Gardens 2022

[lhinds]

The garden here did nothing this year. It was so dry the corn and potatoes died. I set out tomatoes late and the colorado beetles ate the stem into about 6 inches above the ground.

 

[rjruchti]

Well, not quite!

Probably close to 300 miles apart is all.
He is in SW IA and I am in NE IA.

Just a nice days drive. Hauled a few loads of parking post out of Yellow River State Forest when I worked for the Conservation Commission (prior DNR days) . Used to catch the UMP Super Late Model race car summer tour at Farley,. then Wi. back into Mn a couple place than back into NW Iowa several times.

 

[dschwandt]

I will be in Belmond, IA the18th for the IA Chapter #5 IHC col;ectors summer show if you happen to be up that way that weekend.

 

[dschwandt]

Pole beans, Ya gotta love 'em!
Don't even have to get your knees dirty!!

 

[Curt Doles]

5 weeks today since I planted the spuds.
most all are up and looking good, about ready to bloom.
Much better than last year as the CO beetles had them all chewed to hell before they bloomed.
I am finding a few of them, all adults, on the new crop by walking the rows about 2 or 3 times a day looking for them.
Been about 13 days now since the last decent rainfall and things are beginning to look very very dry around the edges.
There is a creek about 70 feet to the left of the rows but I can't think of a good way to get the water
up to where it's needed w/o stringing over 200' of drop cord.

I've used a 55 gallon plastic barrel to haul water to my garden, depends on how much water you need?

 

[Oak]

Planted potatoes the first week of March and they did pretty good this year.


I got my first batch of corn in on April 10th. I use my ole Farmall 100 to lay the rows out. I plant "Bodacious" corn. I planted the 2nd batch about 1 week later. My corn only had maybe a 60-70% germination rate this year. I never had that problem before but the seed wasn't treated for some reason this year.


We had a pretty good harvest considering all the issues this year. The first bucket full was picked on July 8th and the second bucket was picked on July 10th.

I cut all my corn and freeze it. I need to start canning more so I don't have to worry about my freezer going down. All in all we got about 40lbs of bags in the freezer. That should last me all year.

 

[Oak]

David, I like your pole been setup. Got any pics of your supports? I planted a bunch of bush beans this year but the dang deer ate them down to the ground. My buddy had the same issue but he switched to pole type and doesn't have that problem.

 

[dschwandt]

Yes, see post #3 this thread.
one each, 20' piece of re-bar per support.
Cut into 3 pieces, 2 ea 8' and one 4'
Weld a small piece of flat 12" up from the bottom of the 8' pcs to step on and push into the ground, and a short pc of tube or pipe to the top.
Bend 6" down 90* on each end of the 4' pcs to form a short legged "U"
Place the 8' pcs 3' apart with the top 'U' shaped pc slipping into the top tubes.

If I was to do this again, I would paint these white or light green.

We had fair results this year but have had better years.
I did not get my bug bags up soon enough and the Jap beetles got there ahead of time and did their damage to some of the leaves.

Froze about 10 pounds of corn yesterday, 1st planting. Was disappointed in that turnout as well but we had already used quite a few ears on the cob. A large part got blown flat a few weeks ago and never got back up. That and the fact that a neighbors huge ash tree shades a large part of our garden for nearly 1/2 the day and general lack of rainfall for a week or so did not help things any.

Deer are into my watermelons as well, destroying 2 so far. Hung Irish Spring soap on strings around them, will see if that does any good, if nothing else I will have "clean dirt",so far, 2" of rain overnight here!!

 

[dschwandt]

1st melon of the season!
7.2 lbs
Over a dozen more right behind this one in a few days.
I hope the neighbors like cantaloupe!!
Another 20 pounds or so of beans as well this afternoon.

 

[rjruchti]

To keep the deer out of your garden run a light wire around their access sides (or all the way around) about 6 foot high. Run a 14" ± piece of wire through the center hole on a CD. Bend the wire to form a U. Wrap both end of the 14" ± wire around the support wire about 8" apart. May want to pinch one wrap tight to keep it from sliding down the support wire. Place a CD about every 15' or so. Any air movement will cause the CD to move and flash light in all directions. Have done this for the last 3 years and have not seen one deer track in the garden since. Leave them up all year - make great sun catchers.

 

[mgwin]

What do you do on cloudy nights?

 

[RAllison]

To keep the deer out of your garden run a light wire around their access sides (or all the way around) about 6 foot high. Run a 14" ± piece of wire through the center hole on a CD. Bend the wire to form a U. Wrap both end of the 14" ± wire around the support wire about 8" apart. May want to pinch one wrap tight to keep it from sliding down the support wire. Place a CD about every 15' or so. Any air movement will cause the CD to move and flash light in all directions. Have done this for the last 3 years and have not seen one deer track in the garden since. Leave them up all year - make great sun catchers.

I'll be giving that a shot come next spring,the deer have devastated my garden this year!

 

[dschwandt]

Put up a night light I guess!

 

[RAllison]

Put up a night light I guess!

I already have light sources back there. I have flood lights on the side of my duck house and chicken coop if I were to need them. But my wife has the poles for the fence around the chicken yard capped with solar lights...that outta do it!

 

[mgwin]

I hope it continues to work for you. The deer would not pay any attention to the cd's around here. I tried pie pans hanging on a string, and the deer came in my garden the next night!
The only thing that seems to work for me is deer netting. Had one deer to tear through the netting one time, but it hasn't happened any more.

 

[gary noblit]

200 yrs ago you would have tied your dog(s) out in the garden..I guess we don't do that anymore...

 

[dschwandt]

200 years EVERYONE had a garden!!
Not so any more, only a few of us diehards left now!

 

[mikemartin]

I don't have a garden but I have a pretty nice yard and part is not fenced. The deer were eating up these plants Limelight Hydrangas. Hostas, roses, more. I bought a product "Bobbex". I have sprayed every 7 days since Spring and the deer have not touched those plants. Spraying is a hassle but only takes 15 minutes. 2.5 gallons cost abut $150. That lasted about 6 months.

 

[RAllison]

I hear ya Mike! My wife has complained about them being in her flowers beds,some right out the front door. I haven't really ever seen them doing that before. For me I'll try the easy inexpensive things just to try...it is what it is. For my wife I can't let her see your post,I'll have tanker trucks bringing that stuff in my drive!

 

[mgwin]

I have a bit of a garden, but no dogs.