What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[Astronuc]

I don't know how many PFer's garden, but I have done gardening ever since I could walk. My father and my maternal grandfather both gardened. I helped my dad in the garden, mostly planting, watering and weeding (and harvesting) at first. When I was old enough to handle a shovel, I would help cultivate.

The first four years of childhood, we lived in rural areas, so gardening was quite natural. My father was a minister with a low salary, so the garden provided fresh fruit and vegetables for low cost.

Anyway, I have always enjoyed gardening, which for me is a spiritual experience. I use organic methods without herbicides or pesticides, in favor of natural insects and manual methods.

As of now, the perennials - Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries and Rhubard have come back to life. I was pleased to find that my meager efforts at propagating the blackberries seem to be finall working. I have done it incorrectly for 2 years, so I am hopeful now that they will finally take off. The raspberries need no help in this regard.

I am preparing one plot for a vegetable garden - my wifes tomato plants and lettuce. I will add some hot pepper plants.

I am preparing another plot for an herb garden for my wife.

Then I will be preparing a terraced area on the back hill - I am thinking tomatos, squash, zucchini, and whatever hits my fancy.

 

[Kerrie]

Astro, I want to garden like you wouldn't believe it! Unfortunately, I am in the apartment rut for now, but I do have a patio with flowers and herbs growing big as we speak. I have several kinds of houseplants growing, and I take great pride in growing plants. The small bit I do gives me joy, and I look forward to having a home that has dirt outside that I can play in someday.

My father and his wife are master gardners and work for a state prison system in teaching inmates landscaping and gardening skills as a way to enhance their overall being. (Yes, they both have the same job, but at different prisons).

My dream garden consists of a "salsa garden", where I would grow cilantro, green onion, tomatoes, tomatillas and peppers to make my own, have several lilac trees and bushes (my most favorite scent in the world), eggplant, all kinds of herbs, and of course various unusual flowers for color.

 

[Danger]

I don't know how many PFer's garden, but I have done gardening ever since I could walk.

Sorry, dude; my approach to gardening (and lawn mowing) is that when I catch something growing in my yard, I park something on it.

Anybody need parts for a '79 Matador wagon?

 

[enigma]

Pave it with concrete. _Maybe_ spraypaint the concrete green.

 

[Soilwork]

haha I've never understood how people can live in a house with no lawn.
My family rents and has always done so we've seen a lot of houses where there is absolutely no lawn at all.
There is just concrete and there usually isn't a garden...just a couple of pot plants dotted around the place.
Besides the fact that you can't just go out and garden on a sunny day, it's just plain dull and lifeless to look outside and see concrete.
That's for me personally though. Obvisouly people don't mind that because there are houses that are designed like that.

 

[Danger]

haha I've never understood how people can live in a house with no lawn.

My ideal approach, although I can't afford it, would be to rip the whole thing out, sterilize it, and lay down Astroturf. (Except for the large carpet of moss growing under my perimeter trees. I like moss.)
You have, by the way, the most appropriate name that I've seen for a particular thread.

 

[gnome]

Sorry, dude; my approach to gardening (and lawn mowing) is that when I catch something growing in my yard, I park something on it.

Pave it with concrete. _Maybe_ spraypaint the concrete green.

You guys are missing out on the joys of the chainsaw.

I've been a pretty avid gardener at times but not for eating, just for looking.

When my wife & I lived in an apartment (back in the olden days, when "The Dark Side of the Moon" was young) we got very heavily involved with houseplants. We even had a Dept. of Agriculture importing permit so we could bring plants into the country. Ultimately we had over 400 plants, many begonias and various aroids (anthuriums, alocasias, dieffenbachias, philodendrons, etc.) plus an assortment of miscellaneous others. When we went on vacations, we put them (each one individually) in plastic bags so they wouldn't dry out while we were away. It looked very sci-fi.

When we bought our first house (which was the ultimate "handyman special" -- we had to totally renovate), for the first year we spent more time fixing up the garden than the house. Dirt is much nicer than plaster dust.

