The garden is done

[skeets]

Im done ,just stick a fork in me. I went out this morning and lo and behold, not a single stock of corn is standing. I know that 4 rows 25 feet long isn't much but dayum it was mine and not the critters!
Every ear is chewed on or eaten, , the green maters that started to come back are eaten or chewed on. The only thing I have is about 6 bean plants in a cut in half, barrel, and some taters. Apples peaches and pears all had tons of flowers, and now, not a bloody thing the cherry trees didnt do squat!
Guess I will just put the canning stuff away for another year. OK Im done whining now, time to get the traps ready for the fur season, this year any and everything is on the list !

 

[BigG]

You can not just put away the canning stuff. Get to the farmers market and buy what you need. It will taste much better than the stuff in the store.

Maybe you could set up a stand at the farmers market and teach these kids how to can.

I miss my mama's green tomato relish.

Some things like corn and green beans you could put up in the vacuum bags and make them up for single servings.

 

[skeets]

Yeah thats most likely what I will do, it is just really deflating to see things go sideways like that

 

[SidecarFlip]

My heat bleeds for ya... Picked my first dozen of Ambrosia Sweet corn on Thursday and had 6 of them last night with supper, man is it good. Sticky sweet. I have 3 100 foot rows in and they are all about ready. Will be freezing them (stripped, in bags), mostly.

Been picking cukes for about 3 weeks now., what we don't eat, my friends do and what is left goes on my buddy's roadside stand along with the zucchini, the big ones (for bread), little ones get eaten or passed around.

Green peppers are just about there, so are the yellow and red ones and tomatoes, been picking some but when they come in, will be making salsa.

Cantaloupes are growing fine too. About the size of large apples right now and the potatoes are going crazy. I have one 100 foot row in the ground and another 50 foot row in straw bales (wanted to try that this year, seems to be doing well.)

2 100 foot long rows of onions, red's and whites

Finally, 8 caluflower plants but they don't seem to be getting heads, will see how that goes. Carrots were a bust too. Oh well.

Aged cattle manure really grows the garden and nothing eats it 'cause my wife has an army of outside cats that patrol the garden.

What don't get canned, goes in the root cellar.

Wife says I have a green thumb. I say it's the cattle... (and a bit of granulated lime too.,

 

[S-G-R]

What got into the garden? Raccoons or deer?

 

[skeets]

I didnt have the trail cams up but I would say both had a field day.. and thanks for trying to make me feel better flip

 

[sheepfarmer]

Sorry to hear skeets, you have suffered a plague of critters. It is a never ending battle at my house. Flea beetles have pretty much killed my eggplant. I did win over the cabbage loopers in one row with a row cover, but not in another. The japanese beetles have eaten the beans but I should still get enough. Two days ago I installed 3 strands of hotwire on one side of the garden and a scarecrow sprinkler to try to keep the coons out of the corn. We'll see.who wins.

 

[sparky45]

Coons!! They always do unless you kill them.

 

[michigander]

We have deer working on ours.. They really sweet potato tops

 

[bird dogger]

When the kids were running the sweet corn show here (tongue in cheek) I used a 12VDC electric fencer around the field. Two strands of wire.....one up normal height and one down 6 inches up off the ground. Every 20 to 30 feet along the top wire was hung a small square of heavy duty tinfoil and smeared with peanut butter. My brother came to visit with his dog and was warned of the electric fence when we went to look at the field. He said the dog will stay right with him. Well, the dog smelled the peanut butter and dashed for it. One lick and it did a back flip while yelping and ran back into the woods. I laughed but the sister in law was mad. Hey, I warned them.

My neighbor actually witnessed a deer do the same thing.....made a beeline for the peanut butter, backflipped and went bawling back into the windbreaks. The lower wires seemed to keep the raccoons and fox squirrels out. But it was a labor intensive job to put up, maintain and take down on a 3 acre patch.
On a regular sized garden it would work great. Powered by a 12 volt car battery, it would stay powered up for a good week before needing a charge.

With the kids gone the field has shrunk a little. This year there's only 42 rows just under 700 feet long. That's a lot of picking for one old fart!
david

Edit: You might try a lion decoy!

 

[Lil Foot]

I know the feeling. This is the first year our 5 variety apple had blossoms- at least 30!
But not a single apple- must have been a freeze after the blossoms, because of the caregiver thing we just can't be here enough to know one way or the other.
Oh well, there's always next year.

