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Garden Geeks thread
- Thread starter leswp1
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FiveHole12
Registered User
Re: Garden Geeks thread
I have 3 times on different occasions seen a deer jump a 6' high fence from a stand still, at the end of our road, early morning, from my neighbor's back yard back into the woods. I spook it when I approach in my truck. I assume he jumped the fence to get into the back yard, as it is surrounded by fence. They must have some desirable deer goodies in that yard.
Here's a good example... this is probably a 6' high fence. Jump
On the run, they can probably clear 8', maybe more. How high can a deer jump?
I'm not picking on you Fresh... what works for one doesn't always work for others, especially in different regions of the country. Just speaking from experience. We all have our little niche's.
Soaker hoses are definitely a great way to water and save water. My boxes are only 10' by 5' so every inch is valuable growing area. I tried snaking hoses but need sharper corners to save space, hence the elbows and T's, etc. Regarding watering in hot weather... it's more about watering in bright sun. The water drops on the leaves can act as a magnifying glass and burn the leaves. I have read many places that watering at night causes disease on lawns, etc. Can't prove that by me. I have been watering my lawn from 9pm thru 4am, in total darkness, for 30 plus years. Looks like a golf course. I water the veggies at early morning so they have time to dry before the bright, hot sun arrives.
Has to be a pretty tall fence for white tails. Deer jumping fence.
I have 3 times on different occasions seen a deer jump a 6' high fence from a stand still, at the end of our road, early morning, from my neighbor's back yard back into the woods. I spook it when I approach in my truck. I assume he jumped the fence to get into the back yard, as it is surrounded by fence. They must have some desirable deer goodies in that yard.
Here's a good example... this is probably a 6' high fence. JumpOn the run, they can probably clear 8', maybe more. How high can a deer jump?
I'm not picking on you Fresh... what works for one doesn't always work for others, especially in different regions of the country. Just speaking from experience. We all have our little niche's.
Soaker hoses are definitely a great way to water and save water. My boxes are only 10' by 5' so every inch is valuable growing area. I tried snaking hoses but need sharper corners to save space, hence the elbows and T's, etc. Regarding watering in hot weather... it's more about watering in bright sun. The water drops on the leaves can act as a magnifying glass and burn the leaves. I have read many places that watering at night causes disease on lawns, etc. Can't prove that by me. I have been watering my lawn from 9pm thru 4am, in total darkness, for 30 plus years. Looks like a golf course. I water the veggies at early morning so they have time to dry before the bright, hot sun arrives.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Ah, yes, I forgot to mention that the path from the farm behind the neighbors across the street to our garden has an arbor right outside the garden so that they cannot jump the fence because there isn't enough vertical clearance under the arbor for them to fit between the top of the fence and the bottom of the arbor.
Ah, yes, I forgot to mention that the path from the farm behind the neighbors across the street to our garden has an arbor right outside the garden so that they cannot jump the fence because there isn't enough vertical clearance under the arbor for them to fit between the top of the fence and the bottom of the arbor.
leswp1
New member
Re: Garden Geeks thread
HmmmThe egg solution didn't work? Wow. I have a bunch of deer around here and they don't eat anything I've sprayed.
Here's another solution. I put these out in the fall when the deer are feeding heavily pre winter and during winter, when natural food sources are scarce. These protect my evergreen shrubs, but work in the veggie garden as well.
Wireless Deer Fence. https://www.wirelessdeerfence.com
There's a scented tube in the center of the shocker wires. The deer are attracted to it and when they touch their nose or tongue to it... Zap. Can always tell when one got zapped... you can see the the hoof prints in the mulch around the shrub and then the disturbed mulch after he got zapped, jumped and ran. Deer have a fantastic memory, and whenever they smell the scent that associates with them getting zapped, they don't even come in the yard anymore. I see them in my neighbor's yard looking over the stone wall into my yard. I put them out every year because the newbies haven't had the exciting experience yet.
They're pricey, but work very well. Lots of info on the site for other remedies as well.
