Anyone Garden?

[johnpma]

I do just that......leaves on top and some lime. I planted garlic in one of my raised beds. I cover that with leaves as well.

Can't beat fresh veggies in prepared meals during the cold of the winter

 

[TekHearth]

My question is what is the best method of keeping deer and bunnies out of the veggies?....

I've had a lot of luck using the Nite Guard "Predator Eyes" on a 4ft post facing every direction in strategic areas throughout my yard. They are basically photovoltaic solar red LED lights that turn on at night and flash. They are supposed to trigger the deer's predator response. It mostly works for me, the only problem is you *must* keep moving the post every couple weeks or the deer get used to the location and start to ignore it.

I back up the predator eyes with a motion sensor sprinkler that kicks on when anything crosses it's path. Pretty hilarious to watch squirrels/foxes/raccoons and other critters get blasted by water! The Orbit 62100 is the one you want.

My neighbor's are always asking two things

1. - What's up with the red lights? Is that a security system??

2. - How is it that you are able to keep such a nice garden? The deer destroy everything I plant!

Good luck gardeners! Just finished getting my winter veggies in, will miss my summer veggies. Daughter is already asking when we can have more cucumbers!

 

[TekHearth]

2 + All tough oak leaves. ... I've seen them take 4 years or more to break down, even buried in the ground in thin layers...

I feel you. Surrounded by oak's on my property, they are tough little buggers, even in a hot compost pile they prefer to not break down. I finally got curious to find out why and discovered this:

"Oak leaves have a C:N ratio of about 60:1 and contain high levels of decay-resistant tannins, so they take a lot longer to break down"

Via a North Carolina state university study

In positive news, i still have my eye on a couple of my more troublesome "leaf droppers" and as I rake I keep trying to mentally calculate how many cords that tree is going to give me when I finally get around to cutting it down


Good luck gardeners!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I have all red oaks. The leaves on top stay great for suppressing weeds, the stuff underneath breaks down over the season. They all go fast enough in my compost pile.

If oak leaves are not shredded, then they mat up and prevent water from getting through- then they don't break down unless mixed with a "green" for composting. Hit them with the mower really quick and they are a MUCH more useful mulch.

 

[Lake Girl]

I've had a lot of luck using the Nite Guard "Predator Eyes" on a 4ft post facing every direction in strategic areas throughout my yard. ...
I back up the predator eyes with a motion sensor sprinkler that kicks on when anything crosses it's path. Pretty hilarious to watch squirrels/foxes/raccoons and other critters get blasted by water! The Orbit 62100 is the one you want.

A neighbor has the Predator Eyes ... Haven't heard about the Orbit 62100 ...thanks.

Deer actually stayed away til the very end of the season and topped the strawberry plants. They then wandered down to the house and had a tasty snack of some of my mums; the frost finished the job. The bunch closest to the house had a bit more protection from the frost but finally conceded to the snow....

 

[begreen]

What about during the deer protection during the daytime? The only thing that has worked 100% for me is a fence and a motion activated sprinkler.

 

[billb3]

A neighbor has the Predator Eyes ... Haven't heard about the Orbit 62100 ...thanks.

Deer actually stayed away til the very end of the season and topped the strawberry plants. They then wandered down to the house and had a tasty snack of some of my mums; the frost finished the job. The bunch closest to the house had a bit more protection from the frost but finally conceded to the snow....

I've never had deer eat my strawberry plants until this year and they only topped the new row of plants I procured from a pro grower.
At least one of them hopped a garden fence this year and topped just the romaine lettuce.

 

[johnpma]

Deer can be very destructive to gardens, shrubs, crops, and actually devastate a neighborhood. In the eastern part of the state here in Mass many of the anti hunters petitioned against the harvesting of animals primarily deer. Well their gorgeous expensive landscape was severely damaged by an over population or whitetail deer. Mass Wildlife had to step in and educate many in public forums about hunting and why it's important for hunters to control the population. It so simple......starving deer will eat anything to survive. Many just don't get it. Hunters keep the deer herd at a sustainable level.

