Gardening Lessons
This was how our garden looked like a couple weeks ago. Although hard to tell with this lighting and from this far away, everything is up and growing though a bit behind normal due to the cold mornings that still plague us. But as I write this today, hot weather is here for the next week or so, and I expect progress to be more visible.
It certainly has been a challenging year for us for some reason. We have been able to start very little in our greenhouse this year. Part of that was due to using some fairly old seed and probably the largest problem was just due to the cold mornings. We planted things in there fairly early and the cold mornings just kept them from germinating. Next year, I think I will try starting things inside where the temperatures are more consistently warm, and then transferring them out to the greenhouse for hardening off and better sunlight after they are up.
Another challenging issue has been the rabbits. They ate our pea crop, onions and a few other things down to the dirt many different times. Last year, I saw them go right through our electrified fence netting without apparent discomfort so I was at a loss at how to stop them. I tried hot sauce in the watering can but that didn't make any difference. I tried spreading cayenne pepper in bulk and that did help some, at least until the first heavy morning dew or light spring rain and then it had to be reapplied immediately. Finally, after talking with others who used different kinds of electric fencing successfully to deter the rabbits, I pondered if my solar charger just wasn't potent enough.
So I dug through my garage and located the adapter that came with our solar charger allowing me to plug it in to charge up the battery. I then ran an extension cord out to the charger and hooked it up. That apparently is working a lot better as I haven't seen any signs of rabbit predation since. However, using an extension cord not meant to be outside is not exactly safe. The adapter that plugs into the side of the charger isn't waterproof either. So, I have placed an order for a proper electric fencer that is meant to be outside rain or shine and hooks up to our outlets outside the house. It should produce two or three times more "juice" than I can get using our extension cord and current solar fencer. Rabbits better beware.
Our lettuce is growing in abundance and we have large salads nightly now. I have even started pulling the occasional onion and hopefully soon, a radish or two to add to them. Our potatoes and tomatoes are really starting to shoot up and our sweetcorn is about an inch tall. Thus far, the only questionable thing will be our peas which are so far behind at this point, I'm not sure they will produce much before it gets too hot for them. But like always, a lesson has been learned to carry forth into next year.
You are further along than we are. My tomato plants are on the windowsill yet...too cold to plant them out yet. My brother planted potatoes and carrots...he has an electric fence too.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that. You would have really rained on my parade had you told me your garden was further along!
DeleteIt’s all about adapting, eh?
ReplyDeleteHopefully it is possible to still teach this old dog new tricks.
DeleteWe just haven't been inspired this year. Yours looks great!
ReplyDeleteIt has grown even more in the two weeks since the picture was taken. Today it is raining after three weeks of no rain so it should start growing even faster.
DeleteThat would be great to have fresh salads. I need to eat more lettuce. It doesn't keep very well. The garden is looking great!
ReplyDeleteI usually go harvest a big bowl of it and it will keep in the refrigerator three or four days, enough time for us to eat it and enough time for the plants in the garden to regenerate.
DeleteMy garden is not flourishing this year. Not sure why, but probably lack of sun. Cucumbers and yellow squash are looking good. Everything else is either struggling or never came up at all.
ReplyDeleteMy Alabama brother says they have been getting lots of rain lately which probably explains the lack of sun and your garden.
DeleteRabbits don't seem to get the message that they are supposed to stay away.
DeleteThey seem to be receptive to higher amounts of voltage anyway!
DeleteEvery year is a little different, isn't it? You just never know what temperatures are going to do. I think our plants are a bit behind too because it's been cool here. Fortunately we don't have rabbits to deal with!
ReplyDeleteI would love a fox or two living in my back yard. I have one but it evidently doesn’t live close enough to my garden to be effective.
DeleteThe weeds in my garden are winning. Do you have nut grass there? Almost impossible to get rid of but I do try and try and try.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think so. We get our share of weeds too but I usually mulch when the plants get big enough which limits the amount of weeding significantly.
DeleteI, too, am still trying to get my garden in due to the rainy weather we've had this spring. And now, Ed, you've made me worry about rabbits eating my onions in addition to green bean seedlings they've munched on. I wonder if this cool wet spring we're having is making the rabbits more voracious, or plentiful. As Honolulu Aunty mentions, weeds here are thriving. Pulling weeds has been the bulk of the work I've done outside for the past month. Once I get things growing, I will mulch, and that will help immensely. I have been regretting not planting lettuce this spring. With all the rain and mild temps, we would surely have had a bumper crop.
ReplyDeleteAt least here, I think rabbits are becoming plentiful due to lack of predators. The coyotes have been heavily hunted for years which hasn't helped that.
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