outdoors4evr
501 Club
:shock: :shock: :shock: This is not good news!SONNY":2lxoeqim said:
2024 gardens
- Thread starter SONNY
- Start date
outdoors4evr
501 Club
I planted on Memorial Day so the soil temp was well above the minimums here. Neighbors corn was 2" tall before I planted.Don McCombs":3y09y8lq said:
It was dry for 3-4 days where I watered and then we did get daily rain for a couple weeks after planting.
Over-Watering makes sense, the few that came up were on the high side of the garden.
Been busy here lately! Got onions, potatoes and crabapples harvested FINALLY! Made jelly out of the crabs,-- 19 quarts total. Plus 10 pints of pickled crabs. Onions were good on the long day varieties, a little short on size this year--- most went at only 2.5 pounds but quality is so low on everything we didnt freeze dry anything this year so never ran either machine.
Potatoes were decent but not many pounders this year and what was out there more than likely wont store very long, so we are only keeping about 300 pounds of them. The rest goes to the food bank where they will get used right away.
Tomatoes and eggplant not doing much and plants are dieing right and left.
Cucumbers made enough to can before they died out. Made 20 or so quarts of sweet pickles.
Broc. and cauliflower plants never put on a crop due to being too hot/dry.
Potatoes were decent but not many pounders this year and what was out there more than likely wont store very long, so we are only keeping about 300 pounds of them. The rest goes to the food bank where they will get used right away.
Tomatoes and eggplant not doing much and plants are dieing right and left.
Cucumbers made enough to can before they died out. Made 20 or so quarts of sweet pickles.
Broc. and cauliflower plants never put on a crop due to being too hot/dry.
We had a large infestation of June bugs this year. We generally don't see more than one or two. A house about 1/4 mile away had so many getting into their swimming pool they were plugging tthe skimmer filter. Doing some rototilling yesterday there were a large number of grubs near the surface that were not our normal grub which are from Japanese Beetle. What I was tilling was where the squash and pumpkin were. I feel the June bugs or the grubs from which they hatched ruined our cucumbers and beans. How can they be controlled? Last year was a non winter. I'm hoping for a cold one. Vern
Don McCombs
501 Club
Check with your local ag extension office about using BT to control the grubs and ultimately the beetles.
Found 1 cauliflower head in the garden yet. Kinda froze but a foot in diameter and very tender and mild. Forgot to take a pic. of it since I was hungry and tired! Found a bunch of radishes that were second crop from seed the first crop made and got on the ground when I mowed the row off after seed was mature.
We are getting freezes now and all that is left is arugula, kale, celery and parsley. Since I have no taste from COVID in 2020 I eat kale and arugula for health and fuel....glad I can't taste it.
This year I got some parsley from the nursery that was billed as celery parsley. It grew into thicker stems than parsley, like a thin pencil but it grew in big clumps like parsley. Darned if it didn't taste like celery says the family. Probably a variation of celery vs a variation of parsley.
This year I got some parsley from the nursery that was billed as celery parsley. It grew into thicker stems than parsley, like a thin pencil but it grew in big clumps like parsley. Darned if it didn't taste like celery says the family. Probably a variation of celery vs a variation of parsley.
Planted my usual: watermelon, musk melon, pumpkins and garlic. Never had so much trouble with deer eating the plants and never got one pumpkin this year. Deer ate the plants before they had a chance. Sprayed some repellant and it seemed to work for a while but as the pumpkin vines spread, I couldn't keep up with the spray and thus a total loss. Would have been nice given the high price of them now.
Same with musk melon but after several replantings, the watermelons came through quite well but no musk melons survived the hungry whitetails. Biggest watermelon was over 42 pounds. I can only consume a few for myself, but they make for great gifts.
Hard neck garlic takes care of itself, apart from early sprouts getting chewed off by rabbits. However, they bounce back as though nothing ever happened.
Same with musk melon but after several replantings, the watermelons came through quite well but no musk melons survived the hungry whitetails. Biggest watermelon was over 42 pounds. I can only consume a few for myself, but they make for great gifts.
Hard neck garlic takes care of itself, apart from early sprouts getting chewed off by rabbits. However, they bounce back as though nothing ever happened.
Deer can be a big problem. In one night, they can do a lot of damage. Putting a deer-proof fence around the garden is an option. But it takes a lot to build a fence they can't jump. My garden area is 200x50. I'm not going to build 500 feet of deer fence. So I decided to try a much less imposing electric fence. Not knowing if it would work, I decided to try it on the cheap and test the effectiveness. I went with cheap metal posts that I can easily stab into the ground (all sand). I put up a single strand of wire and powered it with an inexpensive AC fencer. Later on, I was getting some rabbit trouble. I added a very low wire, limited to the actual area where small vegetables were planted (took maybe 300 to 350 feet). This layout makes it pretty easy to move or to open a section when I want to use a tractor in the garden.
It has worked pretty well. The wire height is critical. You want the deer to bump into it with their chest, so they jump back. If they are head-down and bump it with their back or neck, they will jump forward putting them in the garden. It appears that they continue to test the fence on a nearly daily basis. At the end of this season, I shut off the power but left the fence up for a while. Inside of one or two days, they had explored every square foot of the garden. It was completely covered with deer tracks. Doing it over, I would use the next heavier posts. When they do occasionally tangle into it, they usually bend the corner posts. Other times they just stretch or pull loose the wire. An occasional deer getting through is something I can live with. Starting over, I would also go with a better battery or solar charger. I need 200 feet of extension cord to run my current one. The extension cords can be a nuisance. If I hadn't had them on hand, they would have cost enough to pay for a good upgrade to the charger.
It has worked pretty well. The wire height is critical. You want the deer to bump into it with their chest, so they jump back. If they are head-down and bump it with their back or neck, they will jump forward putting them in the garden. It appears that they continue to test the fence on a nearly daily basis. At the end of this season, I shut off the power but left the fence up for a while. Inside of one or two days, they had explored every square foot of the garden. It was completely covered with deer tracks. Doing it over, I would use the next heavier posts. When they do occasionally tangle into it, they usually bend the corner posts. Other times they just stretch or pull loose the wire. An occasional deer getting through is something I can live with. Starting over, I would also go with a better battery or solar charger. I need 200 feet of extension cord to run my current one. The extension cords can be a nuisance. If I hadn't had them on hand, they would have cost enough to pay for a good upgrade to the charger.
Don McCombs
501 Club
When I built my electric fence around the garden (smaller than Jim’s), I installed the lowest strand at about six inches, hoping to discourage smaller pests like rabbits, groundhogs, raccoons, etc. The rest of the strands are at about 18 inch intervals up to just above six feet and are directed at the numerous deer in the area. The corner posts and intermediate posts on the long side are driven wood posts. The remainder are steel t-posts. No problems with deer knocking down the fence. The low strand did not prove to be very effective. So, I removed the bottom three strands and replaced with un-electrified woven wire fencing at two feet in height. This has proven to be the ideal setup in my particular situation. I use a solar fencer and have had to replace the battery once in about ten years. I leave the fence on year round, just to remind the deer that it is there.
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Don McCombs
501 Club
Sonny, take note of the type of woven wire that I used.