Gardens 2022

[RAllison]

Dadgum squirrels have stolen a third of my tomato crop. Eat less than half of ‘em and then drop them all over the place.

Guess I can’t blame the fuzzy little boogers.

I've had a lot of that happening,I never thought of squirrels

 

[tkhoffman]

Odd year for me as well. We grew half the potatoes as last year because we had so many. Never had critter issues with taters but this year some animal kept nibbling them. Same with pumpkins, we never had to fence them. This year, the deer beat them up, tin plates banging in the wind and scarecrow did nothing, we the up a temp. fence and are doing OK.

 

[Bret McFarland]

Anyone grow tomatoes? I had a really bad year due to deer...and have NEVER had that problem,not with tomatoes anyway

Got screwed again this season -- every year I swear never again. This year mostly green tomatoes, or ULGY disfigured ripe ones with rot, spots, etc. Rabbits, deer get inside my fence and help themselves, Deer $hit all around the tomatoes, dog rolls in it -- fun times lol. Spent $50 on tomatoes, peat moss. Thought it had been a great growing year, but could have bought alot of perfect tomatoes at the local fruit markets for that $50.

 

[RAllison]

Got screwed again this season -- every year I swear never again. This year mostly green tomatoes, or ULGY disfigured ripe ones with rot, spots, etc. Rabbits, deer get inside my fence and help themselves, Deer **** all around the tomatoes, dog rolls in it -- fun times lol. Spent $50 on tomatoes, peat moss. Thought it had been a great growing year, but could have bought alot of perfect tomatoes at the local fruit markets for that $50.

I hear ya!!!

 

[Bret McFarland]

Nice spuds! My dairy farmer uncle used to grow them in the 60s/70s and he buried an old freezer up to the lid, and it kept them cool without freezing — so he claimed.

 

[Jay Fetters]

My taters did really well this year, the bear destroyed my corn though. Which, by the way, I can definitively answer the age old question- does a bear crap in the woods? NO, he does it in my garden!!! Hopefully the carrots come on strong, I planted calydoscope carrots, and this one happened to be purple. But when you peel it, they are bright orange on the inside!

 

[RAllison]

My taters did really well this year, the bear destroyed my corn though. Which, by the way, I can definitively answer the age old question- does a bear crap in the woods? NO, he does it in my garden!!! Hopefully the carrots come on strong, I planted calydoscope carrots, and this one happened to be purple. But when you peel it, they are bright orange on the inside! View attachment 151274

There you are...I wondered how your garden did

 

[jmacdonald]

Never had a large animal eat my tomato plants, but this year they kept getting chomped on. Same thing with the hosta plants right along the front of the house. Came out on day and all the leaves were gone!

 

[gary noblit]

Nice spuds! My dairy farmer uncle used to grow them in the 60s/70s and he buried an old freezer up to the lid, and it kept them cool without freezing — so he claimed.

Raised by older grandparents,we kept them in a wood box in the Michigan basement(basically stacked stones and dirt floor)...They did fine until spring then started to soften and sprout...temp maybe stayed around 45 all winter...

 

[rjruchti]

Got screwed again this season -- every year I swear never again. This year mostly green tomatoes, or ULGY disfigured ripe ones with rot, spots, etc. Rabbits, deer get inside my fence and help themselves, Deer **** all around the tomatoes, dog rolls in it -- fun times lol. Spent $50 on tomatoes, peat moss. Thought it had been a great growing year, but could have bought alot of perfect tomatoes at the local fruit markets for that $50.

To keep[ the deer not only out of but clear away from you garden us discarded CD's. Run a wire about 6' high round the outside of your garden. Wire like bailing wire of electric fence wire works fine. Cut pieces of electric fence wire or similar in foot lengths. Bend them in half to form a U. Slide a CD over one end. Wrap both end of the U around the main wire about 6" apart, pinching one wrap to keep it from sliding. Space them about every 12-15'. The slightest breeze wil make the CD's move and when they move they are like suncatchers and throw of flashes of light visable a good distance. Your deer trouble will be over. I leave mine up year around and have not seen one deer track in the garden since I put them up. Good luck.

