Banned user
Steelhead
My gardening season is good and bad. I've puttered around with gardening in the past but paid a lot more attention to it this year. Still, I made some mistakes.
I have four nets with about 6" spaces, that are about 6' wide and 15' long for climbing plants. I created a sort of pup tent with 6-8' sticks and draped the netting over it. Well, I didn't really plan that getting inside and in between those four pup tents was going to be so tough. But the beans, at least three types, are in there, and I have been going into that jungle to harvest. I've got long beans, scarlet runners, Kentucky Wonder (which I honestly like best).
90% of my yellow pear and red cherry tomatoes got eaten by chipmunks/ground squirrels. I had them securely behind chicken wire, but they have little issue squeezing through it; I've watched them do it. IF I grow tomatoes next year, I will create cages with 1/4" hardware cloth, extending well under the ground. I would have had hundreds of tomatoes, as the plants did really well.
I planted my onions too shallow(ly?) and too close to each other. I actually did really well with onions, about 60 each of yellow and reds, and some were good sized, and most usable, some were pingpong ball-sized.
I got over 150 heads of garlic, but I didn't clean mine nearly as nicely as Shawn Seeger! I pickled three quarts, and they should be ready in a week or so.
Sweet peas were a mixed success, again, I planted too many in a small space and they got out of control.
After I harvested my garlic, I immediately tilled the soil and planted bush bean seeds that I had let soak overnight. Out of forty planted, three sprouted. I have no idea why, but I was planning on a late harvest of wax beans.
I've got a few gourd-type plants that I got from seeds my wife imported from China this spring. The loofa really has not developed quickly at all, but has finally put out one gourd, only gherkin-sized so far. I have some English cucumbers that are doing well, with one or two coming ripe each week. I also have some normal cucumbers climbing poles, which they seem to really like, if their daily 6" growth is any sign.
I have serious predation issues, mostly from ground squirrels, chipmunks, whatever they're called. They're all over the place. The bigger gray squirrels are also a nuisance, but I don't see them attacking my crops as much. The bigger guys, racoons, possums, skunks (all in my yard last night, according to my trail cam) leave it alone. My son walked out to the driveway a couple weeks ago to see a deer contentedly munching on one of my tomatoes that were in a container out front.
Next year will be better, but this year was a qualified success.
I have four nets with about 6" spaces, that are about 6' wide and 15' long for climbing plants. I created a sort of pup tent with 6-8' sticks and draped the netting over it. Well, I didn't really plan that getting inside and in between those four pup tents was going to be so tough. But the beans, at least three types, are in there, and I have been going into that jungle to harvest. I've got long beans, scarlet runners, Kentucky Wonder (which I honestly like best).
90% of my yellow pear and red cherry tomatoes got eaten by chipmunks/ground squirrels. I had them securely behind chicken wire, but they have little issue squeezing through it; I've watched them do it. IF I grow tomatoes next year, I will create cages with 1/4" hardware cloth, extending well under the ground. I would have had hundreds of tomatoes, as the plants did really well.
I planted my onions too shallow(ly?) and too close to each other. I actually did really well with onions, about 60 each of yellow and reds, and some were good sized, and most usable, some were pingpong ball-sized.
I got over 150 heads of garlic, but I didn't clean mine nearly as nicely as Shawn Seeger! I pickled three quarts, and they should be ready in a week or so.
Sweet peas were a mixed success, again, I planted too many in a small space and they got out of control.
After I harvested my garlic, I immediately tilled the soil and planted bush bean seeds that I had let soak overnight. Out of forty planted, three sprouted. I have no idea why, but I was planning on a late harvest of wax beans.
I've got a few gourd-type plants that I got from seeds my wife imported from China this spring. The loofa really has not developed quickly at all, but has finally put out one gourd, only gherkin-sized so far. I have some English cucumbers that are doing well, with one or two coming ripe each week. I also have some normal cucumbers climbing poles, which they seem to really like, if their daily 6" growth is any sign.
I have serious predation issues, mostly from ground squirrels, chipmunks, whatever they're called. They're all over the place. The bigger gray squirrels are also a nuisance, but I don't see them attacking my crops as much. The bigger guys, racoons, possums, skunks (all in my yard last night, according to my trail cam) leave it alone. My son walked out to the driveway a couple weeks ago to see a deer contentedly munching on one of my tomatoes that were in a container out front.
Next year will be better, but this year was a qualified success.
