any gardeners?

“I dug up a spot for my garden. It's 8' square. I can't plant outside yet but that's good. It'll give me a few weeks to put a fence around it. We have lots of bunny rabbits in our neighborhood. I've got tomato starts but I'll plant everything else right in the ground after Memorial Day. I've never had a garden so we'll see if I can get anything to grow. :)”

“Hey there Sunshine! I know what you mean about rabbits. Over the winter they did some mean trimming on a couple shrubs -- the spirea in the backyard may not recover. Reino won't let me fence in the prairie perenial bed in back because it won't look as nice, but the rabbits did a lot of vandalism last year, nipping flower stalks off without eating anything.

How's things with you?”

“rabbits got my blueberry bushes and soem lilacs....luckily they are recovering.”

“There's lots of "organic" products on the market that will keep rabbits and deer away. Some are made from pig or cow blood derivatives, some made from predator's urine, some hot peppers, or a blend of any of the above. I've used plantskydd, which is blood based. I was surprised that it even kept raccoons away.”

“Spent a lot of money out near you this past weekend Nicole.”

“hmmmmm did you go to remus farns wk?”

“I did. Landscape complete in front. I need to fill in some bare areas with sod but I am going to wait until it warms up a bit.”

“I find that my two large dogs are very effective rabbit and deer repellent.”

“no fences allowed here, so I can't give my dog unsupervised free roam to take care of the issue but believe me, as a hunting dog, she'd have em if she were allowed to in a new york minute.”

“I have little 4" squash and 2" green tomatoes already.”

“Hiya Pekka! Say hello to Reino for me.

My co-worker has a neighbor that puts some sort of net over her shrubs and flower beds. While it does detract somewhat, you can still see the beauty and it keeps the deer from getting at them.

Someone told me to use Liquid Fence. I don't know if it is blood based or urine based but she said it keeps the rabbits, deer and neighborhood dogs away. She has flower beds whereas I'm growing edibles. I'm apprehensive to spray anything on my vegetable plants.”

“I got my stuff planted this weekend. I did three beefsteak tomatoes, three green peppers, three yellow peppers, parsely, rosemary, cilantro, and basil all in containers. I am joining a CSA farm so I'm not going to be needing much more than salad stuff.”

“Six pepper plants?!! Better start collecting pepper recipes now. I had 4 last year - green, red, yellow and orange - and had frozen peppers well into the winter.”

“I gave up on planting peppers. Not enough sun and they never get bigger than a golf ball.”

“bells take so long to ripen around here, but it's worth the wait!!

I got a whole bunch of free plants accidentally yesterday from Pinetree Garden Seeds where I order most of my seeds and stuff from. I had gotten my early spring order last month of grapes, strawberries, raspberries, elderberries etc and was waiting on a couple of rhododendrons. last night the rhododendrons came, but so did all the other stuff AGAIN. I called them to make sure I hadn't been charged twice. Someone had just forgotten to mark off that I had received my order already. Sheesh, what am I going to do with all these grapes, raspberries, strawberries and elderberries?????”

“The elderberries should be dead soon, the rest you can give away.”

“Sunshine, I've used Liquid Fence and Shotgun; both rely a "rotten egg" type of solution. Not pleasant and need regular application to be effective. Even then, it wears off in rain and some small critters seem to get past it. It aims to deflect deer and rabbits, though the former are not a problem for us. We aren't sure what the deal will be with squirrels this year as we had to take down the giant maple in the backyard last fall after part of it cracked off in a storm. That removed the squirrel condo from the scene.”

“nimble, my elderberries are doing great. :) Perhaps having more to share with teh birds would be fine.

Guess I'm going to have to learn to make wine.”

“Well, I thought because they were "elder"...”

