Gardening 2022

[bwframe]

We've picked over 4 gallons of strawberries in the last couple of weeks.
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I have been putting a few bags up also.

I have been trying to get away from washing the berries any more than necessary. I dedicated a paint brush to the berry patch to sweep off any debris as I pick. With odd exception, I don't get the berries wet at all.

Dust off while picking and what doesn't get eaten within a day goes onto a cookie sheet in the freezer. Then vac-packed whole.

 

[bwframe]

There are a lot better dedicated pruners and trimmers out there, I have some.

Lately, I've been EDCing these around the property. They cut most stuff adequately, with the convenience of not having to fetch anything...

 

[Bill2905]

My little 8x10 garden is doing well so far. This year, I'm experimenting with a variety of determinate type tomatoes to see how the compact plants produce. There are also two rows of snap peas and a few cucumbers. There are more cucumbers, a couple more tomatoes and a bunch of sweet peppers in pots on the patio. I'll probably try a late crop of pole beans once the snap peas play out. The only pest problems I anticipate will come later when the squirrels start stealing mature tomatoes.

 

[spencer rifle]

Got our first sugar snap peas yesterday. Potatoes not doing well. Corn is up but the beans planted around them have likely all been eaten by voles. Spinach bolted VERY early and is a loss. Finally found our lost UV light to search for hornworms.

Peat moss-based starter mix recipe that SWMBO got from online was a complete failure.

 

[ChrisK]

3rd picking from the garden. Freeze Dried a third of it.

 

[snapping turtle]

Onions are looking nice.
Cherry tomatoes are between knee and hip already. A few blossoms also.
The regular tomatoes are looking up after rabbit attack. They eat them to the dirt but the are rebounding well.
Peppers looking well like peppers they grow well when it is warm and it has been warm.
Cucumber from seed ehh. We shall see.
Strawberries producing.
Rhubarb no real growth. I think I need some rich manure and replant for next year.
Grapes great.
Blueberries coming along still dropping the PH. .


Wife wants the old garden for her stuff so this weekend I will stake out a new one for me. Hopefully ready for planting for a late crop of items.

Got more seeds from the garden supply. Just green beans tomatoes and radishes this time. I need to get into the jugs to see what I have.

 

[Expat]

rabbits ate most of my peas and they keep the lettuce cut off
been eating mustards, turnips, broccoli raab
everything else seems to be growing pretty good

 

[wcd]

Three weeks today since the last garden post. Only 3rd year on this raised garden setup, first year on the no-till ground portion. Enjoying seeing the progress and learning. Just picked pint and a half off the third season gooseberry plants. May have cherry tomatos in a week. All the plants seem to be starting out well.

Also have some raccoon problems. Mole bait brought a couple in so I'm not using that anymore. I usually have more .22 and trapping success with the raccoons, chipmunks and moles. Have kept the aim sharp with the pesky baby chipmunks. I enjoy seeing the garden pictures and going out to ours each day.


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Looks like you are off to a good start. Have your pest attempted to chew through you fencing yet?

 

[wcd]

My little 8x10 garden is doing well so far. This year, I'm experimenting with a variety of determinate type tomatoes to see how the compact plants produce. There are also two rows of snap peas and a few cucumbers. There are more cucumbers, a couple more tomatoes and a bunch of sweet peppers in pots on the patio. I'll probably try a late crop of pole beans once the snap peas play out. The only pest problems I anticipate will come later when the squirrels start stealing mature tomatoes.

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How did you plant your potatoes?

 

[tim87tr]

Looks like you are off to a good start. Have your pest attempted to chew through you fencing yet?

It's easy for a Raccoon to go under, but it keeps the deer out. Raccoons have only just dug a hole where mole bait was, so I'm not doing that anymore. Just set out a couple traps for them. This year the trail cams show only a couple near the house as they've been thinned down immensely the last couple years.

Raised garden beds help tremendously for pests, and nothings bothered the ground garden....yet. Trying to keep items in the ground area that are less "rabbit friendly". Learning daily but need to speak to my Dad about his electric fence setup. He keeps a low and high wire. Had cattle growing up so he probably some extra fencing and charger I can add.

Didn't have quite enough gooseberries for a pie so will be adding some rhubarb and strawberries.

 

[Bill2905]

How did you plant your potatoes?

No potatoes

 

[KokomoDave]

I didn't plant potatoes either but when I did, I just used free tires to use as layers. Shoveled in sand, soil and a small amount of compost / peat moss mix. Easy to destack for harvest. It's an old Polish trick.

These are my raised beds I decided on v.s. ground level. I wanna do a raised water garden using solar power & batteries v.s. electrical feed from the house.

 

[hooky]

I lost 2 small pepper plants. Something got in and ate them to the ground. I made some enclosed chicken wire cages to put over them last night until they get a little bigger. So far, that's the only thing I've lost out of the garden (knock on wood). Second planting of beans are up and I think all the lettuce and beets are going to be done/ready in the next couple of weeks, so I'll resow all of those. Might put in some more turnips for greens.

 

[bwframe]

Voles took two out of three of my new this year blackberry plants. I have been giving the area a daily bath of castor oil and ghost pepper sauce. Hopefully save the last plant to propagate?

 

[tim87tr]

Voles took two out of three of my new this year blackberry plants. I have been giving the area a daily bath of castor oil and ghost pepper sauce. Hopefully save the last plant to propagate?

Any problem with the oil attracting Raccoons? I wasn't having success with the moleinator traps, which have worked before. I used mole poison which seemed to kill a lot of them but it attracted a Raccoon that has been digging a lot. It didn't destroy anything in the garden by dug up some freshly planted flowers. Good news he went for the marshmallows in the trap last night

 

[bwframe]

Any problem with the oil attracting Raccoons? I wasn't having success with the moleinator traps, which have worked before. I used mole poison which seemed to kill a lot of them but it attracted a Raccoon that has been digging a lot. It didn't destroy anything in the garden by dug up some freshly planted flowers. Good news he went for the marshmallows in the trap last night

Hopefully, my luck is not changed by writing this?

A lot of the reason I have pursued the PCP air gun habit the past few years is to quietly dispatch garden critters. I have seen no coons this year, after piling up a few the last couple. I do have electric fence also that helps, but uneven ground has let a critter or two sneak in over the years. I shine the garden and yard every night, looking for eyes shining back at me.

The jury is still out on my home brew vole/mole repellant. I have had mixed results in the past. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so sure. Always seems to be some kind of variable?


.

 

[Leadeye]

The gardener is out spraying her home made deer repellent. It's repulsive smelling to me, deer don't seem to like it either.

 

[bwframe]

Caught the strawberry muncher...

 

[hooky]

I have some large pots on the deck with summer squash, cukes, and tomatoes. I cut some chicken wire to match the pot size and stake them in to keep the chimpmunks and squirrels from digging in the soft dirt. I assume a coon came up on the deck last night and destroyed 2 of the cuke pots. Looks like someone took a shovel to them and started throwing dirt around the deck.

The Have-a-heart trap will be loaded with a tin of cat food tonight.

 

[KokomoDave]

You guys are too nice. I use a generic RK conabear with a couple pecans hot melt glued to it.