Green Thumbs

[SciFiFisher]

Came back from a two week trip to see that all my hostas, which had not yet emerged from the soil when we left, had sprouted beautifully and been eaten right back to ground level by the deer. How do I know it was deer? Because I have twice startled a tiny spotted fawn from the leaves at the edge of the garden and his momma chased our Labrador retriever out of the clearing behind the garden last night.

How nice of you to sponsor a feeding station for the deer.

[code monkey]

hostas are *supposed* to be plants that deer are not interested in. we planted hostas in our yard several years ago. went out the next morning to admire our handiwork and found ... nothing. they'd been bitten off at ground level. they leave the irises and daffodils alone.

[brite]

How nice of you to sponsor a feeding station for the deer.

You aren't helping....

[Loresinger]

Old folk trick that may help. Save all the hair from your brushes and put it around your plants. It smells of human. If you can get hair from a local zoo of a natural deer predator that's even better (they may look at you funny but...)

[Loresinger]

There's a lot of experimenting going on this year. Henry has been saving the ends of leeks, onion, garlic etc. and regrowing them very successfully. We will have enough amo to gas up a 3 mile block.

We have one plot that is specifically for "let's see how this works"... one for the typical tomato, bean, and cukes and we may let one or two rest this year to renew the soil. Just don't really have time for it alll... or the spirit.

[gethen]

Old folk trick that may help. Save all the hair from your brushes and put it around your plants. It smells of human. If you can get hair from a local zoo of a natural deer predator that's even better (they may look at you funny but...)

Trust me, we and our neighbors have tried all that and more. I think the real problem is that this is a quiet, heavily wooded subdivision with large lots in an area that already has a high deer population. It has basically become a deer sanctuary over the years. People don't let their dogs run loose and there is lots of cover. It's actually a very safe place for does to give birth and care for small fawns. The only thing that really works is to spray at risk plants with a commercial or homemade repellant, which I was unable to do this spring as we were on vacation when my hostas broke through the ground.

OTOH, now I know which plants the deer will not touch: ferns, lady's mantle, lungwort, Lenten rose,, brunera, sweet woodruff, jack-in-the-pulpit, may apple, wild ginger, and a few other native plants. I've decided to concentrate on those from now on and not worry about the others so much. Less stressful.

[FZR1KG]

You can always plant venison.

I've been doing gardening lately as well. Had to fix the mower first. That was about $40.
Burned off some of the old clippings.
Mowed way down the back and have started on redoing the path I made a few years ago.
I have to cut out some medium tree's, under about 18 inches in diameter do provide access to the path.
Can't do all of it yet as I don't have a chain saw and only have a 16 inch hand saw in pretty bad shape.
Still, once I get most of it done there will be a nice walking path through the property and it will look good again instead of overgrown.
So off to work I go.

[Ikyoto]

Since my previous post has gone awry - we are doing tomatoes, hot peppers, basil, garlic, onion, mint (two types), oregano. The kids have their own plots so they can catch the farming bug.

"we"?

[code monkey]

Since my previous post has gone awry - we are doing tomatoes, hot peppers, basil, garlic, onion, mint (two types), oregano. The kids have their own plots so they can catch the farming bug.

"we"?

the editorial 'we' or the royal 'we'. take your pick.

[Rommie]

Things have been going well on the rooftop garden but with one exception- everything's about a month ahead! Not sure what it'll look like up there by the end of August at this rate!

So yeah, right now lots of lavender up there, along w the rosemary and chives, and ate a few strawberries/ ate one pepper and still have one growing. Plus lots of various flowers have gone in and out.

Funniest thing btw up on the roof is it's rather windy, so got a €1 pinwheel a few months back that is amazingly still going strong, and a more sturdy one last weekend. The experiments in Dutch windmill technology are going well, I'd say.

[Thumper]

Well, this is a busy thread. Got the strip in front of the barn roto tilled and ready for sunflower planting. Hopefully, it won't be too wet this weekend to get them in. I've got a new plan for planting this year. Actually planted 3 last night. There were a bunch of volunteers around the picnic table that started growing in the gravel below where I let the birds have at what was left of last year's heads. Mrs. T has mint, basil, cilantro, a few tomatoes, and a couple peppers growing down in beds by the house. No major gardening just some beds around the house to attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds (Oh my!). Moved a $hit ton of mulch over the weekend. I had them fork an entire pallet on the pickup to avoid having to lift the bags one more time. The front wheels were barely touching the ground. In other news, the grass is sure growing just fine...

[pumpkinpi]

I've recently conceded to that fact that I don't have a green thumb, nor do I wish to.

MrPi has planted our small garden the past few years. I'm happy to help him tend to it but if he didn't initiate anything, we wouldn't have anything. Whenever I see people out for the first time in the spring pulling weeds and getting their beds ready, it makes me think that is something I am so not interested in doing. I just choose to spend my free time elsewhere. I admire those who enjoy it and put time into it, but it's just not for me. For a while I felt guilty about it, but I'm realizing there is no need to.

That being said, this is what we have this year: peppers (hot and sweet), carrots, peas, basil, rosemary, green beans. All things that we use regularly. MrPi has also become a homebrewer, so he's trying to grow some hops. He gets the kids excited to help out, which I think is great.

What I would invest time in (or money for someone else to do) is like Thumper, some flowers for bees and monarchs. Some day.

