Garden 2012 thread.....BARGAIN ALERT

[shootback]

My girl went out to our backyard garden to pick some lettuse for dinner last night only to find we've been hit! Something ate ALL the lettuse (both kinds) and ate all of the brussel sprout plants right down to the stalk. Not sure what did it but I'll be watching and post pictures of the next varmit that enters the garden.

 

[xtry51]

Get a game camera and set it up

 

[pernox]

Chicken wire was the best thing I ever did for my garden - other than fresh compost, that is.

Between the rabbits, ground hogs, and cat crap... We had a couple lean years before I dropped a few bucks on chicken wire to ring all the beds with. It can be a pita to work around sometimes, but if you set things up right it's worth the effort to stop losing food. Now we only lose what hangs outside the fence - a couple peas and beans usually.

 

[Rancho]

I used the 2 foot tall livestock style fence around the garden. Oddly part of it is open and the rabbits seem to miss the open part and we've got lots of rabbits around..

 

[atmay]

Something ate my basil and bell peppers

 

[Hiltonizer]

We got some 5" u-posts from tractor supply and plastic chicken wire... seems to be doing a sufficient job of keeping our free ranging chickens out of it.. and in it when we want them to fertilize/till.

 

[MisterHappy]

Last week, a woodchuck got into the garden, and got to a few cuke plants.

Then, my Pomerainian, Spot, got into the garden wiht the woodchuck.

Most of the 'chuck is still there - less what Spot ate.

Now, the 'chuck that ate my food, will become my food.....

 

[MisterHappy]

Bargain Alert

for you late-season types, of for those that have to fill in holes caused by depredation:

River's Edge Garden Center in Framingham

http://www.iloveriversedge.com/

Is running a 1/2 price sale ("Buy Lots!" the sign says) on all veggies.

Some of the 6-pack tomatos are huge, and I picked up a few hungarian peppers....that already have peppers on the plant!

I got a replaceemtn for the woodchuck fodder (6-pack) and the peppers (6-pack) for .....$3

I have no relation to them, other than getting stuff there, but thought I'd let all [STRIKE=undefined]cheap bastids [/STRIKE] frugal Yankees know.

 

[OPM]

for you late-season types, of for those that have to fill in holes caused by depredation:

River's Edge Garden Center in Framingham

http://www.iloveriversedge.com/

Is running a 1/2 price sale ("Buy Lots!" the sign says) on all veggies.

Some of the 6-pack tomatos are huge, and I picked up a few hungarian peppers....that already have peppers on the plant!

I got a replaceemtn for the woodchuck fodder (6-pack) and the peppers (6-pack) for .....$3

I have no relation to them, other than getting stuff there, but thought I'd let all [STRIKE=undefined]cheap bastids [/STRIKE] frugal Yankees know.

I like River's Edge Garden Center. Great people.

 

[Sammie]

This is my new favorite thread. I've been growing my own veggies for years but I moved into a condo last month and apparently I'm not allowed to grow vegetables, only flowers. It's really weird for me to not be able to go outside and pick some food. So, I am living vicariously through this thread!
And in the meantime trying to get a community garden in the works.

 

[pernox]

Woodchuck is back.

This time it's a fattie, and knocked over some of the chicken wire to eat all the tasty bits off my cucumber plants..

Time for a trap and a .22 in the head.

 

[Prepper]

Me too... ground hog ate several cuke plants this week. What explosives work well on these things?

 

[pernox]

Me too... ground hog ate several cuke plants this week. What explosives work well on these things?

If the explosives are cased in brass and placed behind a soft piece of lead, I think they'll work great.

So far I've caught three squirrels and damn near my dog. No woodhog yet. He's also stopped eating veg plants, so he may have moved on to greener pastures.

 

[Prepper]

Today's an important day for me.... my first season of gardening ever, and after a move to NH... I got a bit of a late start due to that move, but the radish look ready and the various mixed greens are at least big enough for sampling. So, we tried those today, as-is without any preparation so we know what they taste like pre-processing. They seem pretty good, at least as far as radish and mixed greens go. But now I have a few questions...

I have come to realize the radish plants are 95% leaves. So, it seems a waste to only eat the bulbs. Who here eats radish leaves? What do you do with them? Are they good for me? I was curious so I ate one... seems reasonable enough, and sort of tasted like the mustard leaves that I also sampled. Now that they are "ready", how long can they remain in a "ready" state before "something bad happens" to them like them bolting or rotting or tasting bad? We're about to leave for vacation and I'm hoping they will still be fine after a week. There's like 200 of them, which is way too many, so I can't really eat all at once. Note to self... stagger them. Does anyone freeze them or do anything to keep the bulbs (or leaves) longer?