At our place out on the island, gardening has been very frustrating. When we first bought it, I remember saying: "Oh, look at the deer right over there. Isn't it great to look out the back window & see deer!" Hah. Little did we know. Eastern Long Island is infested with deer. And what they don't eat, they break with their antlers. We've made some progress, trying to plant things that they don't damage, but they're pretty unpredictable. Finally, a year & a half ago, we put deer fencing around part of the property, so at least our azaleas & rhododendrons have now made it through 2 winters without being grazed. And now we finally have daylilies (a great favorite of the deer). It's a start...

 

[BobG]

With the water restrictions they've had here the last few years, it's a challenge just to grow grass. The smart folk use a lot of colored rock to reduce how much yard needs watering.

I am trying to get some wildflowers to grow by our back fence (it slopes down at the back end of the yard and is a pain to mow). Provided we get any rain, those seem to do okay.

 

[Moonbear]

I wish I could get a vegetable garden growing. I love the taste of just-picked tomatoes ripe from the garden. I finally got some to grow last year when the nice, orange tomato I was drooling over, and knew was only a few days from being perfectly ripe, suddenly disappeared! A squirrel stole it! I just can't keep up with the vegetable garden since I wind up traveling frequently during the driest part of summer, so all the fruits dry up.

So, I'm contenting myself with flowers this year. Ever since I moved in, I've been slowly building on the flower gardens, constantly fighting back the overgrown columbine, cut out some ugly old bushes, added more daffodils and tulips (thankfully I planted new ones last fall, because it seems the ones I had when I bought the house didn't come up this year...I have some great tulip varieties now that I just love...a nice cream colored one with just the thinnest of red borders on each petal and a dark purple center, another that's a bright purple, and then the dark purplish red ones that look nearly black...those are amazing in a garden...plus some other reds and yellows; my goal in tulips is to get a huge variety of color since they come in shouting that spring is on the way!), and included gladioli and dahlias. I had some of those dinner plate dahlias, which I loved as accents around my front porch, but I didn't get to the bulbs in time in the fall to save them for another year. Oh, and I've been slowly adding clematis along the fenceline. Though, this year I need to figure out how to extricate the old fence from the clematis without damaging it, because the fence needs to be taken out and replaced (or maybe I'll just get rid of the fence completely and go with an arbor).

I have seeds to plant in the former vegetable garden to attempt a cutting garden this year. I should get out and work on that tomorrow (I've traditionally always used Mother's Day as the day when I decide the threat of frost has passed and it's safe to plant seeds and seedlings outdoors).

A big part of my decision to buy a house rather than move into another apartment was that I really wanted gardens and flowers. I used to grow a lot of flowers on my apt balcony, which served the dual purpose of providing me a bright sanctuary of color in a dreary apt complex, and of providing a little privacy (I even planted sweet peas to run up the balcony railings from the pots).

 

[Clausius2]

I don't know how many PFer's garden, but I have done gardening ever since I could walk. My father and my maternal grandfather both gardened. I helped my dad in the garden, mostly planting, watering and weeding (and harvesting) at first. When I was old enough to handle a shovel, I would help cultivate.

The first four years of childhood, we lived in rural areas, so gardening was quite natural. My father was a minister with a low salary, so the garden provided fresh fruit and vegetables for low cost.

Anyway, I have always enjoyed gardening, which for me is a spiritual experience. I use organic methods without herbicides or pesticides, in favor of natural insects and manual methods.

As of now, the perennials - Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries and Rhubard have come back to life. I was pleased to find that my meager efforts at propagating the blackberries seem to be finall working. I have done it incorrectly for 2 years, so I am hopeful now that they will finally take off. The raspberries need no help in this regard.

I am preparing one plot for a vegetable garden - my wifes tomato plants and lettuce. I will add some hot pepper plants.

I am preparing another plot for an herb garden for my wife.

Then I will be preparing a terraced area on the back hill - I am thinking tomatos, squash, zucchini, and whatever hits my fancy.

Maybe this is out of the aim of this thread, but I think it is a good thought to know by an american.

The culture of having a house with a small garden is not instaured for instance in Spain. Here we watch usa films where everybody can buy a decent house with a small garden by a relatively low cost. Here you only would buy a flat of 60m2 in Madrid outskirts with the same money (I am referring "money" as the price relative to american salary, it is not an absolute figure). Here there is the culture of the flat. Everybody except those who make money larger than the average, lives in a flat. I don't know what is the reason for this, maybe this is the corrupt's kingdom where every constructor wants to maximize his profits and there is nobody to avoid it.