They do a number on our Xmas trees. They love the buds. My son controls the population nicely on our property

 

[valley ranch]

RE: Deer, a fellow was describing how he finally stopped the deer entering his garden. He had fenced the garden area, but deer went over it without any problem. He ran a hot wire about 3' high, out 3' from the fence. At first he folded a piece of aluminum foil with peanut butter over the hot wire. The deer never jumped the fence again.

Richard

 

[johnpma]

it's that time again....I need a small tiller 21"-ish size Was looking at one at TSC "Huskie" anyone have any experience?

Started my plants inside. Have some green popping out....still on the cool side but the farm down the road already started putting lettuce in.

 

[shoot-straight]

asparagus are up, gonna give it a quick till this week. back to black plastic this year. still weeks from planing however. i have noticed that planting outside although its warm just is a waste. the plants just sit there and get beat up by storms. particularly tomatoes and such.

 

[begreen]

We have had peas, potatoes, beets, spinach, broccoli, and lettuce in the ground now for awhile. Cool soil does slow growth, but it still is happening. I just planted carrots yesterday. The main issue for us is staying ahead of the slugs and sow bugs. I usually wait until night time temps are in the 50s before setting warm weather plants outside, though I did just move one large tomato out of the greenhouse as an experiment. We expect to harvest our first cucumbers next week from the greenhouse. They are coming on strong now.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Everything is started in CT in the little greenhouse, was cheap, got it for $35 off of WOOT a couple years ago and works slick, its twice as much now on Amazon, but I'd still consider it knowing how easy it makes things and how limited our south facing window sill space is inside.

http://www.amazon.com/OGrow-Deluxe-...F8&qid=1429628989&sr=8-1&keywords=green+house

We hold it down with 8 -10 gallon jugs of water on the bottom shelves, they provide weight and then radiate heat back out on the cooler nights, so far so good.

Chickens turned the garden over nicely for us again this year. Down the last few snow piles in the yard here in NH. Crocuses are up though!

 

[Lake Girl]

Tossed some grass seed last week but didn't get the job finished. Covered with snow now

 

[billb3]

Snow on the ground into the second week of April.
We went on vacation for the last three weeks of March so couldn't start any seeds until April 1.
Got the last of the over-Winter carrots dug up, fruit trees pruned, peas planted. Will be a late start here, at least for some things.

 

[begreen]

Picked our first greenhouse cucumber today. Lots more to come.

 

[johnpma]

started my tomatoes squash and herbs in a small homemade cold frame Found a practically new 2013 cub cadet RT65 on CL for $250 had a minor issue I fixed. Runs like a champ Tilled the garden last night. Building another raised bed tomorrow still a few weeks from planting

 

[Nelson]

Yes, just a little

View attachment 133888

Nice garden Begreen! Say, what kind of tomato cages are those? They look like the square type. If so, how do you like them?

 

[begreen]

Thanks. They are actually triangular and work pretty well. Big plants eventually overwhelm them so I still need a core stake to hold the plant upright. But they work ok for supporting the plant.

 

[Nelson]

cool, thanks. I think I will give them a try

 

[Nelson]

I started my tomatoes a little too early and they got big quick on me. Put them out in the raised beds this weekend. Soil temps probably aren't quite where they need to be but extended forecast around here has temps staying in the 70s during the day and 50s at night so I'm hopeful that they will do ok.

 

[begreen]

They will probably be ok with those temps. If concerned cloche them or tent the bed with remay or plastic to raise soil temps.

 

[johnpma]

anyone have any effective ways of keeping ducks out of the garden. I've adopted 7 duck from the neighbor. They come straight to the yard and spend the day there. We are finding eggs all over the yard in nests on the edge of the woods I just think that they will trample the garden or eat the plants once we plant. Was thinking about a couple plastic owls or some netting around the garden

 

[billb3]

They will leave the weeds.

 

[begreen]

Ducks like escargot. They are great for eating slugs.