How is Everybody's Garden Doing

[mjkacmom]

If I never see another cucumber I’ll be happy. Zucchini came in fast and strong but stopped the end of July. Last year we trained beans to climb our tall porch, had too many. This year the cucumbers climbed, found a bunch in the hanging baskets. Can no longer give them away (put a table out on our walkway and posted on a local pass it along Facebook page).

 

[hmsTigger]

Love your cucumbers in the baskets! What was the variety?

 

[Kitty 34]

I just want to say my hanging begonia plants have been absolutely awesome this summer and we get them every summer.

 

[hmsTigger]

The begonias are amazing this year. Our deer are starting to eat them! Which is ususally not a plant they consume. Frustrating at times.
Coleus are doing well and the Salvia varieties are so tall and covered with flowers for the hummingbirds.

 

[mjkacmom]

Love your cucumbers in the baskets! What was the variety?

English, although we did get volunteer Kirby’s (plus volunteer cherry tomatoes and delicata squash, plus our annual doves nest (they choose a different basket every year, we have 8 on the porch).

 

[LoveDaisy]

We harvested our last bag of potatoes this morning.

 

[OneOftheB's]

My garden is slowing going dormant. I still have some okra producing (they got a late start this year with several plantings failing to thrive). I pulled out my cucumber plants today. The star of my garden this year is loofah I grew on a whim when offered seed. I planted them along a fence line (they need a trellis) in the worst possible soil and only watered the plants early in the summer, never fertilized them. I've harvested 4 with 10 more on the vine. They've been fun to watch and I'm excited to use them and give some as gifts.

 

[LoveDaisy]

We grew the pumpkins and gourds. I have one more pumpkin to pick but letting it get a bit more color. The pumpkins didn’t do great this year with all the rain.

 

[mjkacmom]

I just ordered googly eyes on Amazon, maybe friends will find my cucumbers even more charming with a face.

 

[TippyThomas]

I didn't do much gardening this year because I was away from home so frequently. I did contribute financially to the garden done by my neighbors and have gotten various fresh and canned goods through the season. Their whole family is involved in that operation and it's much larger in scale than anything I'd want to do at all. The canned items remind me of my childhood and the things my mother used to can. I've really enjoyed all of it this year for sure. I think I'll do that again next year because everyone seems to be happy with that setup. I know I like it, so I'm all in.

 

[hmsTigger]

Seed magazines are out and I am going over them and plans for the garden.
I started lettuce, cabbage, kale and herb seeds inside the end of August and placed outside mid Oct Harvested in mid Dec.
Successful! Here in Northeast. Started again in mid January with hopeful harvest in April
I start all seeds indoors due to limited space outside.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I start my cucumber and salad inside shortly after tax season

 

[tony67]

I may skip my garden this year.

Even with a 3ft fence most my my produce was eaten by something.
We have squirrels and rumors of rats thanks to the covid restaurant shutdowns.
There are a lot of rabbits but I see no sign they got in.
I set up a camera, but that did not help determine what it was.
Ill probably set a trap in the fenced off area this year to catch one.

I also grow mint for my bar so in theory that should deter them, but no such luck.
The problem with mint is it spreads like a weed and is hard to control, just like the grass that only wants to grow in my garden.

I'd love to be able to get an outdoor cat again, but those really are not allowed anymore.
You have to agree to keep the cat indoors all the time if you get one, even if its older and going to be put down.
We had taken in one from a deceased neighbor, but it was at least 10 when we got it and just disappeared after about five years.
We also get coyotes now in the area so really don't want to have an outdoor cat for that reason.

Of course any advice is appreciated.

It was fine for several years, probably thanks to the cat.
Then I saw something had dug its way in through the wall and eaten a bunch of stuff leaving quite a mess.
The garden itself is raised about 1ft and I added a 3ft fence around the outside of the raised wall (1/4 inch holes so not much is going to get through that).
I dug 3 inches down around the garden wall and its covers 100% around. so they really cant dig under easily - and if they did it would be obvious.