 

[Bret McFarland]

To keep[ the deer not only out of but clear away from you garden us discarded CD's. Run a wire about 6' high round the outside of your garden. Wire like bailing wire of electric fence wire works fine. Cut pieces of electric fence wire or similar in foot lengths. Bend them in half to form a U. Slide a CD over one end. Wrap both end of the U around the main wire about 6" apart, pinching one wrap to keep it from sliding. Space them about every 12-15'. The slightest breeze wil make the CD's move and when they move they are like suncatchers and throw of flashes of light visable a good distance. Your deer trouble will be over. I leave mine up year around and have not seen one deer track in the garden since I put them up. Good luck.

Thanks for that idea, I will certainly try it if I do tomatoes next year. Have also heard of stringing fishing line to spook them.

 

[tkhoffman]

Nice spuds! My dairy farmer uncle used to grow them in the 60s/70s and he buried an old freezer up to the lid, and it kept them cool without freezing — so he claimed.

Yeah, poor man's Root Cellar. My neighbors got two in the ground for beets, carrots and taters

 

[Bret McFarland]

You know farmers, they make use of everything lol.

 

[rjruchti]

Thanks for that idea, I will certainly try it if I do tomatoes next year. Have also heard of stringing fishing line to spook them.

I see no reason why 12-14 lb test fish line would not work as well as wire and probably be cheaper. Spot of super glue would hold the loops with the cd's in place.

 

[jack casey]

Never had a large animal eat my tomato plants, but this year they kept getting chomped on. Same thing with the hosta plants right along the front of the house. Came out on day and all the leaves were gone!

Firstly, we call them tamatas, I hail from Queens County NY. One year deer ate 36 green tamatas from one of my plants. I grow Celebrity tamatas, are determinate, meaning they grow to 4 ft in height. Use tamata fertilizer from Gardeners Supply, cage them in with green plastic fencing to keep out deer and squirrels. Follow the fertilizer instructions (4-6 weeks) and also add Ocean Solutions every 4-6 weeks. I still have a lot of greenies on the vines ready to be paper-bagged and left in the sun to ripen. Our favorite lunch is a Bronx sandwich - toasted rye, mayo and tamata slices - fantastic.

For my wife's 48 hosta I've been using Bobbex every 3-4 weeks. It gets absorbed into the leaf and deer won't eat; I have found chomped leaves that they've spit out. At this time of year they are getting desperate and will eat most anything.

Cheers, Jack

 

[Bret McFarland]

Firstly, we call them tamatas, I hail from Queens County NY. One year deer ate 36 green tamatas from one of my plants. I grow Celebrity tamatas, are determinate, meaning they grow to 4 ft in height. Use tamata fertilizer from Gardeners Supply, cage them in with green plastic fencing to keep out deer and squirrels. Follow the fertilizer instructions (4-6 weeks) and also add Ocean Solutions every 4-6 weeks. I still have a lot of greenies on the vines ready to be paper-bagged and left in the sun to ripen. Our favorite lunch is a Bronx sandwich - toasted rye, mayo and tamata slices - fantastic.

For my wife's 48 hosta I've been using Bobbex every 3-4 weeks. It gets absorbed into the leaf and deer won't eat; I have found chomped leaves that they've spit out. At this time of year they are getting desperate and will eat most anything.

Cheers, Jack

I haven't been very smart in previous years about growing them -- this year I finally started fussing with the soil and it paid off with more red tomatoes. I always notice that in August they put on the brakes quickly when cool nights start to happen and yield drops off sharply. Green plastic fencing good idea, although this year for some reason we had a bunch of baby rabbits and they slipped in through my fencing.

 

[-CӞ]

I haven't been very smart in previous years about growing them -- this year I finally started fussing with the soil and it paid off with more red tomatoes. I always notice that in August they put on the brakes quickly when cool nights start to happen and yield drops off sharply. Green plastic fencing good idea, although this year for some reason we had a bunch of baby rabbits and they slipped in through my fencing.

Best-looking rabbits are the ones hiding behind the cross hairs. Squirrels too.