Garden Disasters and other depressing moments

[Float On]

What are your garden fails?

I had 3 raised beds full of beautiful green beans ready to pick on Wednesday. I put it off one more day and went to the garden Thursday morning and discovered the neighborhood deer had a feast in the wee hours of the night. Dang it! They left me 6 green beans. The dog didn't get his treat - he spends the night outside for that very reason to keep the deer out of the garden. I'm about to give up the gardening until I can afford a fence.

[Jilly]

well, that is terrible. This year I will be starting from scratch next week, as I was out of town and there was not enough rain and the plants were so debilitated that I pulled them and tossed them. I did briefly mourn the wee Roma tomatoes that one of the plants had.

So, what did you make with your six green beans? :~)

[CathyA]

What a bummer, Float On! You have my deepest sympathies!

When I used to grow corn, seems like the coons would get to it a day before I was going to pick it.

Last year, even though I had a great fence, the mice would chew off the bottoms of the pole beans and kill the entire length of them.
Maybe next year you could put a couple rows of wire around the beds, to keep the deer out?

Not to late to plant more beans!
Again, so sorry!!
So sorry!

[herbgeek]

For several years now, my tomato plants have been infected with Septoria leaf spot. It eventually kills the plant as it spreads, so my tomatoes have been small and low yield. I've tried a natural remedy (I think its bT based)which worked some, last year it was copper, which worked somewhat better. This year I'm doing a super nutrition and foliar spraying route and well as some huge spaces between plants and so far (knock wood) they are doing good, but the cherry tomatoes that didn't get the super nutrition/spacing are just starting to see a little damage on the lowest leaves.

[Birdie]

I have a mouse visiting my tomatoes every night and eating the cherries. While I would rather not trap it, I might have to do it if the damage continues. Found my first squash bug on my zucchini. Need to be vigilant about picking them every morning until they are gone. Darn bugs.

[Gardenarian]

So sorry Float On! all that work..oh, well.

I had a rat jump out at me from the compost bin last night. Eeeeek!

[ctg492]

I am away from my gardens and yard work. My crazy train life to blame. I would pull in get dogs out of car and "power weed" as I call it. One or two weeks later again. Last week I came to a point of Let it Go. I can not care for my favorite hobby right now. I can not beat the weeds.>:( Only we that love our gardens can understand the depressing moments we feel because of gardening disasters!

[Rosemary]

Here are things that have happened to my garden here in MN over the past 10 years:
- raccoons took a bite out of every green tomato on the vine and left them hanging there. (This didn't happen again after we installed a deer/rabbit fence.)
- it rained so much that the strawberries molded before ripening (surprisingly, this did not happen this year)
- collards got powdery mildew and were not edible (kale does not seem to be susceptible fyi)
- asparagus mysteriously began failing and did not recover after several years of babying and not cutting. This year I have to finally admit that I have to start over.
- every year: it never looks like the garden I imagine, because things get so overgrown right around now. Unless it's my only pasttime, I cannot keep up with the weeds and keep everything in order. Oh well. It still produces a lot of food, and that's the main thing.

[goldensmom]

1. In August one year, with everything ready or near ready for harvest, the cows got out in the middle of the night and trampled and/or ate the entire (big) garden.
2. A few years later, in August, with everything ready or near ready for harvest, the neighbors cows got out in the middle of the night and trampled/ate the entire (big) garden.
3. We moved the location of the garden. Recently I saw the neighbor's cows coming toward the new garden. I went out yelling, swinging a baseball bat and they veered away.
I can put up with deer and rabbits, it's in the perspective.

[CathyA]

Last evening I saw a mouse running into the bottom of the pole beans. I think they bite off the stems to get water. So I took a little lid of water out and set it there. Hopefully that will keep them from ruining the pole beans.
We built a substantial fence 2 years ago, and so far, the only pests have been mice and insects. I'm sure the deer could jump over it (4' high), but I have so many vertical trellises in there, I'm sure that discourages them.
I think of the story "The Yearling", and how they had to shoot the deer, because it kept getting into their garden and it was the only food they had. We're lucky to not be in that position! But still........it's very sad to have our gardens ruined.

[pinkytoe]

I noticed while tending dd's garden yesterday (she is on vacation) that she put panty hose over every cluster of tomatos. It appears to be working at keeping birds and squirrels off of them. I was not so smart and they got every single tomato that grew. Right now, I am watching the tiny pecans form on our trees and it will be a bumper crop next fall. However, I also notice that the squirrels are stripping them off daily - so depressing.

