Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 123
Results 21 to 30 of 30

Thread: 2017 gardens

  1. #21
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    7,451
    Quote Originally Posted by CathyA View Post

    Tybee.....do your birds eat your spinach and lettuces? I've never had that problem.....yet.
    They eat it all in seed form.

  2. #22
    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    9,116
    You mean they peck it out of the ground? I occasionally have that problem. If you didn't want to use birdnetting, you could lay some hardware cloth (wire) or chicken wire above it and I don't think the birds would mess with it.
    Maybe I mentioned this above, but the mice would always eat my snow pea seeds and I found if I presprouted them, they wouldn't eat them. I'm not sure that would work with lettuces though. Maybe sprinkle some hot pepper flakes around?

  3. #23
    Senior Member KayLR's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    SW Washington State
    Posts
    2,756
    I had some little finches that would bite at my lettuces. Now I keep a chicken wire tunnel over the beds.
    My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already!

  4. #24
    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    9,116
    Picked my first green beans today. They are Romano and Hericot Verts. Boy, the mosquitoes have always liked hanging around the beans. I had to constantly swat them. Other things are growing rather slowly this year. My cucs haven't even started vining up the trellis yet, nor have my winter squash. All my tomatoes and peppers are in raised stock tanks and we haven't gotten much rain lately, so I have to water them about every 2 days. I used to love sitting in my cart beside the garden and watering everything overhead, but last year it seemed to really cause a lot of blight in the tomatoes, so this year I'm standing right next to them and only watering carefully at the base of the plants. It seems to be helping.
    I think the weather is finally warming up more consistently, which will help things grow. But we need rain! It's amazing how much better the plants respond to rain water, than to ground water.

    Also, I planted about 8 spruces and hemlock trees.......so I have to take water to them a lot too. I'm doing a rain dance.....

    The house wren is back, nesting in the top tube of the swing set I grow the cucumbers up. I want to remove that swingset next year to better position some things. But I'll keep it right outside the garden fence. Wouldn't want to upset the wren.

  5. #25
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    2,843
    We have dozens of darling quail that visit twice a day. The little buggers eat any young tender plant Last year they ate: eggplant, squash 3 times, peas, green beans. This year they ate my squash plants and stripped my marigolds to the center stem! Le sigh-covering all tenders is a lot of extra work.

    So...it's been HOT this last 14 days while we were away on vacation. My plants shot up like crazy! I think the tomatoes at least quadrupled in size and the eggplants shot up! So exciting to see that. Come on late August! so we can harvest!

  6. #26
    Williamsmith
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by CathyA View Post
    Picked my first green beans today. They are Romano and Hericot Verts. Boy, the mosquitoes have always liked hanging around the beans. I had to constantly swat them. Other things are growing rather slowly this year. My cucs haven't even started vining up the trellis yet, nor have my winter squash. All my tomatoes and peppers are in raised stock tanks and we haven't gotten much rain lately, so I have to water them about every 2 days. I used to love sitting in my cart beside the garden and watering everything overhead, but last year it seemed to really cause a lot of blight in the tomatoes, so this year I'm standing right next to them and only watering carefully at the base of the plants. It seems to be helping.
    I think the weather is finally warming up more consistently, which will help things grow. But we need rain! It's amazing how much better the plants respond to rain water, than to ground water.

    Also, I planted about 8 spruces and hemlock trees.......so I have to take water to them a lot too. I'm doing a rain dance.....

    The house wren is back, nesting in the top tube of the swing set I grow the cucumbers up. I want to remove that swingset next year to better position some things. But I'll keep it right outside the garden fence. Wouldn't want to upset the wren.
    I don't have many enduring memories with my father interacting with me as a child that are positive in a nurturing way but I do clearly recall building wren houses in the basement with him. He seemed to enjoy making wren houses out of anything and the wrens took to these tiny houses gratefully. It allowed me to see a gentle side of my father that I didn't see only on rare occasions. I do treasure that.

  7. #27
    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    9,116
    That's interesting Williamsmith. Seems like some men have problems with things that require some types of emotion, or interacting with their children. I'm glad you have that memory, at least.

  8. #28
    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    9,116
    Quote Originally Posted by Gardnr View Post
    We have dozens of darling quail that visit twice a day. The little buggers eat any young tender plant Last year they ate: eggplant, squash 3 times, peas, green beans. This year they ate my squash plants and stripped my marigolds to the center stem! Le sigh-covering all tenders is a lot of extra work.

    So...it's been HOT this last 14 days while we were away on vacation. My plants shot up like crazy! I think the tomatoes at least quadrupled in size and the eggplants shot up! So exciting to see that. Come on late August! so we can harvest!
    Can you put a fence around your garden? Or would the quails fly over it? My garden would be non-existent if we didn't have a good fence (4' high out of utility wire with 2' chicken wire all around the bottom). We put that one up about 6 years ago and haven't had a rabbit since. And I have so many raised containers and trellises, that the deer probably would get hurt badly if they jumped over it. Before this larger fence, I had a 2-3' chicken wire fence....which the rabbits just jumped over....along with the coons. So it was a constant battle. This has worked so far (except for insect problems). But if anything started to climb over it, I would add a strand of electrified wire at the top. It's really depressing to find all your hard work eaten.

  9. #29
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    2,843
    Quote Originally Posted by CathyA View Post
    Can you put a fence around your garden? Or would the quails fly over it? My garden would be non-existent if we didn't have a good fence (4' high out of utility wire with 2' chicken wire all around the bottom). We put that one up about 6 years ago and haven't had a rabbit since. And I have so many raised containers and trellises, that the deer probably would get hurt badly if they jumped over it. Before this larger fence, I had a 2-3' chicken wire fence....which the rabbits just jumped over....along with the coons. So it was a constant battle. This has worked so far (except for insect problems). But if anything started to climb over it, I would add a strand of electrified wire at the top. It's really depressing to find all your hard work eaten.
    Hi Cathy A, Our entire property is garden having removed all lawn. The back is fenced but those little buggers fit under the gate that is in back (required by county). we're hosed and having to cover anything we want to keep to be covered with netting. A pain in the but cuz we have to nail it down on the edges of the garden boxes. Once the plants get larger than tender greens, they leave them alone. When I bought my replacement squash last month, I kept them in my kitchen window until the leaves were getting quite big and then transplanted them. They look fine.

    It's hard to be at war with those cute birds. Tonight we have "popcorn quail" running around like crazy. (that's what we call the babies when Mom/Dad let them leave the nest to run and eat grubs/bugs.) So damn cute!

  10. #30
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    14,636
    Cukes and zucchini have a ton of blossoms but not a lot of fruit.. there are a couple of baby cucumbers coming along. We are having success with our deer-deterrent system: The ScareCrow linked with the deer net secured over hoops, although we left one end open one night and we had taken the ScareCrow out to mow the lawn, and we had a severe tomato plant casualty as a result. The netting prevented any widespread damage, though.

    On the flower front, my perennials are so much fun, but the deer just ate the heads off the phlox!! . But my daisies, balloon flowers, and echinacea look great. And the pollinators in the garden are LOVING the bee balm, lavender and gooseneck loosestrife.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •