23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Yea it looks like the pictures I posted. Those are pictures I took last night. I just wanted to be sure before I haul it to the garden.

Sorry! So many posters I didn't notice that the person who posted the pix was the OP. That looks really good, till it in or just spread it thick and plant right in it, the worms will take care of the rest.

It's mostly protein, fat and fibre with small amounts of phosphous, sodium and calcium.

I used fish emulsion and it works nicely as a foliar spray. I sometimes water with fish emulsion in a watering can . It smells really bad for some time and then its OK :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Foliar Spraying Plants

I agree with Howelbama. Foliar feeding is bypassing the root system , where certain nutrients might not be readily available. It is also a quick fix. But if your soil has a correct pH and certain element are not in balance, foliar feeding can help. The Miracle Grow water soluble fertilizer in a feeder/sprayer does that in part. So people get lush flowers. Just be careful to use a light dose not to burn the plants. I have used epsom salt and peroxide in the past but not sure how effective it is.

I think there are some plants that it is effective on. For example, I see tomatoes flourishing when foliar feeding them. It may have to do with the fish or seaweed in the spray. The micro nutrients may be more readily absorbed via the stoma.

This post was edited by djkj on Wed, Apr 16, 14 at 0:39

Creativeguy, I was thinking the same thing about being able to turn your tomato support system into a greenhouse. :-)

Thanks Seysonn, yes, that is another way I could do it. Working on this with my son so I'll pass along all these suggestions and see what he wants to do. He does have a circular saw and some experience with wood, too.

I would definitely level them. Water will have less tendency to run off that way.

--McKenzie

Agree that the Florida Gardening forum is the place to start. Not only can they advise you on what crops will work there but on the proper planting times - which are far different than for most of us in the rest of the US. Your gardening season will soon be over until fall so you have plenty of time for research. :) Good luck.

Dave

PS: even Central Florida gardeners have difficulty growing asparagus, sorry.

Also check out all these Gardening in SW Florida info sites.

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Gardening forum

Thanks guys, truly appreciated!!!!

You should really investigate those drains, even if it takes some digging.

I, too, have clay soil and poor drainage. The only place I have for gardening is in a lowlying area. I usually have some standing water after a rain event, but there are ways to cope.

Amending the soil really helps, but I think it's more important to look at the drainage pattern, the direction in which the water runs off, higher to lower. Dig trenches around the perimeter of the garden to direct it there, hopefully in the direction of the french drains.

Rather than raised beds, I do most of my planting in raised rows, so that the working paths between them also serve as trenches. When I plant crops like squash, I plant them in actual raised hills.

Doing this, I've successfully managed to grow crops like onions, that hate wet feet [always on the garden's high side].

I agree with tilton.

Until you can make changes, make raised rows with drainage in the paths,

Perhaps the retaining wall is holding back water from seeping to lower ground.

Field mice ARE voles. At least around these parts that is the common name for voles. :-)

Since they spend quite a bit of time underground, building networks of tunnels called "vole runs", they gnaw on tree and shrub roots to keep their teeth from growing too large, just like other rodents. They also find tasty morsels that we plant, like root vegetables, that give them the opportunity to gnaw and have a tasty meal.

Voles seem to be particularly fond of potatoes and sweet potatoes. They completely devastated my small crop of sweet potatoes a couple of years ago. Not one single sweet potato was untouched by the time they were done.

After that, I decided the root veggies will be grown in fabric pots, not the ground.

If you have small beds, you could use hardware cloth around your garden. Voles can't climb very high so you only need about 12 inches above ground and 6 inches below ground. Most voles only burrow about 6 inches or less below ground level, unless you have pine voles, in which case the hardware cloth should go down about 12 inches below the ground at the garden perimeter.

Of course, this could be both expensive and time-consuming if you have huge gardens. I grow all of my root vegetables in fabric pots or containers now. I hate those little spawns of satan.

Moles, on the other hand, disrupt your ground but they eat grubs and worms, not plant matter. They certainly could disrupt young plants as they push through the soil looking for food, but they don't eat plants and won't eat your almost fully grown root vegetables.

If it doesn't have eyes, it's a mole. If it looks like a mouse and has eyes, it's a vole. You can have both at the same time. I certainly do. I don't mind moles all that much and tend to leave them alone.

Voles are rodents; moles are NOT rodents.

Appearance-wise, voles are a bit different from a mice, but it's not immediately obvious. Voles have smaller ears and shorter tails. However, I don't care - they are still destructive little mice to me. They give me the creeps, like all rodents.

So 1/4 inch hardware cloth, installed like a fence, except you put about 6 inches of it under the ground and the rest above ground. Make sure it surrounds the entire perimeter of the area where you want to grow root veggies.

If you have pine voles (and they seem to be more common in the west and midwest) then go down a foot. The idea is to block them from getting in via underground tunneling. Like all rodents, they can "collapse" their bodies and get through small holes. Since they are small, 1/2 inch holes probably won't stop them, so use the 1/4 inch.

Best of luck.

Wow, I can't believe they can manage to get through 1/2 inch mesh. When I bought the rolls of hardware cloth, I was thinking 1/4 inch would be better for keeping out the critters, but later had second thoughts that it might impeded the roots of the vegetables I'm growing, like Asparagus that go pretty deep or keep the earthworms from moving into the bed from the subsoil. Does anyone have any idea if that could happen or not?

I'm not going to be able to put fencing all around the vegetable plot, so the alternative was to install it to the bottom of the raised bed frames.

We have not yet seen voles, but have spotted a mole in the garden. I've read that voles show up after moles and use the tunnels that they've dug. I realize the moles eat the earthworms and not the plants, but I work hard at creating soil that has a lot of earthworms in it and I don't really want them snacking on them and reducing their numbers. [g]

So, since we are just building new beds, I'd rather bite the bullet and do it now and not regret not doing it later.

Thanks Seysonn and Lionheart!

Dave - thanks, I did not realize there was a forum dedicated to Ginger.

Nancy - Good luck, its an amazing experience!

Be sure to plant them feet down.

I enjoyed reading the stories from you folks who have started small businesses -- thanks for writing in detail.

"I lose probably 90% of what I grow due to animals and other people in the house"
Desirai -- now THAT sounds like a story not yet told!

Though each state might have its regulations, but in general, for small scale operations there is no need to get a permit or license or register, unless it has something to do with public safety and health. Some state might require licensing just to make some revenues, just like licensing a street peddler.