The two methods I have posted work very well for me over the last 15 years.
FiveHole12
Registered User
Re: Garden Geeks thread
That's a good site. Many alternative remedies listed as well.
Be careful if you put them in the veggie garden. My wife backed into one once. Scared the bajeepers out of her.
That's a good site. Many alternative remedies listed as well.
leswp1
New member
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Heh. They look intriguing
Be careful if you put them in the veggie garden. My wife backed into one once. Scared the bajeepers out of her.
That's a good site. Many alternative remedies listed as well.
Heh. They look intriguing
FiveHole12
Registered User
Re: Garden Geeks thread
With a drought here right now, water conservation is pretty important. Even with my well, I've cut back significantly on my watering over the last month because of it. Now you've got me thinking more about the soaker hoses FreshFish. Some questions...
Do you have a guess as to how long it would take for the soaker hoses to saturate the soil in one 10'x 5' box? I would run 3 lengths at 10', and one at 5' across the box. Do you think 30 minutes would do it?
I'm thinking 30 minutes of a soaker hose at 10-20 psi would use much less water than 30 minutes of a sprinkler at 70 psi, and would be more efficient, mainly because there would be no wasted water with the soakers? All the soaker water goes right to the soil around the plant roots. Possibly run them for an hour if needed and still be considerably more efficient than the sprinklers?
I have all the elbows, T's and soakers to make this happen (I never throw goodies like this away), so very little start up cost to give it another whirl.
With a drought here right now, water conservation is pretty important. Even with my well, I've cut back significantly on my watering over the last month because of it. Now you've got me thinking more about the soaker hoses FreshFish. Some questions...
Do you have a guess as to how long it would take for the soaker hoses to saturate the soil in one 10'x 5' box? I would run 3 lengths at 10', and one at 5' across the box. Do you think 30 minutes would do it?
I'm thinking 30 minutes of a soaker hose at 10-20 psi would use much less water than 30 minutes of a sprinkler at 70 psi, and would be more efficient, mainly because there would be no wasted water with the soakers? All the soaker water goes right to the soil around the plant roots. Possibly run them for an hour if needed and still be considerably more efficient than the sprinklers?
I have all the elbows, T's and soakers to make this happen (I never throw goodies like this away), so very little start up cost to give it another whirl.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
RE- drought...
Have anyone thought of under watering? I had to change to container gardening, as my soil seems to attract a very nasty invasive root. When I did that, I constructed a system of watering via a pipe from below, and each pot has a basket wicking water up from it. To feed it, I have one 55 gal rain barrel- and it's supporting 39 plants right now. The only times it has run dry is when I have overfilled one of the pipes via a bad adjustment on the float valve.
RE- drought...
Have anyone thought of under watering? I had to change to container gardening, as my soil seems to attract a very nasty invasive root. When I did that, I constructed a system of watering via a pipe from below, and each pot has a basket wicking water up from it. To feed it, I have one 55 gal rain barrel- and it's supporting 39 plants right now. The only times it has run dry is when I have overfilled one of the pipes via a bad adjustment on the float valve.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Each side of our vegetable garden in total is about 10' by 40', maybe half of that is actual planting (we use a variation of square-foot gardening). I run the soaker anywhere from 60 minutes to 90 minutes per side depending upon how dry it has been and whether there is rain several days away in the five-day forecast. I don't know what the psi is though.
It sounds like pro-rata you'd be fine in a 10' x 5' box and 30 - 45 minutes. I'll be curious to hear how it turns out! Please let us know if you do follow through.
also, you might think about whether it is possible to arrange the soakers now as you lay them out so that you could just lift the structure "intact" so to speak, till the soil, and then place it down again without needing to disassemble in the spring. We have a few really large pieces of cardboard from appliance purchases that we save because it comes in handy from time to time for those kinds of things.
Each side of our vegetable garden in total is about 10' by 40', maybe half of that is actual planting (we use a variation of square-foot gardening). I run the soaker anywhere from 60 minutes to 90 minutes per side depending upon how dry it has been and whether there is rain several days away in the five-day forecast. I don't know what the psi is though.