Oh and similar for my peach trees, they just leave the mess for me to deal with.
I've never gotten blueberries from my blueberry plants.
They also eat the lemon and limes when they are the size of a blueberry so gave up on those as well - too much hassle.

 

[TippyThomas]

I may skip my garden this year.

Even with a 3ft fence most my my produce was eaten by something.
We have squirrels and rumors of rats thanks to the covid restaurant shutdowns.
There are a lot of rabbits but I see no sign they got in.
I set up a camera, but that did not help determine what it was.
Ill probably set a trap in the fenced off area this year to catch one.

I also grow mint for my bar so in theory that should deter them, but no such luck.
The problem with mint is it spreads like a weed and is hard to control, just like the grass that only wants to grow in my garden.

I'd love to be able to get an outdoor cat again, but those really are not allowed anymore.
You have to agree to keep the cat indoors all the time if you get one, even if its older and going to be put down.
We had taken in one from a deceased neighbor, but it was at least 10 when we got it and just disappeared after about five years.
We also get coyotes now in the area so really don't want to have an outdoor cat for that reason.

Of course any advice is appreciated.

It was fine for several years, probably thanks to the cat.
Then I saw something had dug its way in through the wall and eaten a bunch of stuff leaving quite a mess.
The garden itself is raised about 1ft and I added a 3ft fence around the outside of the raised wall (1/4 inch holes so not much is going to get through that).
I dug 3 inches down around the garden wall and its covers 100% around. so they really cant dig under easily - and if they did it would be obvious.

Oh and similar for my peach trees, they just leave the mess for me to deal with.
I've never gotten blueberries from my blueberry plants.
They also eat the lemon and limes when they are the size of a blueberry so gave up on those as well - too much hassle.

I gave up gardening because of the same issues with animals. I had to build chicken wire boxes to place around my produce and that still didn't completely work. Now I just buy from some of my neighbors who seem to have things working for them. Just not worth the hassle anymore for me.

 

[evilmommie]

I may skip my garden this year.

Even with a 3ft fence most my my produce was eaten by something.
We have squirrels and rumors of rats thanks to the covid restaurant shutdowns.
There are a lot of rabbits but I see no sign they got in.
I set up a camera, but that did not help determine what it was.
Ill probably set a trap in the fenced off area this year to catch one.

I also grow mint for my bar so in theory that should deter them, but no such luck.
The problem with mint is it spreads like a weed and is hard to control, just like the grass that only wants to grow in my garden.

I'd love to be able to get an outdoor cat again, but those really are not allowed anymore.
You have to agree to keep the cat indoors all the time if you get one, even if its older and going to be put down.
We had taken in one from a deceased neighbor, but it was at least 10 when we got it and just disappeared after about five years.
We also get coyotes now in the area so really don't want to have an outdoor cat for that reason.

Of course any advice is appreciated.

It was fine for several years, probably thanks to the cat.
Then I saw something had dug its way in through the wall and eaten a bunch of stuff leaving quite a mess.
The garden itself is raised about 1ft and I added a 3ft fence around the outside of the raised wall (1/4 inch holes so not much is going to get through that).
I dug 3 inches down around the garden wall and its covers 100% around. so they really cant dig under easily - and if they did it would be obvious.

Oh and similar for my peach trees, they just leave the mess for me to deal with.
I've never gotten blueberries from my blueberry plants.
They also eat the lemon and limes when they are the size of a blueberry so gave up on those as well - too much hassle.

No coyotes or foxes to keep the rodent population in check?

 

[tony67]

No coyotes or foxes to keep the rodent population in check?

We have both, but not doing the job unfortunately.

Is a suburban area so lots protection for the rodents with fenced in yards etc..

 

[evilmommie]

We have both, but not doing the job unfortunately.

Is a suburban area so lots protection for the rodents with fenced in yards etc..