I have been living in a flat in a city of 70.000 inhabbitants, which is one of those large cities near Madrid. We have never had and never will have such a house with a garden or so, no matter my father has worked as a high ejecutive at an important enterprise. Here there are such a high prices that the majority of us have to live in small flats (which are also too expensive).

You are lucky folks.

 

[hypatia]

The strawberries are blooming, and the asparagus is up too. The herb garden is a mess, but most seemed to winter over ok{new rosemary and basil get planted every year}. It has thyme, 2 kinds of sage, parsley and lemon grass.
Onion sets went in 2 weeks ago. Today I got the potato plot ready, next week I'll plant those along with{beefsteak, betterboys and cherry} tomatos, peppers, cukes and watermelon. I use to start them al by seed, but the local garden shop has such nice plants I just get them from there.

 

[BobG]

Maybe this is out of the aim of this thread, but I think it is a good thought to know by an american.

The culture of having a house with a small garden is not instaured for instance in Spain. Here we watch usa films where everybody can buy a decent house with a small garden by a relatively low cost. Here you only would buy a flat of 60m2 in Madrid outskirts with the same money (I am referring "money" as the price relative to american salary, it is not an absolute figure). Here there is the culture of the flat. Everybody except those who make money larger than the average, lives in a flat. I don't know what is the reason for this, maybe this is the corrupt's kingdom where every constructor wants to maximize his profits and there is nobody to avoid it.

I have been living in a flat in a city of 70.000 inhabbitants, which is one of those large cities near Madrid. We have never had and never will have such a house with a garden or so, no matter my father has worked as a high ejecutive at an important enterprise. Here there are such a high prices that the majority of us have to live in small flats (which are also too expensive).

You are lucky folks.

Rather than corruption, it might have more to do with the fact that Europe (at least the European Union members) have 455 million people in 4 million square kilometers. The US has 295 million people in over 9 million square kilometers.

 

[JamesU]

I don't know if I like my garden. Everything is oversized in a small space, and sometimes I find plants under other plants

 

[Pengwuino]

Rather than corruption, it might have more to do with the fact that Europe (at least the European Union members) have 455 million people in 4 million square kilometers. The US has 295 million people in over 9 million square kilometers.

No that can't really be it. That'd be true if the US was just one huge open landscape of personal homes but of course we have cities like NY or chicago or LA. The densities related to those figures also don't near any real densities. My neighborhood has some big houses and the lots are about 1/3-1/2 acre and the density is about 800 homes per square kilometer Which means probably like a density of 2400 people. With those figures, given, Europe has a density of 113 people per km^2. Do all your cuts for commercial building, large public domain facilities, agriculture, etc and i still doubt you could lower that 2400 down to anything near what Europe's density is.

And i wish we had a garden but we have too many trees. It'd be great to be able to make sandwhiches from stuff from the garden (too bad there's no turkey plant...) and all you had to do to 'restock' was to go outside.

 

[BicycleTree]

I like pine forests. I don't get the point of lawns. Why not just plant a bunch of pine trees in your yard? They're probably lower-maintenance and they smell better, and in ten years they are shady. Thick pine needles are softer than grass.

 

[matthyaouw]

I quite like my garden. Its not big, and the plants aren't spectacular. Its the animal life that I love. We have a small pond with a few fish, and at least 5 frogs plus tadpoles. We did have some newts too, but they've not been spotted for a while. My guinea pigs can be found grazing the lawn most days (pine trees aren't as grazable). We have a pair of blackbirds and a pair of robins nesting in the ivy (the blackbirds' nest is visible, and soon I hope to get a view of the young, but I don't want to disturb them in case the parents abandon the nest) and there are sparrows and greenfinches nesting around the place too. The other day I even had a sparrowhawk, which was eyeing up my guinea pigs. Not seen it since though.

 

[hypatia]

I love watching guinea pigs play outside. Years ago some of mine had babies, which ran choo-choo style around the yard.
This morning I saw a small redheaded woodpecker haveing a dust bath.

