How to keep critters out of vegetable garden
micrazy
15 years ago
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micrazy
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Critter-resistant vegetable garden design question
Comments (6)Here's the vole technique, but it's very difficult to do during the growing season when there's a lot of foliage. First you have to find exit holes. To determine if the hole is active, place a piece of apple in front of it. To keep rabbits etc. from eating the apple, place two short pieces of two x four on either side of it and the hole. Put a five gallon bucket on the two x fours and weight it down with a rock. If the apple is gnawed or gone the next day, it's an active hole. Now, place some mouse/rat poison in a yogurt or cottage cheese container, lay it on its side and place it where you had the apple. with the opening facing the hole. Replace the bucket set up. (This keeps other animals safe from the poison.) Check it daily and replace poison as needed until it's no longer taken. Look for other holes and do the same. This holds the population down, but doesn't really protect my sweet potatoes in summer, because the holes are impossible to find under all the vegetation in my ornamental gardens. But it does work, and is the only thing I know of that does....See MoreA novel fence to keep out the critters
Comments (7)Two things I have not had to worry about are squirrels and rabbits- I have 10 cats! While the birds take some risks, their food has never been disturbed by any squirrels. As for deer, SO FAR, they have not been a problem. On the very rare occasions that my son has seen them in the yard, he has fired his BB gun at them (w/ my thanks). It would be a big problem though if the deer began eating up my yard. An opossum, on the other hand, took up living under the house there for awhile and I was feeding it as well as the cats (I suspect it was making itself free of the house by coming in through the kitty door). I'm sure there are raccoons too but I haven't seen any yet. Wildlife, I love it but only in its proper place- the woods. Brandy...See MoreHow do you keep vegetable gardening groove in the off season??
Comments (15)We have a 12 X 30' hoophouse to extend the fall and spring seasons. When the ground in the hoop house freezes in winter (as is happening today), I cover everything with remay for extra protection and wait for a stretch of warm sunny days to get things going again. It might be next week or the next thaw might not happen until April. Meanwhile, in the house, I've got potted herbs and cut and come again greens (arugua, lettuce, etc.) in all my east and south-facing windows. Tiny onions and shallots can be planted in pots for cutting too. I've found that I can dig up a piece of perennial herbs like oregano, lemon balm, spearmint from the garden in fall and put them in pots. It's best to do it early enough so they can adjust to the pot outside for a while before bringing them in. Tender herbs like basil and marjoram sometimes cooperate and let you dig them and bring them in too. This year I've got a pot of Thai basil indoors -- so far so good. My 20 year old Rosemary is trained as a standard. It goes into the ground in spring and gets potted up and brought in before winter. It loves the dry, circulating heat at a window next to the wood stove. Lemon grass, bay, meyer lemon and key lime plants all live permanently in pots, going out in summer and back in for winter. Scale is a problem with the latter 3 but occasional treatment with neem oil in summer and washing leaves in the sink in winter, keeps them healthy. For years I bought new organic potting soil for all these indoor pots but the last couple years I have dumped all used potting soil into a couple of old whiskey barrels outside and let the rain, air and outdoor micro-organisms, refresh the soil. When re-potting food plants to bring indoors, I add good compost and maybe some perlite if the soil seems too heavy. I add a squirt of fish and seaweed emulsion to my watering every week to keep the plants nice and green and producing new leaves even duing the short winter days. It works pretty well. Also last year I started a small vermicomposting operation in a 5 gallon bucket in the house. It's not an optimal container, but the worms are doing their thing and they create really nice potting soil from leaves/wet newspaper and a little kitchen waste. Amazing. We're going to start another vermicompost container and put the worms to work on our kitty litter (not for use on food plants!). The wood-based kitty litter is much nicer than the clay type and the worms should produce some good compost for use on ornamental plants outside. One more very easy winter harvest tip: grow belgian endive. Grow them as a root vegetable that you harvest in fall. I crowd the harvested roots, leaf side up, into a large plastic pot, put potting soil around the roots, water, and put the pot into a 5 gal bucket. This goes into a perfectly dark place with temps around 60 F. In a couple months you have gorgeous little white heads of endive. I like to exuse myself before a winter dinner party "to harvest the salad from the bedroom closet."...See MoreCritters digging in my vegetable garden
Comments (7)I like the chicken wire, too, but it probably won't deter squirrels or raccoons. If it doesn't help try an organic product by Sweeny's called, "Small Animal Repellant." It comes in a red bottle with a shaker top, 2 lbs. of granules costs about $15. It is all natural and won't hurt your plants or pets. It contains Castor Oil, Citronella Oil, Cinnamon, Clove Oil, Cedar Oil, Dried Blood, Putrescent Egg Solids, White pepper, sawdust, granite, and cornstarch. It doesn't smell bad like a lot of repellants that are made from fox urine, etc. It seems to work well at keeping cats and raccoons off my back porch. I re-apply every 30 days. Haven't tried it in the garden, but I'll bet it would work for you. Good luck!...See Moresylvana_grows
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