23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

We have a lot of rabbit pressure, but we have had minimal garden losses despite having no fencing whatsoever -- I spray the perimeter of our raised garden as well as plants whose leaves I don't plan to eat for a week or more with a peppermint oil-based, non-toxic spray. It smells good to me, but apparently the rodents aren't thrilled.

There are some other sprays which use "putrescent egg solids" or garlic which seem to be effective. Some of these are tolerable-smelling, others are horrific smelling to humans...but only for about 2 days, then our poorly developed noses fail to detect the residual scent. Other mammals seem to remain grossed out for weeks.

Part of our success is also probably due to the fact that the cats and dog occasionally kill a rabbit. The cats have no interest in squirrels and the dog is too much of a spazz to catch them, but the squirrels don't show a lot of interest in our garden most of the time.

We also have voles which the cats kill ALL THE TIME, but as the cats are getting elderly (and we're DONE with cats after these two), I'm going to sink a foot's worth of wire mesh vertically along the perimeter of the garden box I'm remodeling just as a prophylactic for our eventual cat-free future. The dog thinks dead voles are gross and the live ones are apparently too slow-moving to be of any interest chasing.

Squirrels and birds are difficult to deter...
I have a toy (plastic) snake I bought some years ago to deter birds in the garden. While I am not sure it does deter birds I have seen it deter (on many occasions) a squirrel that comes up on our deck.

IF you know where the squirrels enter the garden a toy snake may work - but then it may not. Tho it is worth a try to have a garden ornament ;)

I have successfully used rose & blackberry trimmings to deter birds and squirrels from damaging seedlings.

I have my peppers in raised beds too with great drainage, but we had 3 weeks of straight rain/clouds and I noticed mine turned a little yellow green too. But after a week of full sun they are now back to normal. It could be this. Have you noticed the color getting back to normal now that we've had a week of no rain?

Planterjeff, I have noticed the bell peppers are beginning to kinda come around. It may have just been all the rain and cloudy weather. Can't say for sure, but I haven't done anything else to them. Keeping my fingers crossed. The New Mexico chili peppers I planted still aren't doing so good, but that could be due to the hot humid weather. It gets hot in New Mexico (where these peppers originate, but not as humid as South Louisana, so that could be the answer to those peppers. Thanks for the input.

Each spot looked like this. I have 4 bunches like this. How many seeds would you guess that is? It looks good today still but it did rain, so....

That looks fine.

Chard 'seed', like beet seed, is actually a cluster of individual seeds. So if you sow one 'seed' you inevitable get a cluster of seedlings. So your pants could just be the result of a single 'seed.'

I started with bamboo but ended up getting 6' coated steel stakes then tied them up as well. The boxes are 18" tall but buried 6" and I dug another 2' down. I filled them with a garden mix soil I had trucked in. 7 - 4x12' boxes and used 20 yards of soil. I do need to mulch though. It also seems like the big beef are prone to splitting more than the pink cadillacs.

With regard to tomato pruning, I believe that there are some situations that make pruning healthy for the plant. Here in HZ10, life is rough in the summer. When my cherry tomato vines get eight feet long and longer, they have to suck water up a LONG way. The fruit way up at the top is seriously water-stressed. I have found that topping the vines encourages branches lower down on the vine that are closer to the soil. Now, that being said, once the lower vines are very mature, they aren't as likely to sprout new branches, but the new branches at least don't pop out way up at the top.

Not clear that this would be relevant to non-vining full-sized tomatoes. I've never pruned those.

Yes, you often directly seed pumpkins. Squash in general don't transplant well, which doesn't mean you can't do it you just have to be really delicate with the plant and can't leave them in small pots past the first true leaf stage.

The image sure looks like sun scald to me!

Suzi, I'll make a suggestion that can help you prove your neighbor wrong. 'Surround', a kaolin clay spray can be an enormous help in keeping borers, beetles, and sun/heat at bay.

It's used commercially, but is now available in sensible sizes for backyard growers. I've used it for years on my cucurbits, beans, and tomatoes without fail. It is approved for organic growers (and Certified Organic growers).

"Weed to others" is right. In the US burdock is an invasive and noxious species, then again so is mullein but that doesn't stop people from growing it.

Thanks everyone! Burdock has been dug up!

fadiver ... That's a UK expression, not an autocorrect issue - slang term for 'a very long time'.
Donkey's Years

Oh, haha! I assumed floral meant to type "dozens of" and it corrected to "donkeys".

I grow the same here also, Just like Dave said, Mine really started breaking ground the last few days with all this warm temps we been having, When they get about 6 inches high then cover with dirt then repeat.

Some potato pieces sprout about 8 shoots...too many skinny ones in a crowd for best results unless you like small potatoes. I suggest leaving 4 stalks per piece. I try to plant them a little deeper to start with and don't need to hill so high. They like cooler soil than here in central Indiana and high hilling dries out faster.

You are welcome. Good to know you won't be relying on these transplants to get your cucs! Good luck and stick around. There are some really knowledgeable gardeners on Gardenweb that have helped me a lot the last several years as my gardening went from a minor hobby to a MAJOR obsession.

I'll for sure be sticking around. I've been reading the forums for the last month or two and have found them very helpful so far. I look forward to being a more active part of the community now that I've officially started posting. Everyone here seems great.

This is one of the planters in a large vegetable garden on a private estate in So Cal. The client has major wildlife issues: deer, coyote, squirrel, rabbits, birds, gophers.... Lots of things were tried until the solution pictured above was put into place. Although it is a bit cumbersome- it works and is fairly invisible at a short distance.

The planters are constructed of dry stacked round stones. Beds are lined with 1" wire mesh for gopher prevention that wraps up sides of planters and bends out between the top courses of rock. Above ground critters are are successfully kept out with a metal stakes in edges of beds that have hooks welded onto the outer top edges. 1/2 inch heavy gage bird mesh: ( https://www.birdbgone.com/products/bird-netting/garden-netting-products.html ) hooks onto the stakes via Garden Netting Clips attached to net.. Not all beds have mesh over top- only crops where birds are a problem. Caretakers can easily unhook mesh to care for plants.

also...where rabbits are getting in under the net...you can either use large ground staples or run the metal stakes on the outside of the beds into the ground and then net them.

"Chemicals that are applied by label directions are safe"

So very VERY not true. DDT, Diazinon, all sorts of insecticides were taken off the market AFTER years of use. There is much we do not know about chemicals, some are safe when used correctly, some are not, some we won't realize the damage done for years to us and to our families.
I'm not by any means putting down the good that some chemicals can do. But to believe that they are all safe when used according to label directions is naive.

Living next to a cornfield is way different than having neighbors that use Roundup. On a farm, the herbicide is applied from above and will definitely drift onto your property. Especially because you want to grow organically, this location is not ideal. My husband and I are in the same boat. Looking for a place where we can keep bees and grow organically. Sad that we live in such a toxic world.

I agree with Dave.

Thank you! :)

Based on my experience, I disagree. I have (stupidly) put out small unhardened off seedlings out in the cold, only frost turned anything to goo.

almost lost my plants last night, it was 39*F felt like freezing with the wind chill but they were covered with a plastic and wood greenhouse. Bright them in tonight, true temp without breeze is freezing. :S Tomatoes in my pots had one foot in the grave. They're doing much better now that they've warmed up inside.