 

[Clausius2]

Rather than corruption, it might have more to do with the fact that Europe (at least the European Union members) have 455 million people in 4 million square kilometers. The US has 295 million people in over 9 million square kilometers.

I don't agree. We have millions of m2 without any inhabbitant in Spain. As you may check, the ratio population/ground surface is one of the lowest of all Europe. For example, Spain is much bigger than Germany but they have the double of population than us.

I assure you it has to do with corruption. I am ashamed of this fact but we live in country where there is a bubble business with this stuff. In the last statistics it is one of the major afraids of spanish population: how the hell could we pay a house. And government does nothing to avoid it.

I would like to have one of this houses and discuss with you about what on Earth could I plant in my garden, but I think I could never have one here.

 

[matthyaouw]

I love watching guinea pigs play outside. Years ago some of mine had babies, which ran choo-choo style around the yard.

I love it when they do that! I only have two and they don't do that. I love watching the 4 that my brother and his girlfriend have do it though. So cute!
Mine aren't so energetic and bouncy as they used to be. They are getting to be quite old now.

 

[Kerrie]

I have been living in a flat in a city of 70.000 inhabbitants, which is one of those large cities near Madrid. We have never had and never will have such a house with a garden or so, no matter my father has worked as a high ejecutive at an important enterprise. Here there are such a high prices that the majority of us have to live in small flats (which are also too expensive).

You are lucky folks.

Not all of us are "lucky". Home prices where I live are way out of reach, but I choose to live where I do because of the job I choose to work at, and I choose to like the area I live in. Since I have made these choices, I settle for growing houseplants and a patio garden instead.

I used to grow a lot of flowers on my apt balcony, which served the dual purpose of providing me a bright sanctuary of color in a dreary apt complex, and of providing a little privacy (I even planted sweet peas to run up the balcony railings from the pots).

Fantastic idea! I might steal your idea of the sweet peas!

 

[Pengwuino]

Not all of us are "lucky". Home prices where I live are way out of reach, but I choose to live where I do because of the job I choose to work at, and I choose to like the area I live in.

Do you live in california lol. Prices here are just... insane. We saw a pic on a realtor site of a house in texas that ... 3 acres and the house just can only be described as a mansion... for $250,000. Where i live, that would have sold for a million easy and $1.5mil in the bay area. The crazier thing is that its practically extortion yet houses still are taken off the market as quick as they are put up.

 

[Kerrie]

Portland Oregon is where I live...average 3 bed/2 bath house ranges over 200K. That's roughly a $1300 monthly mortgage with a good interest rate. Doesn't include the property taxes that would range around an additional $200/month.

 

[Loren Booda]

My garden grows like weeds - in fact, it is mostly weeds. At the Nature Center where I work, though, the "Master Gardeners" are busy at work with relatively early planting. My Uncle has in Connecticut has maintained a couple of acres as a vegetable garden for over sixty years, keeping him in good health.

The vegetables which mature the earliest and latest seem the least palatable to me. It amazes me how many people have never tasted farm-fresh produce of any kind.

Has anybody here kept bees? I had to smile when the I saw the mailman bring our buzzing new colony in a screened box.

 

[Evo]

I love gardening. It is one of my true loves in life to plant something and watch it grow, then enjoy the beauty or the fragrance or even better EAT IT. I have been fascinated by nature all of my life.

I also love little animals. The girls were given a long haired guinea pig that would whistle.

My dream would be to live in a house in a wooded area with a garden and a pond/stream. Instead I live on an acre of treeless land with an underground pond aka the septic tank.

 

[FredGarvin]

Our yard is all gardens. We moved into our house coming up on 3 years ago and every year has been major redesigning of the landscape. No veggies. I am a huge fan of perrenials and bonsai, so that plus our pond/waterfall take up the majority of our space. I refuse to let go of all of the lawn though. I need to have some lawn. We have a 180 x 80 lot. Not huge, but big enough to keep me working.

My favorites:
- Solomon Seal
- Japanese Maple (specifically Acer Palmatum "Seigen")
- Japanese Toad Lilly
- Lady's Mantle
- Baloon Flowers
- Zebra Grass (ornamental)
- Wysteria

I'll stop now.