The mustard and arugula were big enough to sample but probably not at optimum picking time yet (not enough on them to get a lot of greens from the tiny plants). How much time should I expect to have between them being ready and going bad? Or can I keep on picking leaves off them over an extended period of time?

This is fun.

 

[daveyburt]

I've also been foraging in the garden - neighbors are probably betting a laugh. If a small broccoli head goes to flower, I snip it and eat it. I was removing a bunch of extra lettuce sprouts and couldn't let those go to waste either.

How do I make my brussels sprouts sprout? I'm all plant no sprouts....

 

[pernox]

Today's an important day for me.... my first season of gardening ever, and after a move to NH... I got a bit of a late start due to that move, but the radish look ready and the various mixed greens are at least big enough for sampling. So, we tried those today, as-is without any preparation so we know what they taste like pre-processing. They seem pretty good, at least as far as radish and mixed greens go. But now I have a few questions...

I have come to realize the radish plants are 95% leaves. So, it seems a waste to only eat the bulbs. Who here eats radish leaves? What do you do with them? Are they good for me? I was curious so I ate one... seems reasonable enough, and sort of tasted like the mustard leaves that I also sampled. Now that they are "ready", how long can they remain in a "ready" state before "something bad happens" to them like them bolting or rotting or tasting bad? We're about to leave for vacation and I'm hoping they will still be fine after a week. There's like 200 of them, which is way too many, so I can't really eat all at once. Note to self... stagger them. Does anyone freeze them or do anything to keep the bulbs (or leaves) longer?

The mustard and arugula were big enough to sample but probably not at optimum picking time yet (not enough on them to get a lot of greens from the tiny plants). How much time should I expect to have between them being ready and going bad? Or can I keep on picking leaves off them over an extended period of time?

This is fun.

Typically, with root vegetables you want to crop the tops before they bolt or you risk bitterness. They will, however, usually survive very well in the ground for a while. Carrots like to overwinter, Parsnips are sweeter after they have a frost or two under their belt (as are rutabagas and turnips) and beets will keep better underground after they've been cropped than they will in your cooler.

I can't speak to radishes specifically, as the one time I grew them I harvested right away for salads.. But if I were betting, I would clip any greens that may bolt before leaving for vacation and harvest after I got back.

Can't help on arugula or mustard greens.. But I know that herbs and lettuce tend to thrive when being plucked regularly for their leaves.

 

[OPM]

RE Prepper:
Yes you can eat leaves. They have little hairs so only very young leaves good for the salad. Older leaves can be used in a soup or steamed. Radish is best picked young. They turn woody. Too much fiber. One week is not a big deal though. If you want to slow their growth you can cut all of the bigger outside leaves. They also will keep for a few weeks in the refrigerator. So it’s not about losing the crop, but rather about eating fresh right from the garden food at its peak time.

Yes you can pick leaves from mustered, lettuce, kale, etc., they’ll keep growing. That is what I do. You only have to cut lettuce after it bolts.

Wash leaves and roll them in a moist towel. Then put the towel into the crisper. Leaves will remain fresh for 2-3 days. Actually on a hot day I do that for few hours with all leaves to wake them up.


RE daveyburt:
Reduce your nitrogen input. Also, give it time. Brussels sprouts take a very long time to grow. FYI, you can eat leaves. They taste like brussels sprouts, just not as tender.

 

[MisterHappy]

F'ing Deer.

One of the bastids got into it last night, looks like a small one from the tracks.

MOst of the beans, some of the cukes, nibbled the top of my bush snow peas.


Tomatoes and potatoes are fine.

I want vennison.

 

[NHAtHeart]

My tomatoes are doing AMAZING, no ripe fruit yet but tons of green, the plants are over close to 6' tall.

In the pic the cattle panel is 50" the one cherry tomato is about 20" over the panel.

 

[Dija]

I consider myself an animal lover but so help me God I will shoot the critter that ate almost all our squash, cucumbers, and some of our peas and beans.

And our red lettuce.

 

[Catmouflage]

4ft tall peas are going strong

Mini cucumbers are starting to sprout

First glimpse of red tomato's!

 

[pernox]

Looks good, Kaisha! I've got a few tomatoes (Romas) close to getting red. They are loving the heat.

General tip: I've been getting chew marks in my butternut squash, so I did some rooting around in the squash bed to see what I could find. Sure enough, it was squash beetles.

