Comment

Comment by Idaho Spud on July 20, 2017 at 1:56pm

I like that radio idea.  Have no idea if it works, but it's worth a try.

Comment by Thomas Murray on July 20, 2017 at 1:37pm

Seems that nobody's garden is immune to pest & wildlife that eats up & destroy our hard work I thought I might share a few things that may or may not reduce our garden to destruction. And I am sure many here already know these tricks.....

1) Electric fence is obvious...

2) Motion Activated Sprinkler.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009F1R0GC?aaxitk=BrhqwGLD-B3Sgnz7T1.-gQ

These sprinklers do work...and this one in Amazon you can attach more hoses to connect  to other regular sprinkler for all around defense. My two complaints with these is that they are not built to last and the batteries wear out quicker than normally would. However, bears may find it a playful toy.

Bonus: Planting one of these motion sprinkler at your front door keeps the J.W.s away.

3) Use a cheap radio. I have not tried this. It was suggested that the radio is placed in the garden or on the side and turned on at night and tuned into a talk show channel . The volume need not to be loud. So when small critters comes out at night they wont approach talking people on the radio.

4) Dragon Kites

I bought these originally to protect my chickens from Red Tailed hawk. The following day the kite was attacked by several birds. I was also happy to learn that my garden fared better with it around. The one pictured is exactly the dragon kite I used. My experience with this kite is that it needs to be moved around every two or three days and put away every evening.

5) Deer feeder

Some people claim that providing a feeding center for deer will protect your garden and fruit trees.

Comment by Don on July 20, 2017 at 12:14pm

Wow, Daniel, that's a veritable plague of pests.  I garden in the countryside, too (we're half a mile from the nearest residence to the south and a mile or more in the other directions), and we don't have much trouble at all.  No fence, no need to net my sour cherries or raspberries, either.  

We do often see moose and deer and rabbits and woodchucks and bears, sometimes, and coons and skunks at night, but they seldom bother the garden.  Probably all that wildlife here has so many better options farther afield.  Late in the fall, after I've put the garden to bed (except for the B. sprouts), deer will venture out of the woods to nose up any carrots I may have missed and the eats the tops of the B. sprouts, though they leave the sprouts themselves for us.  

When a woodchuck does happen to blunder into the garden, which may happen once every few years, I know that, having discovered it, he'll keep coming back.  So I get out the .22.  That's the extent of the trouble we see here, though, I'm glad to say.  

I had to give up on sweet corn years ago, though.  The raccoons cannot resist it.

Comment by Randall Smith on July 20, 2017 at 11:21am

It's good to see bear prints. I've seen overturned trash cans in N. Florida, and several reports of bear sightings in S Indiana. They're getting around.

Comment by Idaho Spud on July 19, 2017 at 10:34am

What a beautiful garden & forest Don!

Comment by Don on July 19, 2017 at 8:45am

Thanks, Kathy.  I do often wish that we had a longer growing season here (50 miles south of Quebec).  Earlier this month we visited friends in Boone, NC, up in the mountains, though, and their garden wasn't much farther along than ours.  Yet, this year I do think we have turned the corner at last.  Hot and Humid and sunny again today--and that's the near-term forecast.  

In 40 years, thanks to a moderating climate (to put it benignly), our season has lengthened by nearly a month--two weeks on either end.

Comment by kathy: ky on July 18, 2017 at 9:53pm

Don, call me Kathy if you like. And if you can remember. I keep meaning to change that on my profile page but get side tracked and forget to.

Comment by Don on July 18, 2017 at 12:51pm

Yes, k.h, I've been gardening here for almost 40 years now, since 1978, and I've always used raised beds that I rake up every season.  That way I can plant a cover crop of rye each fall and till that in in April.  The raised beds never get walked on and hold water very well.  They also give up their weeds pretty easily, and they allow for a much denser planting of beets, carrots, beans, lettuces, chard, and so on.

Thomas, I do get occasional visitors--raccoons and deer sometimes.  The 'coons don't bother, and the deer munch a cabbage leaf or a bean plant now and then, but I'm surrounded by miles of field and woodland, where there's plenty to eat.  Tnd they're happier farther from houses.  That said, those foot prints in the 2014 garden are a wandering black bear's.  

 

Comment by kathy: ky on July 18, 2017 at 12:37pm

Thomas, many of those beautiful mountains have already been destroyed by mountain top removal. The environmental effects are horrific. Contaminating and rerouting streams. Ruining the water supplies. They can remove the coal using as few as a dozen people. And leaving massive destruction in their wake.

Comment by kathy: ky on July 18, 2017 at 12:32pm

Don, my dad and now the rest of the family always used raised hills. I never knew why it was just the way we did it.
I learned a lot from dad and mom. Like when you pick tomatoes make sure you remove the green stem or it will cause holes in the other tomatoes you're putting in the same basket. And if you cut into a potato while digging go ahead and cut through it, rub the cut ends in the dirt and the potatoes will heal over and not rot. Which can spread the rot to all potatoes they come in contact with.
Our neighbors raise green beans at the base of the corn so the beans climb the cornstalks. It actually works without harming the corn. We're already getting corn, beans, tomatoes, squash. Pretty much every except melons. Our season will be wrapping up by the first of September. Our area of Western Ky has a very long growing season. Weather permitting.

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