Nude gardening
Return to DiscussionsHmmm, 4/5 of my message got deleted, dammit! What's up with TN today....My comment to Rita was cut off in mid sentence, something along the lines of, "at least it looks like the weeding is done." Keep up the good work and thank you bunches for the new picture!I also had added a bunch of info about our garden's progression but I'm not going to type it all here again and again if the message is going to get chopped off ~ so I'll just add that our sweet peppers are in as of yesterday and I'll be mowing on Monday so I can take a couple of pictures to play show&tell here, maybe even take one with the primary dirt-digger in his element and out of his bothersome clothes beside the garden. No clothes makes every chore a whole bunch easier, doesn't it?
Especially hot ones where you are likely to get dirty.
The offending plant is called Lady's Mantle. I've not totally cleared it out and will just be more careful with it this year. I cant even remember what the flowers look like on them either so I'm curious to see them at that stage.
Other plants wise we've got some onions on the go and so far so good. Strawberry's are looking good, spuds too and some bedding plants. We have roe deer that like to eat the contents of our garden so we've had to enclose everything in a small walled area. So far they've not figured out how to get access and as long as they dont grow hands I think we'll be okay :-)
Oh yes, the deer and the antelope do play past the edge of our garden beds as well (just kidding about the antelope - from an old tune that gets stuck in my head ). We have had some success with garden netting that is about five or six feet tall. Even inside our resort with pushing a hundred residents and all the activity from them on 45 acres, the animals take their fair share of our plants, mostly the leaves with the rabbits, but the squirrels tear off tomatoes and take a bite and leave them to rot on the ground, mean little bushy-tailed rats that they are. The netting can be a problem for some wildlife - I had to cut a black snake out of it last year after it slithered into the holes and began turning and tying itself up in it. But if we didn't use it there would be no reason to try to grow our veggies. Today is prep the bed for green beans day, finally!
Rita - I've never heard of Lady's Mantle. Be careful with it, keep it under control or it'll control you later, yep! You be the 'Lady' in charge ~
Oh yes, the deer and the antelope do play past the edge of our garden beds as well (just kidding about the antelope - from an old tune that gets stuck in my head ). We have had some success with garden netting that is about five or six feet tall. Even inside our resort with pushing a hundred residents and all the activity from them on 45 acres, the animals take their fair share of our plants, mostly the leaves with the rabbits, but the squirrels tear off tomatoes and take a bite and leave them to rot on the ground, mean little bushy-tailed rats that they are. The netting can be a problem for some wildlife - I had to cut a black snake out of it last year after it slithered into the holes and began turning and tying itself up in it. But if we didn't use it there would be no reason to try to grow our veggies. Today is prep the bed for green beans day, finally!Rita - I've never heard of Lady's Mantle. Be careful with it, keep it under control or it'll control you later, yep! You be the 'Lady' in charge ~
Bill,
You are one of several people at WTR who's care of snakes goes well beyond my capabilities! I've spent all but 8 years of my life living in the country outside of a city limit. Yet snakes and I do not mix!!! I was shocked at the attitudes of WTR members when I mentioned killing a snake there years ago. If we knew they were catered to there, we probably would have never tried camping in a tent! We were set up between the church and your house the second time we tried tenting and the last day there, I looked down the road and a black snake at least 6' long was crossing the road at Bob's house. My natural instinct was to grab a gun and go kill it. But, I remembered guns are allowed there! About that time, Wayne M. came by in a golf cart and rushed to try to catch him. Bob was mad because he found out that the snake had killed/eaten some baby birds on his deck, but not mad enough to want the snake dead. It wasn't long after that I learned there are 2 that visit Sharon's garden on a regular basis and she appreciated their presence because they keep rabbits and other little critters away from her produce. She said one was about 6' and the other about 8'. Both of these are long enough to cause me to experience a "Fred Sanford" heart attack! LOL
I have several vegetables kept in large containers that are two or three years old and have been producing peppers every year. This time, they made a good crop very early & then stopped. I have been watching for buds for the past few weeks & seen nothing but new leaves. They were being considered for the compost pile as Im not growing them for greenery. But yesterday, I saw the beginnings of small buds all over-finally. So they have escaped becoming developing compost & are still in their preferred spot of sunshine. My supply of varied bell peppers will hopefully continue throughout the summer.
Started using steer andchicken fertilizer on all my garden along with grow power fertilizer. Now have heavy production every year. I normally rototill it into the soil, put you can apply to surface at this time. Hope it helps you like it did for me.