Posted on 05/15/2009 4:19:04 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Nothing tastes better than vegetables and herbs picked fresh from your own garden.
It is now the middle of May and many Freepers are starting gardens for the first time this year. And there are those lucky Freepers whose gardens are well established at this time.
Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying skill levels from Master Gardener to novice and I hope all of you will stop by this thread each week and share your experiences.
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Well, I also have deer problems. They eat everything outside a fenced area. We saw them eating cedar limbs. The only things they won’t eat are wild plants. I try to see what is growing in the native areas and find something similar. They won’t touch the boxwoods, except when the tender tips are growing.
Here is a website that lists plants they generally leave alone. Texas Lantana is one I dug out in lots that were getting cleared for new homes. The Lantana you buy at garden centers are not deer proof.
http://www.npsot.org/plant_lists/deer_resistant.html
It lists cedar/juniper, but look at any area that has a large deer population and the lower limbs look the same as if goats are in the pasture.
Bury that chicken wire. Better yet bury quarter inch mesh...5 inches deep to keep out the burrowers, I saw dogs raid a chicken coop by burrowing under fences
Though we live in Vermont, we spend the summer at our home in Nova Scotia and do all our gardening there. We’ve had an apple tree for about 12 years and it never gets any bigger. You guessed it. During the winter the deer “prune” it for us. Actually, they seem to be doing a pretty good job because we get a good crop.
We don’t have any problems with them during the summer because they don’t come down into the village.
We have been gardening in raised beds and containers for years. I love it. Weed control is easy and bending is kept to a minimum. Our two main raised beds are about 14 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide and about 2 feet high. Hardly any bending. We also use all kinds of containers. Those large rubber maid type bins are great. This summer we plan to add about 6 of them around the garden. I’m going to build wooden frames that will slip over them. They will look like wooden planters but we won’t have to worry about anything rotting. It’s amazing how much produce one can get out of a small planter.
We will grow our tomatoes, eggplants and peppers in the hot house in large containers and 5 gallon buckets. The weather in Nova Scotia, though zone 5A on the Atlantic side of the province, just isn’t quite right for growing warm weather crops. On the Gulf side it’s lovely and warm and the climate is perfect in the interior of the province. The cool Atlantic breezes keep the tomatoes from really growing well. We’re still experimenting.
One other good thing about growing veggies in containers and raised beds it it’s easy to make greenhouse type covers for them which can give one an early start and keep things growing later into the season.
The advantage of being on the water is though it takes a long time for it to get warm enough for some crops (we are about 3-4 weeks behind Vermont) it stays warmer way into October and even November.
We leave for Nova Scotia next Friday. I have all my seeds from Veseys ready to go. We will come back to Vermont June 1 but then I go back on June 10 and stay for the rest of summer. Unfortunately, hubby has a job and, until he retires next year, he has to make due with going to the Harbour in July and September. I, on the other hand, get to make the sacrifice and take care of the garden, mow our very small lawn and sit on the veranda with friends and have dinner while watching the water. Life is tough.
I’ve got a deer problem too
Deer=goats
They are goats with good PR
same here, I have one that stand about 50 feet, and the lower 6 feet of it is gone now.
Please add me to the ping list.
Thanks,
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We have a herd of 14 deer in the back of our property, but so far they are well fed on alfalfa, corn and beans and leave our garden alone. Maybe you need your neighbors to feed them better...
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I live in central Texas and have two 8 X 20 areas, one next to my house and one that my neighbor used to use as a dog pen. I have over 70 tomato plants and most have 8 - 12 tomatoes on them already. We should have ripe ones within a week or so.
I picked the first yellow squash yesterday. I also have beets, two cantaloupe and two cucumber plants. The lettuce is in decline already, but we still pick fresh leaves every other day or so.
Anyone have any strawberry tips? I would like to work on that.
You can plant some strawberries in late fall or winter. Most varieties won't freeze, unless it gets into the low teens. There are some that you can plant now and they will bear all summer. Get a fairly large planter pot and let them have plenty of sunlight.
Impressive.
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Wow! 70+ tomato plants. I hope I can keep up with my 21. Birds will be a problem for me.
Here's one of my raised garden beds. We've been eating spinach and lettuce so far ... still waiting on broccoli and kohlrabi. As we eat the leafy greens, I've been planting green beans in their place. Tomatoes are planted out and coming along, but no buds on them just yet. The squash are still tiny.
I checked out your home page, and you’re garden is looking great this year! Nice job!
we’re in michigan and im just getting my beds ready - friend has a large pile of ‘horse-dirt’ (manure that is over 7 years old) - the plants love it... keeping the critters at bay is a chore too - i typically ‘mark’ my territory as the alpha-male of the home... (neighbors prefer it when i use a coffee can...) it seems to work... not right on the plants mind-you, just around the perimeter... good luck this year!
southlake, IN ? we’ve got several friends in merrillville and crown pointe and around...
Beautiful! How many raised beds do you have? My Roma tomatoes do have small tomatoes developing. All the others have just blooms so far. Tiny Zukes appearing daily. I will be staking my tomatoes this weekend.
That sure looks nice. What type of wood did you use for the sides?
I do square foot gardening and my squares are cement block with cement bottoms and are a foot deep. One is 18 inches deep.
So far I don’t have anything out but the onions that I put in last fall and we’ve been eating a few of. I’m late getting lettuce and never did snow peas due to family illness and being gone.
Tomatoes and peppers will go out next week, started seedlings indoors.
We keep a 2 foot decorative fence around the garden squares in our front yard, seems to keep the rabbits away. Used to have a big dog that ate anything that tried to get away, including slow moving deer, that was lovely! LOL
I am always looking for new ideas. I live in downtown Nashville and have very little space for planting, but use lots of containers for flowers and herbs. Any suggestions for other veggies that can grow in containers?
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