[Loresinger]

I am offering the use of our raised beds to housemates and friends since I know I cannot tend them this year.

On a neat note, bluebells and some other tiny pinkish flowers are starting to surround the pond - can't wait to see that with the roses, purple plum tress and the cherry blossoms

[Thumper]

What I would invest time in (or money for someone else to do) is like Thumper, some flowers for bees and monarchs. Some day.

I keep meaning to do some research into planting milkweed on the property. It's the staple for Monarchs. Agricultural use of RoundUp has decimated it across the country. But I don't know if it would be considered invasive in my area and whether it would be very hard to grow or grow too well and take over.

[pumpkinpi]

What I would invest time in (or money for someone else to do) is like Thumper, some flowers for bees and monarchs. Some day.

I keep meaning to do some research into planting milkweed on the property. It's the staple for Monarchs. Agricultural use of RoundUp has decimated it across the country. But I don't know if it would be considered invasive in my area and whether it would be very hard to grow or grow too well and take over.

My institution has a close working relationship with researchers at the University who specialize in honeybees and monarchs, so once I get the motivation to do something, I know where to go for advice! I'm not sure if they would be knowledgeable about what you can do in your area.

http://monarchlab.org/

http://beelab.umn.edu/
https://www.ted.com/speakers/marla_spivak

[Thumper]

Hey thanks!
I don't know if I mentioned it here or not, but I actually have some bees. A buddy had a couple hives and had to move to a subdivision where he didn't think his neighbors would approve. He had inherited some old hives and other equipment and was just getting started. So now I have them. They survived the winter. We're both too busy and poor right now to do much with them so we're just kind of letting them go. Earlier this week, I found a wild swarm on the ground while I was mowing. Unfortunately, a huge thunderstorm whipped us all. When I got back to them, they were pretty decimated, but a bunch were still alive. I grabbed and empty super without a bottom and just gently placed it over them. The next day I noticed many had taken residence in it. So we'll put a bottom on it and add a box or two and we might have a new hive.

[Rommie]

Had some pretty awesome daffodil and tulip action, which was great! The daffodils got pretty battered by the spring storms though, and got a little wrecked from being knocked up against other stuff- eh, what are you gonna do.

Now I have the usual herb action going on, and the daisies in particular are looking quite nice.

[Thumper]

Got a row of sunflowers planted this weekend. My goal is to plant a new row each week.

[geonuc]

Hey thanks!
I don't know if I mentioned it here or not, but I actually have some bees. A buddy had a couple hives and had to move to a subdivision where he didn't think his neighbors would approve. He had inherited some old hives and other equipment and was just getting started. So now I have them. They survived the winter. We're both too busy and poor right now to do much with them so we're just kind of letting them go. Earlier this week, I found a wild swarm on the ground while I was mowing. Unfortunately, a huge thunderstorm whipped us all. When I got back to them, they were pretty decimated, but a bunch were still alive. I grabbed and empty super without a bottom and just gently placed it over them. The next day I noticed many had taken residence in it. So we'll put a bottom on it and add a box or two and we might have a new hive.

Awesome! Good luck with that.

[Thumper]

So the first pic is actually "volunteer" sunflowers. There was a picnic table there in the spring. After I harvested the seeds I wanted, I put the heads on the table and let the birds and whoever have at it. These then grew out of the gravel. They were the first to bloom and are some of my biggest heads. The one in front has 12 blooms with 12 more heads possibly to bloom.

These are the ones I planted. I didn't thin them out enough so they grew tall and skinny. The wet spring with downpours reeked havoc on them and washes some out. Since they're weak, the skinnier ones tend to break in a stiff wind or strong rain. But they're still pretty. And the bees and birds love them. I'm still amazed that a seed the size of my fingernail can turn into a 12 foot plant with a stalk the size if my forearm in 3 months.

[Rommie]

Perdy!

Had a pretty good garden this year, lots of nice flowers in the spring have now given way to lavender and such. Food-wise I managed to get a few little radish seeds going, but funny thing, I rather liked their white flowers so I didn't actually pull up the radishes at the appropriate time, so now I have radish seed pods. Turns out they're pretty tasty! Who knew?

[Thumper]

Mrs. T planted one climbing tomato, a couple peppers and some basil. I lean a section of wire fence against the garage and the tomato takes over. It's grown as high as the gutter and we've gotten hundreds of little yellow sweet 100 tomatoes off of it. We have lots of flowering plants around the house that attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The butterflies showed up when the monsoons finally stopped last month. And I've got more hummingbird action around my 3 feeders than I ever have. The funny thing is I was out of hummingbird mix so I made my own, and they flocked to it. So I've been making my own all summer.

[Swift]

First year in the new house and the garden has done pretty poorly. We've gotten a few tomatoes, the first pepper of the year, some herbs, but not a lot. The people before us didn't have a veggie garden, so we had to start a new area, and the soil is pretty mediocre. The weather hasn't helped; spring and early summer were cool and very wet, now its hot and dry. I think it will get better as we go forward.

[brite]

And I've got more hummingbird action around my 3 feeders than I ever have. The funny thing is I was out of hummingbird mix so I made my own, and they flocked to it. So I've been making my own all summer.

Hummingbirds don't ever seem to really like that red stuff.... they much prefer plain sugar water... and trumpet shaped flowers... and small bugs... LOL

[Thumper]

And bullying each other. They're mean little suckers. I saw one picking on a cardinal last week.