised beds will have onions, red peppers, garlic, and herbs.

Having a lot of fun watching things take off. Whole family has been a big help.

 

[billb3]

Very nice billb. Do you save up fall leaves for spring mulch?

2 + acres worth, chewed up once with the mower deck, again in the Spring . All tough oak leaves. Chewing them up helps stop them from blowing away and helps a little bit in the compost pile added to lawn clippings although I've seen them take 4 years or more to break down, even buried in the ground in thin layers. Means I have to sift compost before I use it. PITA but it's what I've got.
My dad had a flail grinder that chewed them up much smaller but the local Toro places can't get it running.

 

[mass_burner]

i don't plant anything that any critter would want: tomatoes, chili peppers, basil, potatoes. a curious deer will still chew a small tomato plant, until it figures out it doesn't taste good.

 

[valley ranch]

Some nice garden shots since I was by last.

 

[johnpma]

We have black bears, ducks, deer, fox, and raccoons in the yard all the time. Nothing has touched the garden yet.......knock on wood LOL

 

[mass_burner]

We have black bears, ducks, deer, fox, and raccoons in the yard all the time. Nothing has touched the garden yet.......knock on wood LOL

i think the most destructive is the common squirrel.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Chipmunks will take a bite out of every tomato here. Always on the bottom out of sight, they look great until you go to pick them and grab a handful of rotten slime.