Clausius, trust me, the pricing you speak of for housing is not a local thing in Spain. When we lived on Long Island, we waited for almost a year to find a house. When we did get it, we ended up having to move because of my job and sold it in about two years. In that time, the cost of the house went up over $80k. The housing markets in many major metro areas here is completely out of control and will, in my opinion, hit a bust here sometime relatively soon.

 

[DocToxyn]

I live in an apartment, but managed to convince the staff that my planting flowers and such could only make their place look more inviting.

I have a very small plot in which I squeeze some herbs- basil, sage, rosemary, thyme, and some flowers- gazania, cornflower, coreopsis, sunflower. The bulk of the garden however is weeds. This is done on purpose since my tortoise needs fresh greens daily so I plant dandelion, vetch, mallow, clover, nasturtium (not really a weed, but he likes them), plantain, etc. It really is rewarding the grow from seed, harvest what you need, collect the seeds at the end of the season and do it all over again next year.

 

[Kerrie]

From the inspiration of this thread, I bought a tomato plant, green beans, and lemon cucumber to grow on my patio...hope I get some veggies this summer!

 

[Danger]

I don't know if I like my garden. Everything is oversized in a small space, and sometimes I find plants under other plants

Reminds me of another poem from my dad's 1901 joke book.

I used to love my garden
But now my love is dead;
I found a bachelor button
In Black-Eyed Susan's bed.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'll have to tell Tsu about this thread. She is quite the gardener. As a kid I always had a spring vegetable garden; sort of a chore but one that I always enjoyed. But now I am really just a horticultural slave - destined to perform laborious tasks that evade explanation. I just grunt, whine, dig, and lift. Beyond that, as nearly as I can tell, it has something to do with musical chairs.

 

[hypatia]

I wonder if she would rent you out? I could use a good garden grunt here.
Truth be told, my back is killing me, &#%*$ @ gardening!

 

[FredGarvin]

I hear you Ivan. I hear ya.

 

[matthyaouw]

Cute things I've observed in the birdlife in my garden.
- Baby sparrows are incredibly fluffy and vibrate when they want feeding.
- Breeding pairs of robins take it in turns to feed each other, even when both out of the nest at once.

 

[Loren Booda]

Brush the bush next to my Nature Center and four cardinal chicks strain to the sky for their predigested meal.

 

[Astronuc]

Gardening for me is both enjoyable and relaxing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardening

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_design

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_gardening - article needs improvement

One of my favorite places when I was young - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Botanic_Gardens,_Melbourne
One of my uncles lives on the north bank of the Yarra just north of the Gardens.

 

[Astronuc]

Peter Joseph Lenné (29 September 1789 — 23 January 1866) was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect from Bonn who worked in the German classicist style.

Check out the gallery. Pretty cool!

 

[Astronuc]

Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set)

Volume I: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate-Climate Permaculture

Volume II Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate-Climate Permaculture

I heard an interview with the author this morning. Pretty cool!

Definitely some books I will be adding to my library.

Saturday, March 11, 2006
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
The Palm House
1000 Washington Avenue

David Jacke, author of Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture will give the keynote address entitled Eat the City: Cultivating Agriculture in Brooklyn Today.

 

[Astronuc]

It's Gardening Season - Almost - Yay!

Well it's gardening season, more or less. We still have another 35 days before we not supposed have anymore chance of a freeze.

But the buds have opened on the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. So now it's wait and see.

The rhubarb chutes have come up, and I still need to transplant (and divide) my biggest one. I was partially successful with the smaller plant. It looks like one of three transplants didn't survive the winter.

Anyway, we are starting lots of seedlings indoors, and I have already turned about 3-4 cubic meters of soil (and composted leaves) in our main vegetable garden. That by the way is very good excercise, and one reason that strength training from weight-lifting is useful - 200 times or more of lifting ~20 kgs of dirt and turning it.

I started some garlic. One took off, and rooted and sprout immediately. Others are coming along slowly.

I think this year I'll do beets and turnips and/or parsnip, and maybe various squash/zucchini.

