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A good general discussion on moles and gophers can be found here:
Biodynamic French Intensive Method
Both moles and gophers are a problem throughout the SF Bay area. Gophers tunnel deep, whereas moles crawl just under the surface. Gophers you can trap fairly easily, but moles are more difficult. See above link.
Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick
All of the above!
Most of my garden is in raised beds lined with gopher wire. I just mentioned the chattering devices because they actually have been working very well for us. I would be very afraid to try the garden without the hardware cloth!
When I create a new bed, I always dig/loosen the soil as deep as possible, then add horse manure Then I add the box lined with hardware cloth, then the soil/compost mix from the landfill (working some of it into the soil to fill in pockets before placing the box!)
Lastly the chattering devices! This year we tried them on our septic mound and they all went away! Just saying.... Nancy
Sow a nice, thick, crop of fava beans in September. They will protect the soil against heavy rains, fix nitrogen into the soil, and provide you with a lot of good organic matter to incorporate into the soil directly or add to the compost pile. Fertilize them with some well rotted cow manure or rich compost. See this link for more suggestions:
Biodynamic French Intensive Method
Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick
Any combination of the things mentioned. I used to bury a lot of fall leaves(layered). Some people plant rye, clovers, to be tilled in in the spring(green manure)
I would not add any manure now, because the nutrients will sink down by rain and snow water, unless you cover the bed with plastic.
I consider soil test and liming ,if needed, most important part of fall preparation. If your soil happens to be excessively acid, fall is the time to treat it. It take months for lime to get activated and bound into the soil.
This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, Sep 14, 13 at 4:56
Another great classical lettuce is Bibb. A good discussion of overall lettuce culture, with photos, can be found here:
Biodynamic French Intensive Method
Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick
CaraRose, in my experience nobody but gardening nuts like here on GW even thinks about planting crops in September, and so I can never find anything to plant at a nursery. I've had really good luck with planting seed in mid September, and then covering the new seedlings in October. Still, I wish you luck finding bedding plants!
I've not grown that particular one, but we planted something called Dinosaur Eggs from Henry Fields this year that sounds like it might be similar. We have greatly enjoyed them. Especially like them sliced about 1/2" thick slices with some olive oil rubbed on and grilled. They have been pretty prolific, even with all the weirdness Mother Nature "gifted" us with this summer. We will be planting them again next year hoping for the same good luck as his year's crop. Hope yours do well also! (We'll have to compare notes next year!!)
Edie
Thanks for the suggestion carolyn. I normally prefer it just slightly under being completely ripe, a full ripe squash seems to sweet.
I thought that if you cooked it when it wasn't ripe you wouldn't be able to stringy noodle like texture.
My suggestions would be to mix that compost with some good soil and sow into that. Most sowings fail for one reason only: the seed is covered too deeply. A general rule of thumb is to cover the seed approximately three times its diameter, no more. The link below will take you to a site with plenty of information on sowing seeds. Click on "Techniques" then on your subject.
Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick
Thanks for all your advice, We been dealing with them for over 20 yrs. But so far this years they really haven't done much damage to my yard. They would always come up on the same spot in my front yard but so far they haven't. they been busy out on the sideswalk area.
My side yard also they haven't bother too much so far, just getting that area back to normal meaning keeping it water so that the grass is finally coming back. Have tried the trap caught some, use the motion thing but didn't work. Planted solice garlic plants around borders of my front yard n so far no activity there. Last year I was growing a type of squash in a pot in my side yard they came up n bite thru the vine. That why I mostly plant in pots.
Thanks again for your advice.
Terry
Hey, Carlo, I couldn't find the gopher information in that Chadwick link. But if you make sure your bed has vertical sides at least two inches above grade, the gophers will not try to climb over it. Climbing is not their thing. They are blind or nearly so, and highly specialized for digging. In their tunnels they are very difficult to get, but crawling along on the surface, they are sitting ducks for any predator that comes along. So they try to minimize time above ground, and the last thing they want to do is climb over a piece of wood. I have never seen a gopher inside a gopher-proof bed build the way I describe, but there are some things that can go wrong. For example, sometimes there could be a tall gopher mound right up against the edge of the bed. That mound, if you don't kick it down or flatten it somehow, could become a ramp for a gopher to get over the edge of your bed and thus gain access inside. Also, if you use poultry netting instead of hardware cloth, the holes are too big and the gopher can dig right in.
I don't use poison, but Kevin is on the right track (based on my experience, anyway). Also, if you dig down around the wilted plant as soon as you discover it, you can find the tunnel the gopher used to get to the roots. In this tunnel, you can set a single trap (because you know which way it will be coming from), and often catch the gopher within 24 hours.
I don't think gophers are smart enough to deliberately spring the traps with dirt. I just think that when they are digging new tunnels, they push large columns of dirt in front of them, and so they sometimes spring the trap without getting caught.
I don't think nancy is nuts at all. But I do want to know the exact model of noisemaker she uses to deter the gophers, because I have seen several models that were not effective (either for me or for other people).
Garlic does not deter gophers. They like garlic.
I have had them bite through pumpkin vines. Very frustrating. They eat just a little, and kill the whole plant downstream from that point.
I think gardening would be a lot easier and more fun without gophers.
--McKenzie
It's good to leave it if you can, but if the result is too snarled with old roots and stems, it's just as effective to remove them to a compost pile and allow the decomposition process to proceed a bit further. You can always add that well-rotted material back into the bed for the next crop. This link might help:
Biodynamic French Intensive Method
Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick
If you are in zone 10 - as I am, this is the time to renew the soil and be ready for seed and seedling planting. October and November are our biggest planting months for the cool weather crops.
I'd dig out all the roots unless the planting area is not to be used until later time. The matted roots will not be a very hospitable place for young plants to try to push roots into.
In colder climates, with impending snow, the wet soil would soon reduce any roots and provide mulch for later plantings.
If you intend to plant soon, however, as I am, it would be best to dig deep and amend the existing soil with compost, bone meal, etc., and if any disease is suspected, stretching a clear sheet over the bed first - letting the sun "solarize" the soil first - would be beneficial.
I'm already ordering my seeds and amendments - getting ready for the big "October" push - here in zone 10.
bejay