 

[bearbait]

Sorry to hear that guys, that sucks. So far so good for our apple trees, for the first time in 3 years their bearing fruit.

 

[Creature Meadow]

Been canning and freezing all summer heat got mine I turned it all under Saturday except the okra.

Second round of beets and peas going in tomorrow.

I'll plant all my fall crop this week as well to transplant next month.

I have deer as well, a fence is in order this winter, the telephone poles are laying there now.

Been very blessed, we have canned and froze more variety this year than ever. My favorite is the blackberry jelly and strawberry/fig preserves all from the farm chemical free.

Sorry Skeets it does stink and I too suffer loss from nature and critters. Wind blew over lot of my corn couple days before we pulled it. Deer ate/busted some of my melons and loved my beans.

 

[Bmyers]

Sorry to hear that all the time and effort was for naught.

We have been picking apples and the wife made her third apple pie. Deer has gotten all the low hanging apples and keeping the ground cleaned up.

 

[skeets]

Thanks guys, this is just what happens some times when you have critters around,,, Ahhh well next year right? Maybe, I will try and build a hydroponics set up over the winter , that least that might keep the ground hogs out,,lol

 

[Tornado]

Had a gentleman in here in my office just a few days ago who lost his entire garden in the same fashion. He caught a glimpse of the culprits however - about 7 or 8 deer. Ate everything down as if you had taken a weed eater to it he said and just buzzed it off at the ground.

I'm planning to finally put in my first big garden next year after securing a spot with enough sunlight finally. Im already planning to have electric fence around it, and a solar powered fence charger. We use this same set up with our chickens and it works really well to keep the foxes and stuff out. The solar fence charger, once set up in a good spot is essentially set it and forget it. No maintenance, aside from changing a battery when the one in the unit eventually gets old. You will invest maybe $500 or so getting this all set up, but its highly effective and saving your garden from all I've seen and read, often with just 3 strands of eletric rope. If your fence is in an area without grass and weeds you could even use the electric netting like we use for our chickens - its super effective but you dont want grass growing all up in it as it will drain the battery faster and reduce the shock to predators if a lot of the current is being lost into weeds and grass blades. This is why I plan to use the rope on my garden. One strand about 8 inches off the ground, another maybe at 16" to 24" or so, and then one higher strand maybe 36 to 48 inces. I may even go with 4 strands.

Id recommend the electric fence option. You can use it year after year, and its portable and easy to move/setup/take down, etc. If youre interested I also highly recommend Premier 1 and their products. They have some of the best electric fencing products, and their customer service is great.

 

[skeets]

Thanks guys, I did use an electric fence when the BIG garden was planted. I had a unit called the BURNER, I dont remember what it put out ,but a vine from a bird house gourd tried to get out of the garden and it got burned off,, Thanks for the net idea, I was thinking of maybe chicken wire tied to stand offs and 2 inches off the bottom. And yeah the pie pan with peanut butter works I know that for a fact,,lol It wont keep the deer out if they have a mind to jump but if they are that hungry!

 

[SidecarFlip]

Sorry to hear skeets, you have suffered a plague of critters. It is a never ending battle at my house. Flea beetles have pretty much killed my eggplant. I did win over the cabbage loopers in one row with a row cover, but not in another. The japanese beetles have eaten the beans but I should still get enough. Two days ago I installed 3 strands of hotwire on one side of the garden and a scarecrow sprinkler to try to keep the coons out of the corn. We'll see.who wins.

I always win with coons, I drill them regularly. Same with wood chucks. M y 22-250 does the job, one shot.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Shot 3 in the creek bank the other day, all together in a group. Used my 45 Kimber with the laser red dot. Bang, bang, bang, all deceased.

 

[bearbait]

Thanks guys, I did use an electric fence when the BIG garden was planted. I had a unit called the BURNER, I dont remember what it put out ,but a vine from a bird house gourd tried to get out of the garden and it got burned off,, Thanks for the net idea, I was thinking of maybe chicken wire tied to stand offs and 2 inches off the bottom. And yeah the pie pan with peanut butter works I know that for a fact,,lol It wont keep the deer out if they have a mind to jump but if they are that hungry!

Lol, how many times did you get peanut butter on your face ol' cock?