23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

May be my groundhog is a weak one, but it doesn't bother any beds that surrounded by 18 inches decorative wire fence and covered with black plastic bird netting. He can easily rip it off - but it doesn't happen, I guess it is just same unpleasant to him to touch the netting as for me to set it up).

A beautiful garden....
The first step would be to know what it is you are trying to deter so you don't waste your time and can be successful. Have you seen anything that looks similar to a beaver in your yard?

A woodchuck can be trapped in a Havahart where a deer cannot, so the approach is different. What kind of plants where eaten?

Do a google search one woodchuck/groundhog to get an understanding but they typically don't stray far from their hole in the ground. It can be under a shed, a deck, near the foundation of the house, or may be hidden in brush, etc. The hole will be almost 1ft wide so if you see a large hole and notice path in/out of the vegetation that could be the hole. It will go straight down for almost 3ft then out to to rest of the tunnels. It could come from the neighbors yard too.

You can buy smoke bombs at Home Depot or many garden centers that will create carbon monoxide that you drop into the hole. But you have know where the hole is. You can be sure they will ALL be in their hole after sundown.

If it is a groundhog (or deer) you likely have more than one. Which is why the smoke bomb is a better approach (I think). Because you will take care of the whole fam damily and not have to touch one. The hole should be filled in after tho - for safety and it will be used again.

IF you trap one in Havahart then you have to do something with it. I think it is rude to transport it to another place so it can be someone elses problem.

If you think it is a groundhog/woodchuck you have I can tell you a way a farmer told me what to do.

btw - woodchucks have been known to climb over or sun themselves on a fence. Or just dig under it.

No if showing yellow they are past ideal picking. Different varieties are ideal at different sizes, both length and diameter. Which is why I ask the variety name. National Pickling for example tend to be fatter and lighter green while Boston Pickling are much darker green and shorter. Both will do well for dill spears and whole pickles. I prefer using slicer types for B&B pickles as they aren't as hard rind.

You can find much more about this over on the Harvest forum here. It is the canning, pickling, and preserving forum.

Dave

I've made tangy bread and butter slices with extra turmeric and mustard seeds with cukes that are starting to yellow/ go past their prime, rather than waste them. They are usually more seedy but will still make tasty pickles.

Are you sure you have adequate drainage holes in the window box? You should be able to water until water comes out the bottom. You have fungus gnats because of the soil you are using, which is not really a good soil for containers in spite of what the label says. Push you finger deep into the soil mix and see if it is soggy or just damp. If it is soggy, your plants can develop root rot.

It would be better to use a sol-less mix that doesn't include the organic ingredients like bat guano and poultry manure. But, since you have already planted, I recommend adding mosquito bits (or crumbled up mosquito dunks) to your water and using that a few times on your soil. They contain Bt, a very safe organic insecticide that is the only thing that can kill fungus gnat larva in the soil. Fungus gnats won't kill your plants, but they won't help either.

<I have a 12" plastic planter and two 36 x 6.7 window boxes.>

Not nearly big enough for banana, bell, and Jalapeno pepper plants. 5 gallon buckets or equivalent are the very minimum for for those varieties. All 3 types are easily 3' to 4' tall plants, easily 2' to 3' wide and with a root ball 12-18" wide. I strongly suggest you invest in much bigger containers to transplant them into and as Ohiofem said, fill those containers with a good quality soil-less potting mix, not a potting soil for best results.

Dave

I would plant them myself, 50 is not too bad. It is June 1st in a few days so really it is time to pull the trigger.... they are small though so you may want to protect them from flea beetles and other pests.

Good point about the flea beetles. At that size/age they can destroy the plants. When larger plants go out they can usually tolerate the flea beetles. So consider some row cover for them - will both warm them and keep the beetles off.

Dave

Agree. leaf miners. They don't pose any real threat to the plants. As mentioned just remove the leaves and/or squish the worm.

As for the yellow bottom leaves, that is usually from over-watering, a common problem when using containers as you are. Since nutrients leach out of the pot every time you water you need to replace them regularly and make sure your water pattern is one of consistency - not too much and not too little.

Plus there is clearly lots more room in your pot for more soil. The more soil in the container the easier it is to stabilize the watering.

Lots of info about all this over on the Container Gardening forum here.

Dave

Thank you everyone! I will definitely take your advice

Try hosing them off. Please don't use Seven!

And avoid using the cheaper generic brand called Sevin too ;o)

Smashing aphids with fingers during hosing off process helps with complete extermination. Watch out for the possible return of aphid herding ants in the days ahead.

Honestly, most all seed vendors - even the big box stores - now offer many heirloom varieties of seeds so you can probably buy many locally.

The problem is that for marketing purposes many vendors label them "heirlooms" when they really are not. They are open-pollinated varieties, not hybrids, but don't have the age or documented history to really qualify as heirlooms. So it is a shopper-beware situation if true heirlooms are what you want.

Dave

Southern Exposure

Very strange weather indeed NHBabs I wish I could send some of this rain we are getting to the NE. I'm just the opposite here in Kansas City area (where it is currently raining again), other than watering in a few seeds I have not had to water my garden at all this year and it is a good thing that I raked up raised beds in my in ground beds or everything planted in them would be drowned. I can't walk on the paths between the raised rows even though I put down cardboard and grass clippings over them. Things are looking up though with the 10 day forecast showing only a small chance of rain any day. I think most of the farmers around here managed to get their corn planted, but I don't think many soy beans have been planted yet.

Plenty of rain here...no extreme amounts, but the farmers could not plant a lot until very recently due to rain.

They are a bush variety, so why the cage?

Because my feeling is that the containers (especially with the loose 5-1-1 mix) won't support the spreading branches after a while. I figure the upper branches will rest on the cage as it grows upwards. It's just an experiment at this point. Last year I grew yellow squash in regular growing soil and it didn't do so well so every year I try something new.

The best way other than using your hands is to use plastic mulch.

If you use plastic mulch you need to arrange for watering under the plastic. I either hoe or use an organic mulch. The advantage of using an organic mulch is that it allows air and moisture in, but reduces weeds and helps retain moisture.