 

[turbo]

Can't wait for the frost-free season to start! I have deep-tilled the main garden plot - already 50x36, with some expansion in the plans, and have weeded and mulched the asparagus bed. We're going to be doing a lot more swiss chard this year - leave a few leaves when you cut it and it just keeps coming back, like many lettuces do. We froze some last summer and we have been parceling it out like misers all winter - the best frozen greens ever! This year, we're going to increase the plantings of tomatos, jalapenos and habaneros - I want to can a couple of dozen pints of really hot salsa made with fire-roasted vegetables, and put up enough of my home-made (spicy!) pizza sauce to tide us over. Not to mention canning enough tomatos to keep us in stewed tomatos and tasty soups all next winter. Last year, we blanched and froze our string beans instead of canning. Much better flavor, color and texture.

Since we are out in the country, many nights deer sleep on our front lawn (it keeps the fawns safer from predators), and early last year they helped themselves to our cilantro, parsely, and my best habanero plant. For a little over $50 each, I bought two "scarecrows" - they are noisy, oscillating sprinklers with built in motion detectors that open the operating valve for a few seconds when a decent sized object moves. No more problems with deer, no marauding raccoons, etc. Except for a few insects, we had the produce all to ourselves. People who garden in areas overrun by deer (like Southern CT) should know that these things really work. Agway has them, but unless you are prepared to pay over $130 each for them, you will want to find another source.

Mid-post - I just got my garden's soil test result back from the U of M testing service. It's a bit less than optimal for Sulfur, Magnesium, and Potash. That explains why the tomato plants perked up after I dosed them with Epsom Salts last summer.

There are so many wild blackberry and strawberry patches on this property (we just bought the place last summer) that I'm going to fertilize them and forgo planting berries bushes-at least for this year. I'm going to concentrate on high-yeld vegetables and herbs and pick the wild stuff in season.

I joined the Arbor Day foundation to get discount prices on fruit trees. Coming in a month or so will be two varieties of apple trees (we already have several, including some very old varieties), two varieties of apricot, two varieties of cherry, a peach tree, two pear trees and a plum tree. Along with the membership (which cost $10) they threw in 10 flowering ornamental trees, a red maple and 2 forsythia bushes. 23 trees, plus the membership (with newsletters, etc), and S&H totalled to less than $103-a heck of a deal. I can't wait to get them in the ground. I'm going to turn our front lawn into an orchard - growing grass is a waste of resources.

I just realized how long this post is - I have got the gardening bug BAD. Favorite new toy - I bought TroyBilt Horse (one of the older ones that are all cast iron with a cast iron Tecumseh engine). The engine is pretty tired, so I've got it in my friend's shop, and he's going to totally rebuild it. If you love to garden, and you have not tried an old Horse model, you are missing something. You can guide the thing with one hand. Of course they are heavy and you have to work a little at the end of the row to turn it for the next pass, but it is really nice not to have lightweight tiller bouncing around stressing these old joints. I have probably bored everyone to tears with my spring fever - sorry for killing the thread Astronuc!

 

[Astronuc]

Heck, no! You're keeping it alive.

I have a Troy-Built tiller too! Got it last year from a neighbor. Soon time to fire it up.

We have the same dear problem - and rabbits too! I have tomato plants disappear overnight.

I have some cayenne and kungpao peppers from last year, but this year I want to do habañeros.

We'll be doing green beans and peas as well.

We're still planning.

I have a few trees to remove. Several were damaged by high winds this winter. The forest behind us, and generally in our area, is showing a lot of stress. Many trees are sick!

I really want some pear trees, but I don't want them if I have to use pesticides.

 

[Just some guy]

Hmm, my gardening skills are so bad that I consider it a major achievement that I've managed to keep a small pot plant alive for more than 4 months (I think this is my seventh pot plant)

 

[Evo]

I will be planting the usual bell peppers, zuchinni and tomatoes for ratatoulle. Summer squash, maybe cucumbers.

I hope I can keep the birds away from the peaches long enough to get some this year. Maybe I'll do some cauliflower, I need to put those in now though.