“Im sunburnt all to hell thanks to gardening, fishing with the neighbors, bbqing with the neighbors and haning outside with muh dog these last two days. There is now very little lawn left on the south side of my home (only the spot where I tie out the dog is left with any grass) as I dug up loads this weekend in order to make my vegie garden twice as big so that i could put in a crop of corn, watermellons, get my giant pumpkins in, some more peppers and tomatoes, beans, squash and cucumbers. Also i dug up mroe grass to add ten more raspberry bushes, yet another grape vine (each of my grape vines will end up producing around 30 lb.s of fruit each year), more strawberries, another elderberry, and on ths north side i added some new rhododendrons. I weeded everything good too, hauled topsoil around, turned and moved the compost bin, and planted some more flower seedlings. I'm definatley running out of room on the south and west side but thats ok, I still have a ship load of room on the north and east side, where i've been planting shade garden stuff where the shade falls along the house and fruiting trees in the sunny areas. Eventually that side (the sunny side) will be all orchard trees with tough flowers like daylillies and rugosas along the road.”

“We tore out grass and expanded the garden yesterday. Still, all I can fit is 4 tomato plants, and short rows of lettuce, beans, peas, a bit of broccoli and a bit of cilantro. I NEED A BIGGER GARDEN!!!

I also don't like that I have to wait this long to get a garden planted. We had frost last week....wonder if we'll get another one. Last year I waited to plant and still had to cover stuff a few times.”

“smiley, you may be getting frost tuesday, we are looking at lows at or below 40 here. Hopefully not though.”

“My mom just told me about that!!! YIKES!!!”

“Freeze warning tonight... Since it was only 40* today, I'm glad I waited to plant my garden!

Meanwhile I've been thinkingf about getting a couple of chickens for their eggs. I here chicken #&%!$ is the best fertilizer. Does anyone have any experience? Is it worth it after paying for the chickens and feed? We have coyotes around here too, so I'll need to cover the coop. Oh and I'll need to run electric so I can put a light bulb in it. I'm told a light bulb will heat it enough in the winter.

So I'm wondering if its worth it.”

“Chicken experience? Just ask Nimblefoot, and his "poultry palace."

I need a bigger garden, too.

I hate it when I can't spell. I'm burnt out from the weekend. Too much sun and not enough water.
last edited: 5/26/08 6:25:22 PM”

“my sister and I want my step-dad farmer to keep chickens for us - he says you don't save any money once you pay for grain, but still, the eggs would come from free range chickens...

It was hot hot here as well...my native Texan friend was with us, and as we wilted and whined, she just trotted along...LOL...”

“Frost, goodness, we've had 90's already.”

“Sunshine, chicken #&%!$ is one of the best fertilizers, but it's also the hottest. Best to let it sit for awhile so as not to burn the new plants. Go for the chickens. It's the least amount of work of all the farm animals/poultry in my opinion. I'd recommend going for it. Just enough chores so that your kids can learn some responsibiity (not saying they need to, lol).”

“My mom and I are doing a garden at her house this year. She hasnt done one in a few years and since I live in an apartment I thought I would help her get one going. I got to remember to make sure she brings in the plants, we havent planted anything yet so they are just sitting outside.”

“Hey Adventure girl! How's life?

I just got all our babies and the house plants that are out for the summer all wrapped up in old sheets. It's cold and it's clear out there.”

“Chicken manure is by far "hotter" than other types of animal #&%!$.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=62”

“I have three tomato plants planted, three yellow peppers and three green peppers. I have herbs planted from seed but they haven't come up yet. WTF man?

Chili I buy this liquid fish fertilizer. Stinks up the whole neighborhood but it's the best stuff I've ever used.”

“Liquid fish fertilizer????


Sounds like there is a bad joke in there somewhere.

Ever been to a road house in Lower Alabama?”

“We used some kind of fish fertilizer when I was a kid... It does work well. Native Americans used to use fish for thier firtilizer when planting corn.”

“fish emulsion is some of the smelliest stuff ever. Would be good for practical jokes. It's awesome fertilizer.”

“Nigal planted herbs from seed? You took that 420 day seriously, eh?”

