My vegetable garden is fenced in for Deer, but last year a plague of rabbits descended and wreaked havoc. The fence had holes too large to keep them out - they were shameless, they weren’t afraid at all, I’d get within 4 or 5 feet of them before they’d scurry off. I wanted to murder them but the wife and daughter pleaded for clemency. I’m starting to put chicken wire all around the garden, it’s a job man.
I saw some coyote in the area over the winter, and I’m hoping they did some good work on the rabbit population.
I am very much a beginner gardener, and I have very little space to work with. But, I am amazed at how much my phlox grew from when I planted it last April to today:
My wife is trying gardening for the first time, just about to start because the ground is just starting to thaw now. We have a ton of squirrels, rabbits, and coyotes here. Maybe I should capture a coyote and keep it to guard the plants?
I have a little 4x4 raised bed with a trellis on one side that has been unused for the past couple of years. I’m going to put it a bunch of lettuce starters this week (I think I can do 30 or 40), and then 2 or 3 tomato plants on the trellis once the starters are ready in a month or so.
The local garden center is going to select all the lettuce starters for me and I’ll pay over the phone and do curbside pickup. I think that is safe enough.
The logs were from a big limb that came down on the wires in the last storm. The original border of one bed was from a dead pine that was blown over in a wind storm about 10 years ago. I may replace the remaining pieces, or not.
I transplanted those daisies in the cart to another location where we’re buliding a fire pit area. They will compete with ivy, forsythia, and garlic mustard.
I ended up keeping the seedlings in the cart for too long, so many were sold out by the time I bought them. I ended up with a lot of peppers and some tomatoes. I’ll plant some potatoes this week, if it stops raining. At least by Friday, because I’m taking the day off . I’ve also got some garlic sprouting in my kitchen, so I’ll put that in. In another bed, some my herbs are coming in, mostly oregano, and surprisingly, not the mint. I thought mint was unstoppable, but I might have to plant some.
Anybody have good resources for identifying young plants/weeds?
I planted a bunch of random wildflower seeds a month or so ago and a.) I am now having internal battles every day deciding whether a given little plant is a weed or a flower and b.) I have some big cluster of something growing that is certainly not from my seeds but I have no idea what it is. It could be a perennial from last year that I had written off for dead but I have no idea what it looked like last year when it was young. If it’s a giant weed I’d like to kill it sooner rather than later.
Got all my lettuce starters planted. (Well actually, my wife and daughter did all the planting after I weeded and mixed in some more compost and peat.) Going to put a few tomatoes on the trellis and maybe some herbs later in the summer when it gets too hot to keep the lettuce producing.
Got my seedlings on Friday, and planted them yesterday. It wasn’t tomatoes, but tomatillos, and purple ones at that. I also planted some lettuce and cilantro, as I had those seeds leftover. I order a few other seed packets from Johnny’s last week, but they are delayed because of the virus. My other herb plot is doing pretty well. some of the mint did survive, and the two oregano varieties are already very big and probably ready to start using. The garlic might survive, and the potatoes haven’t sprouted yet. It’s going to be in the 70’s for most of the next 10 days, so I should start to see some more action.
What do you all do to keep your plants from getting eaten by critters.
We had big plans for gardening when we bought our house, but most of the stuff we plant doesn’t make it to harvest. Voles and rabbits are the main culprits. But I’m sure other critters are involved. Birds eat the cherries and plums.
I grow lettuce and tomatoes and herbs which seem to be left alone. Otherwise voles and groundhogs and who knows what else gets everything. A few years I grew tons of broccoli and just about when it was ready for harvest something ate like 20 plants all in one night. Pissed me right the fuck off.
I used to have chicken wire around the beds to keep the rabbits out. Maybe I’ll resurrect it. Groundhogs and maybe others will dig under fences, though. I was thinking root vegetables would be less susceptible to damage, but I don’t know about voles.
My garden was fenced in enough to keep Deer out, but had holes in it small enough to let Rabbits in. This wasn’t a problem until last year when a plague of rabbits descended on me and ate damn near everything.
This spring I dug down 6-12 inches along the inside perimeter and put up 4’ of poultry wire. It took a while since it’s an enormous garden, but so far so good. I’m trying to check every few days to see if something dug under it.
Also wanted to share this sick brag - I’ve got really mature asparagus beds and they’re popping out some beefy boys this year. I do have a case of Trump Hands, but I wear a glove size medium, for scale.
I want to make a hanging garden on my apartment patio. It gets direct sun from like 2-9:30 in the summer. Any tips or opinions on how I should get started? Here’s the space.
I totally jinxed myself by saying I’m only growing lettuce and tomatoes this year because animals never touch them. A mouse or vole or something small like that has been getting after my lettuce. Time to go Caddyshack on the little fuckers.
. I’ve also got some garlic sprouting in my kitchen, so I’ll put that in. In another bed, some my herbs are coming in, mostly oregano, and surprisingly, not the mint. I thought mint was unstoppable, but I might have to plant some.