It sounds like pro-rata you'd be fine in a 10' x 5' box and 30 - 45 minutes. I'll be curious to hear how it turns out! Please let us know if you do follow through.
also, you might think about whether it is possible to arrange the soakers now as you lay them out so that you could just lift the structure "intact" so to speak, till the soil, and then place it down again without needing to disassemble in the spring. We have a few really large pieces of cardboard from appliance purchases that we save because it comes in handy from time to time for those kinds of things.
FiveHole12
Registered User
Re: Garden Geeks thread
I'm going to give it another whirl. I already have a spigot set up at each box just for that purpose and I can control the pressure with the spigot. The expense will be investing in timers for each box. I'll probably just apply a few boxes for now. It will be fairly easy to remove the soakers as one unit for tilling... Gardena makes the quick connectors that would work well in this situation. It should conserve quite a lot of water for me. Thanks for the info.
I got thinking about it and I did soaker hoses years back. You jogged my memory when you mentioned the leaks, and that is probably why I scrapped them. The pain in the neck stuff a few years back was a 3/8" plastic tube system with little sprayers/soakers at ground level. Cutting them in at each plant was a lot of work... a nightmare to assemble. Thankfully I only bought enough product for one box to try it out.
I'm going to give it another whirl. I already have a spigot set up at each box just for that purpose and I can control the pressure with the spigot. The expense will be investing in timers for each box. I'll probably just apply a few boxes for now. It will be fairly easy to remove the soakers as one unit for tilling... Gardena makes the quick connectors that would work well in this situation. It should conserve quite a lot of water for me. Thanks for the info.
leswp1
New member
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Gardens would be another story. I have a fairly large flower and perennial garden. In most years I either never water or rarely water my perennial beds. My usual theory is if it can't live without attention it dies. So for the most part I have well established, fairly drought resistant gardens. We are in the 'significant drought' area right now. We have not had sig rain in over a month and have now had more than a week >90F temps. Just brutal on even the most drought resistant of my plants.
This sounds really neat. For veggies it might work for us Exc ept for right now rain barrel would need to be filled from the hose.
Gardens would be another story. I have a fairly large flower and perennial garden. In most years I either never water or rarely water my perennial beds. My usual theory is if it can't live without attention it dies. So for the most part I have well established, fairly drought resistant gardens. We are in the 'significant drought' area right now. We have not had sig rain in over a month and have now had more than a week >90F temps. Just brutal on even the most drought resistant of my plants.
FiveHole12
Registered User
Re: Garden Geeks thread
OK... something has been chomping on my tomatoes. As soon as they become ripe, half of the tomato is eaten. Did my usual anti-deer routine but decided to see what was really going on, so I moved 2 of my trail cams to the garden.
It's CROWS! They fly in and walk all through the tomato plants looking for ripe ones. Checked it out on line and folks say they are just looking for a drink in these drought conditions. So I followed some advice and filled water buckets and left them out in the garden. We'll see if that works.
Have a red fox prowling the garden at night as well. Watching to see what he's up to. He's been there 3 nights in a row.
OK... something has been chomping on my tomatoes. As soon as they become ripe, half of the tomato is eaten. Did my usual anti-deer routine but decided to see what was really going on, so I moved 2 of my trail cams to the garden.
It's CROWS! They fly in and walk all through the tomato plants looking for ripe ones. Checked it out on line and folks say they are just looking for a drink in these drought conditions. So I followed some advice and filled water buckets and left them out in the garden. We'll see if that works.
Have a red fox prowling the garden at night as well. Watching to see what he's up to. He's been there 3 nights in a row.
Our garden usually produces lots of tomatoes but this year has been disappointing. We got quite a few early (lost some to deer and squirrels), but now there are very few and many plants have very few blossoms. I wonder if it's the plants themselves. We bought them all from one grower at the farmers' market.
leswp1
New member
Re: Garden Geeks thread
We are doing OK but after the initial set of blossoms the extreme heat and drought killed the next set. The formed tomatoes are developing OK.
it is possible you got determinate tomatoes. They do stop producing.