“I think bunnies are the easiest farm animal!!! and you can use the manure right away on the garden.”

“I planted broccoli from seed ~June 10th. I have no broccoli heads, just leaves. We neglected to put a fence up for a while, and I'm wondering if the bunnies got to the heads and I'll never get broccoli. Does this sound right, or should I keep waiting?

I have a sinkful of lettuce. We have a HUGE sink. Its ridiculous. Planted that from seed too. We've already eaten plenty of salads. I got a couple of peas, and a respectable amount of beans tonight.

For you Michiganders, when can I plant a fall crop of lettuce and spinach?”

“Brocolli is a cold weather crop.”

“Should I pull the plants out? They're taking up space that the beans need!”

“My broccoli had huge heads again this year...it must love my soil or something.

I have lots of pumpkins on the vine. I have about 7 GIANT pumpkins that have set so far. One is only about 4 days old and its twice as big as a large jack o lantern! My corn has grown ginourmous too..... Its as tall as the house and I've never once fertilized it and have only had to water it a couple times, even though we've been dry.
last edited: 7/23/08 8:49:31 PM”

“Wait SG. They should form heads in August. It takes awhile here. If the plants look healthy just hang in there. Worse case scenario you'll have delicious broccoli rabe.

Plant your fall crops in August too.
Plant a bit one week, more the next, etc, of the same lettuce seed and you don't have to eat it all at once.

Ours just got done. It's officially bolted. Snow peas are going gangbusters, tomatoes are bigger and more loaded with fruit than they ever have been in our garden. It's been a nice rainy summer and the last week of good heat really kicked everything into gear. I picked our first zucchini two days ago and have about five butternut squashes stretched all over the garden. The swiss chard is ready. Tomorrow's dinner will be a nice steak with grilled chard. We'll dress the swiss chard with bacon and rice wine vinegar.”

“hehehe my corn is now officially 10 feet high. I've not fertilied it once!

I've started geting fresh tomatoes. i picked a boat load of peppers this morning.

One of my giant pumpkins already has about a 2 foot diameter and its only a week and a half old!”

“very cool SC.
We spent some time this morn weeding. Our sugar snap peas are like candy. The neighbor boy cleaned us out the other day. Our Toms should be ready soon. I cant wait to try the maidens breast that Helinka gave us. We ate our first yellow squash yesterday and will eat rainbow chard tomorrow with dinner. Its been a great year so far.

We neglected to grow peppers this year. I will miss the fresh cayenne and jalapeno...”

“I planted 5 seed potatos...

harvested 20 lbs. of potatoes this morning!

MMMMMMMMMMMMM Yukon Gold type.

Picked my first white tomato today too. I'm gonna have a yummy supper tonight.”

“Rainiest summer I have ever seen.My garden is like a jungle now with 8 foot corn and sunflowers and the butternut squash going through the tomatoes, climbing the fence and invading the neighbors lawn. My big max pumpkin vines are spreading without much too show on them, but my compost bins have sprouted pumpkin vines and there are two good sized ones hanging over the side getting larger every day, I need to find a way to support the pumpkins hangiing in the air before they break off.”

“them pumpkin vines take over everything! I have one thats about 100 lbs now estimated, but since the vine borers are vigerously attacking hte vines on that plant I doubt its going to get much bigger :( Lots of sugar pie pumpkins in the corn patch.”

“The tomatoes coming from my compost bin are doing much better than the tomatoes out in the garden beds.”

“Spirit...
How does one plant seed potatoes?

Did you just take the eyes and plant them? I've often had potatoes sprout, but have never planted any... are they easy to grow? How do you know when the potatoes are ready?”

“Pink--- You can either buy seed potatoes (small round potatos with a few eyes on them) or you can cut larger potatoes into pieces with a few eyes on them (let the cuts heal over for a day or two before planting). Eitehr works fine so long as they are certified disease free. One year I tried some that wern't certified disease free from the grocery store and ended up with scab on my potatoes.”