These things are easy to kill and keep gone. First, turn all your leaves over. Squish any eggs you find with your thumb and fingers. Next, spray any active beetles with a mixture of dish soap and water - this kills them in about 10 seconds. They breathe through a small slit in the carapace, and the dish soap clogs it. I also mist the whole area aggressively to kill any full grown beetles that I don't see and spray. Doing this for a few days should cut the supply off, as you'll likely find lots of fresh hatchlings to start off with, and a few adults also. Killing full batches of the hatchlings all at once will head the population off before it can do any serious damage.

 

[MisterHappy]

F'ing deer have devleoped a taste for my cukes, but amazingly, the vines are surviving.

damage to the peas and beans, and the beets.

I did, however manage to get enough cukes for a batch of Bread & Butter pickles (done, and tasty). Then, tonight, while I was looking at the "trimmed" cukes.....I saw the first ripe tomato of the year. Ok..., it was the size of a Lindt truffle (or as my kids call 'em, chocolate eyeball) Still, victory is mine.

I truly gotta say....with all the difficulties: weather, 'chucks (fewer now), deer....I'd hate to be dependant on a garden. As sport, it's fine....but for real...scary.

 

[coastie]

]

I truly gotta say....with all the difficulties: weather, 'chucks (fewer now), deer....I'd hate to be dependant on a garden. As sport, it's fine....but for real...scary.

Yup. That is why I cringe when people say I have seeds if TSHTF. Start now!! Although if you had to depend on it for real the chucks and the deer would be in the pot. Would hate to have to lug water from the pond to keep it alive.

Finally got my woodchuck on Mon. Little bastard got a lot of my beans. My wife didnt want to eat him or let me feed it to the chickens. She said the world hasnt ended yet so no.

 

[Hiltonizer]

Yup. That is why I cringe when people say I have seeds if TSHTF. Start now!! Although if you had to depend on it for real the chucks and the deer would be in the pot. Would hate to have to lug water from the pond to keep it alive.

Finally got my woodchuck on Mon. Little bastard got a lot of my beans. My wife didnt want to eat him or let me feed it to the chickens. She said the world hasnt ended yet so no.

Truth.

We started 4 seasons ago now, and every year have only gotten a fraction of what we "planned". I am really getting discouraged at starting seeds though.. the started plants that survived are well behind the direct sow plants at this point.

A water-ram and cistern for rain collection are on the agenda.

 

[OPM]

Yes, animals and birds seem to go nuts this year. The birds are way too aggressive. Just finished the last of my lettuce, kale, beets and peas. Most onions are eaten too. Zucchinis are still producing, but yield is waaaay down. Cukes are also refusing to grow. I get few here and there, but something is definitely wrong. Starting about 3-4 weeks ago I’ve been enjoying tomatoes from all, but one plant. Most of these tomato plants are over 8 feet tall loaded with fruit and branches keep braking despite my best effort. The plant that has yet to produce is only 4-5 feet and only now beginning to develop fruit. About 2 weeks ago I started harvesting potatoes. They are not as tasty as last year’s crop. Not sure why. I did not rotate and I used supermarket potatoes for the seed. Could be one or the other or both or even something else altogether. Regardless, next season I am rotating and going back to Wood Prairie seed. Eggplants are booming, although few are not growing. And beans are going nuts too. Yesterday started pulling garlic. It’s small, but viciously hot. Speaking of hot, some animal keeps eating all of my peppers. WTF? That and coon got almost all of my corn. Oh and strawberries are almost here again.

 

[MisterHappy]

My garden is for Sport, and to show the kids how good they have it.

My mom is 91, and they had a real garden as a kid.....so real that when it got to be high summer, and the well went dry water was carried from the Iron Kettle (horse trough, then used by cars, spring-fed) that she always said was, "a little ways down the road."

Last time I was there....I drove and clocked the distance. About 2 miles. Each way.

We complain too much, I think.....

 

[LuvDog]

Our garden feeds the squirrels, birds, deer and chipmunks very well. Every time we get a mater close....we'll find it half eaten on the back patio a day later.

I think we got about 4 strawberries total.

They leave the green onions alone though and we've been lucky to get a couple of cukes and some peppers already.

 

[Dija]

After my deer attack I put up a deer fence and started putting out granular coyote pee. I haven't had problems since but I'm holding my breath.

 

[Stryker]

Hey Gang - this is our first year gardening - started late but things are doing well - first tomato picked this week - beans, cukes, peppers a few weeks off.

Had a guick question, the one plant that is struggling is the peppers - the bottom leaves are yellowing out and dropping off, leaving just the top sets of leaves and a long empty stalk.
Any thoughts as to what is going on?

Everything else is growing like crazy.