We are doing OK but after the initial set of blossoms the extreme heat and drought killed the next set. The formed tomatoes are developing OK.
it is possible you got determinate tomatoes. They do stop producing.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Fingers crossed, we are finally having a decent yield of tomatoes again. the past four years or so has seen our entire crop succumb to a blight. This year, we tried three different things:
-- opened a new bed in a different part of the yard,
-- tried a wider variety of tomatoes in the garden, and not in the traditional tomato bed
-- applied a spray-on copper-based fungicide to the leaves every other week or so.
I've already made four quarts of sauce, we've eaten plenty, and we have more ripening on the vine than we've harvested so far.
This year is the first time we've tried pole beans, in addition to the usual bush beans. The pole beans are a lot easier to harvest, that's for sure! though the bush beans are far more prolific. I'm picking beans twice a week, enough to feed three people each time. and our bean patch is only about 5' x 3'
Fingers crossed, we are finally having a decent yield of tomatoes again. the past four years or so has seen our entire crop succumb to a blight. This year, we tried three different things:
-- opened a new bed in a different part of the yard,
-- tried a wider variety of tomatoes in the garden, and not in the traditional tomato bed
-- applied a spray-on copper-based fungicide to the leaves every other week or so.
I've already made four quarts of sauce, we've eaten plenty, and we have more ripening on the vine than we've harvested so far.
This year is the first time we've tried pole beans, in addition to the usual bush beans. The pole beans are a lot easier to harvest, that's for sure! though the bush beans are far more prolific. I'm picking beans twice a week, enough to feed three people each time. and our bean patch is only about 5' x 3'
FiveHole12
Registered User
Re: Garden Geeks thread
My tomato plants EXPLODED two days ago. . . picking 8-12 a day now, fully ripe, large fruits. I let the animals have the bottom tomatoes. They haven't gotten to anything else. Same as you Fresh... very healthy looking plants now after many years of late blight. I have stayed with the fungicide as well every 2 weeks. Best plants I've had in years.
Cucumbers are not happy campers. . . I believe I got some bad seed as many died before the drought.
Summer squashes still going well, although winding down. I planted another batch 2 weeks after this crop and they're very healthy plants. I will be picking straight necks and zukes in abundance again in a few weeks.
Eggplant doing very well . . . 8 plants, lots of eggplant.
Fall spinach crops will be planted soon... each week in succession.
My tomato plants EXPLODED two days ago. . . picking 8-12 a day now, fully ripe, large fruits. I let the animals have the bottom tomatoes. They haven't gotten to anything else. Same as you Fresh... very healthy looking plants now after many years of late blight. I have stayed with the fungicide as well every 2 weeks. Best plants I've had in years.
Cucumbers are not happy campers. . . I believe I got some bad seed as many died before the drought.
Summer squashes still going well, although winding down. I planted another batch 2 weeks after this crop and they're very healthy plants. I will be picking straight necks and zukes in abundance again in a few weeks.
Eggplant doing very well . . . 8 plants, lots of eggplant.
Fall spinach crops will be planted soon... each week in succession.
Re: Garden Geeks thread
Just finished handwatering again, but at least this time there's some hope. Many windfall tomatillos so I'll be able to harvest tomorrow, and several Thai chilis turning color. Habaneros are ripening, but they're the kind that don't turn orange, so I'll have to check more closely tomorrow. I probably fertilized too late into the season, so the foliage is hiding the fruits.
Just finished handwatering again, but at least this time there's some hope. Many windfall tomatillos so I'll be able to harvest tomorrow, and several Thai chilis turning color. Habaneros are ripening, but they're the kind that don't turn orange, so I'll have to check more closely tomorrow. I probably fertilized too late into the season, so the foliage is hiding the fruits.
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