[catherine]

I noticed while tending dd's garden yesterday (she is on vacation) that she put panty hose over every cluster of tomatos. It appears to be working at keeping birds and squirrels off of them. I was not so smart and they got every single tomato that grew. Right now, I am watching the tiny pecans form on our trees and it will be a bumper crop next fall. However, I also notice that the squirrels are stripping them off daily - so depressing.

Oh, wow, will that work for blueberries? I was going to go out today and try to find some garden netting to protect the two dozen berries I have on my bush!

[CathyA]

Use the bird netting with caution, as they can get caught in it and can't get loose. Just check it often.
I think if I were going to grow fruit, I'd build a fruit cage for it. That way, you only have insects to worry about, and no other animals.

[peggy]

oh that sucks float on! deer are such pests. one thing i've tried that seems to work when i actually use it is i whip up in my blender a mix of rosemary leaves, garlic and mint, and one or two eggs. add the eggs last and just whirl enough to blend or you'll end up with a blender of bubbles. strain this into a squirt bottle and spray on. seems to work right away but gets even better as it sits and ripens. deer dislike all these and i think it deters rabbits too. i spray every week or so depending on rain.
as i said it works when i do use it but i haven't for a while cause, yep, i managed to break the other arm. wrist actually, pretty bad so i had surgery and am being held together with plates and screws, /and chewing gum and bailing wire..lol/

try the blend. let me know if it works for you.

[iris lilies]

I don't need deer to destroy lilies when my own giant fat feet break off dozens of them each year. Right now I am babying 3 cultivars that, over time and moving, have shrunk to only a handful of stems. I want to build up their colony but wouldn't you know, I destroyed about half of them yesterday through careless weeding.

[Alan]

Peggy, I'm so sorry to hear about your broken wrist. At our age, pounding your fists on the podium is a bad idea. If I knew your address I'd send you a gavel for your soap box oratories because, well, I miss them. ;)

[CathyA]

Oh Peggy.....so sorry to hear about your wrist. Maybe you're just getting to be bionic? :)

[rodeosweetheart]

Peggy, sending you healing wishes!
Stupid, stupid rabbit ate all my cushaw starts and pumpkin starts.
Stupid, stupid apple boring leaf things ate all my apples after I had pruned tree and apple that had one apple last year was going to have about twenty apples.
Stupid, stupid me tromped on three lilies when putting up ladder to paint shed.
It's discouraging.

[Lainey]

Get well soon, Peggy.

[catherine]

oh that sucks float on! deer are such pests. one thing i've tried that seems to work when i actually use it is i whip up in my blender a mix of rosemary leaves, garlic and mint, and one or two eggs. add the eggs last and just whirl enough to blend or you'll end up with a blender of bubbles. strain this into a squirt bottle and spray on. seems to work right away but gets even better as it sits and ripens. deer dislike all these and i think it deters rabbits too. i spray every week or so depending on rain.
as i said it works when i do use it but i haven't for a while cause, yep, i managed to break the other arm. wrist actually, pretty bad so i had surgery and am being held together with plates and screws, /and chewing gum and bailing wire..lol/

try the blend. let me know if it works for you.

So sorry about your wrist!... but thanks for the deer deterrent recipe. I will try it.

[awakenedsoul]

Each year my garden seems to have some successes and some failures. This year I finally had a nice crop of tomatoes. I didn't realize that I had been overwatering them in the past. My neighbor told me to wait until they started to wilt, and then water them. It worked! A few of my fruit trees seem to be duds. They just don't produce. But, most of them are going great guns...I'm excited about all the little green fruits I see now that will be ripe around Thanksgiving. The zucchini plants are producing really well this season.

Hope some of your other plants are doing well, Float On. My aunt used to say, "Win a few, lose a few..." I think life is like that.

[Selah]

I spent over $150 and hours and hours of work constructing and filling three "square foot gardens" so I could "save money" (snort!) on growing fresh, organic vegetables of my own. At the time, I was living in Pahrump, Nevada. Even after erecting an elaborate system of shade cloth and wind protection, the climate just fried my little tomatoes and squash--I could not protect them. I reckon each tiny tomato I got cost around $8 EACH! I finally gave up and gave the boxes to a friend, who also eventually gave up trying to garden in that climate. I think her landlord's yard now has the boxes, lonely, abandoned, and full of weeds somewhere.

[peggy]

thanks everyone. it was my dog actually, who tackled me as i stood at the top of a rise, making me fall back and down. i think i'm over the worst of the pain. i just hate to be laid up during summer. my garden looks like hell!

i hope that mix works for you float. if it's the same deer who come back, perhaps if you know someone who hunts.;)