Man. That's a bummer. I'm in a suburban area as well and the coyotes do a great job of keeping the vermin out of my vegetable garden. I'm a couple of streets away from a large canyon, so that might help.

Snap traps?

 

[tony67]

Man. That's a bummer. I'm in a suburban area as well and the coyotes do a great job of keeping the vermin out of my vegetable garden. I'm a couple of streets away from a large canyon, so that might help.

Snap traps?

I am a bity concerned since it may be something other than mice or rats and there are a lot of laws in my state so we are a bit limited on what we can do with traps. Getting clear answers on what we can do is also not so simple.

I also have a mint spray that I can spray around the garden, so I may just do that and a plant a few tomato plants to test this year.

I have a good size cage trap I will set, of course a mouse will probably get out of it.
I have small ones for the mice as well so maybe set one or two of those.

Then the next issue is what to do with what ever you catch if its not a rat or a mouse, again lots of laws about moving animals etc... Don't want to deal with a skunk for obvious reasons.

No doubt the best option is a cat.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I may skip my garden this year.

Even with a 3ft fence most my my produce was eaten by something.
We have squirrels and rumors of rats thanks to the covid restaurant shutdowns.
There are a lot of rabbits but I see no sign they got in.
I set up a camera, but that did not help determine what it was.
Ill probably set a trap in the fenced off area this year to catch one.

I also grow mint for my bar so in theory that should deter them, but no such luck.
The problem with mint is it spreads like a weed and is hard to control, just like the grass that only wants to grow in my garden.

I'd love to be able to get an outdoor cat again, but those really are not allowed anymore.
You have to agree to keep the cat indoors all the time if you get one, even if its older and going to be put down.
We had taken in one from a deceased neighbor, but it was at least 10 when we got it and just disappeared after about five years.
We also get coyotes now in the area so really don't want to have an outdoor cat for that reason.

Of course any advice is appreciated.

It was fine for several years, probably thanks to the cat.
Then I saw something had dug its way in through the wall and eaten a bunch of stuff leaving quite a mess.
The garden itself is raised about 1ft and I added a 3ft fence around the outside of the raised wall (1/4 inch holes so not much is going to get through that).
I dug 3 inches down around the garden wall and its covers 100% around. so they really cant dig under easily - and if they did it would be obvious.

Oh and similar for my peach trees, they just leave the mess for me to deal with.
I've never gotten blueberries from my blueberry plants.
They also eat the lemon and limes when they are the size of a blueberry so gave up on those as well - too much hassle.

Snails and slugs are my main theiffing pests. Squirrels come very late and dont take much in fact they damage more than they take. Cause of them I switched to mainily cherry type tomatoes cause they dont seem to bother with them. But the sanils/slugs, what they try to do to my lettuce and cucombers. I actually have to build little alluminun shields on the vine. I swear it works I mold the foil so it folds back downward and they can't seem to get past it.
And now most my lettuce I grow on pole hangers and do same thing with the poles.
And though I have a terrifying phobia of squirrels, I feel bad for them. All the idiot city planners in NYC now plant small trees never once considering the squirrels who were living on nuts of bigger trees.

 

[evilmommie]

I am a bity concerned since it may be something other than mice or rats and there are a lot of laws in my state so we are a bit limited on what we can do with traps. Getting clear answers on what we can do is also not so simple.

I also have a mint spray that I can spray around the garden, so I may just do that and a plant a few tomato plants to test this year.

I have a good size cage trap I will set, of course a mouse will probably get out of it.
I have small ones for the mice as well so maybe set one or two of those.

Then the next issue is what to do with what ever you catch if its not a rat or a mouse, again lots of laws about moving animals etc... Don't want to deal with a skunk for obvious reasons.

No doubt the best option is a cat.

Cats don’t survive outside were I live because of the wildlife. As for trapped or dead animals (which hasn’t happened, other than 2 fledgling crows, that they rehabbed) on my property, we call animal control and they come out to take the care of the situation.