 

[hypatia]

Today is just beautiful here, so I spent the morning planing what is going where. The herb garden is a must, Rosemary,{Sage and Thyme wintered over} dark Basil and Dill are my main stays. Onion seeds planted in the fall are popping up in way too many places!
Strawberrys took a whooping this winter and look like they will need a lot of TLC.
Evo try the english style cukes, I had a bumper crop last year and they were really carefree and easy to grow.

 

[turbo]

We have the same dear problem - and rabbits too! I have tomato plants disappear overnight.

Google on "scarecrow" and "deer" and you'll find the motion-sensor sprinklers. If you forget to turn them off before you step foot in the garden, you'll see why the deer don't like them - they jump you AND leave you soaked when they go off. One at each of the eastern corners of the garden covers the whole garden (well over 1500 ft²). Approaching the garden from the back lawn (bordering on the woods), I cannot get anywhere near the garden without setting them off. Purchase price, plus one 9V battery in each, for the whole growing season - that's a whole lot cheaper and easier than installing fencing (which deer ignore anyway, unless the fences are really high.)

With the price of fresh vegetables these days, the scarecrows easily paid for themselves in a few weeks of the last growing season. Plus, it's humane, as long as you don't think it's cruel to scare the deer and get them wet.

 

[brewnog]

I'll only grow it if I can eat it.

Don't currently have a garden, but at home-home I grew chilli peppers, tomatoes, raspberries, rhubarb, blackberries, blueberries, and nettles. I had a kickass herb garden too.

 

[Evo]

Evo try the english style cukes, I had a bumper crop last year and they were really carefree and easy to grow.

Sounds good. I wish I could get rid of these wild onions growing everywhere, I keep digging them up, they're almost as bad as the nightshade that's taking over.

 

[turbo]

Today is just beautiful here, so I spent the morning planing what is going where. The herb garden is a must, Rosemary,{Sage and Thyme wintered over} dark Basil and Dill are my main stays.

When my tiller comes back from the rebuild, I'm going to till up a new spot on the edge of the lawn for the perennial herbs. There's nothing like fresh herbs for cooking, once you get the hang of the differences between fresh and dried. I didn't make a new herb bed last year because my little front-tine tiller would have beaten the hell out of me and I didn't want to dig up the whole plot by hand. The old Horse can handle it in a couple of passes.

I'm going to plant lots of peppermint - mmmmm, peppermint tea!

 

[Evo]

I'm going to plant lots of peppermint - mmmmm, peppermint tea!

Be sure to plant it inside a container, like cement otherwise you'll have a yard full of it in no time.

 

[turbo]

I really want some pear trees, but I don't want them if I have to use pesticides.

You can make your own tree spray using liquid soap and water - that takes out a lot of insects by breaking down the waxy/oily substances that protect their exoskeletons. You can buy organically-derived neurotoxins (made from chrysanthemum flowers or synthetically derived analogs of the same) and many other things. Some people advocate making a "sun tea" out of chewing tobacco and using that in combination with soap, etc as an insectiside spray. There's a lot you can do without resorting to diazanon, malathion, and all that junk.

 

[turbo]

Be sure to plant it inside a container, like cement otherwise you'll have a yard full of it in no time.

I'll plant it along the tree line and mow it down if it tries to take over the lawn. I really hope it thrives like you say. I wouldn't mind having bushels of it drying in my cellar. Peppermint tea is nice, but like all herb teas, you end up paying for packaging, distribution, advertising, etc. I want to cut out ALL the middlemen - just me, my herb garden, and a big tea-ball.

Evo, are ice weasels nice friendly guys like ferrets?

 

[Astronuc]

You can make your own tree spray using liquid soap and water - that takes out a lot of insects by breaking down the waxy/oily substances that protect their exoskeletons. You can buy organically-derived neurotoxins (made from chrysanthemum flowers or synthetically derived analogs of the same) and many other things. Some people advocate making a "sun tea" out of chewing tobacco and using that in combination with soap, etc as an insectiside spray. There's a lot you can do without resorting to diazanon, malathion, and all that junk.

I don't use pesticides - I am strictly organic - so I remove pests manually. On the other hand, we have lots of different kinds of ants which seem to keep most pests away, and we have ladybugs, and praying mantisses, and lots of really cool spiders.

Anyway, the detergent mixed with mum juice is an idea. We have plenty of mums. Muahahahaha!