AMKuska's 2020 Garden

[AMKuska]

Rats are gone, but it turns out they're probably not actually what killed my chickens. I went out a little later than normal to close the new door on my chicken coop, and as I always do I shine my flashlight in there to make sure I'm not accidentally shutting rats into the coop with the chickens.

There was a huge possum sitting in the nesting box eating eggs.

Possum: 1 Husband: 1

I will now shut the door much earlier, and I'm going to bury fencing, as it appears he dug under to get in.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I found a possum in the coop at dusk one time when I went to lock them up. Mine free ranged at the time and he just came in the open door. I found him before he did any damage and had a shovel handy. That's one reason I like to walk inside a coop to gather eggs and such. You see things.

I saw a skunk just walk under a run fence one time, no shovel for him. 12 gauge from a distance. He did not have to dig, just squeezed through a real small area where the ground wasn't level. It's surprising how little room they actually need.
Do you know how to make an apron to stop digging predators? They are easy to install, especially in rocky ground, and pretty effective. Mine stopped what I think was a coyote from digging in.

 

[AMKuska]

I found a possum in the coop at dusk one time when I went to lock them up. Mine free ranged at the time and he just came in the open door. I found him before he did any damage and had a shovel handy. That's one reason I like to walk inside a coop to gather eggs and such. You see things.

I saw a skunk just walk under a run fence one time, no shovel for him. 12 gauge from a distance. He did not have to dig, just squeezed through a real small area where the ground wasn't level. It's surprising how little room they actually need.
Do you know how to make an apron to stop digging predators? They are easy to install, especially in rocky ground, and pretty effective. Mine stopped what I think was a coyote from digging in.

Yes, and that's what i'll be doing today. I should have done it a while ago and didn't.

 

[AMKuska]

The apron on one side has been added, I'll do a little more each day. I also saw a rat scurry off and yet more bait taken, so much for gone.

the UN prediction of a hunger pandemic has spurred me to continue working on my garden. We put the tomatoes out after a week of gardening off and my kids helped.
Emily’s memory tree flowered, so we took a moment to think about her before going in for the day.

 

[AMKuska]

Not much going on in the garden right now. Tomatoes are tall, healthy, lots of flowers, and just a few set fruits. Everything else is trundling along. In the mean time, my son finally learned how to ride a bicycle, with some help from his tiny cheer leader who put on a tootoo just for him.

 

[AMKuska]

What an abysmal year for the garden this year.

I present to you, the entire summer crop.
tomatoes: barely any, all still green
Pumpkins: 0
Watermelon: 0
Beans: some flowers
Peppers: 0 and barely alive
Onions: dead
Potatoes: dead

that’s all I planted. Nothing is doing well at all. I’m pretty sure my husband saving me a lot of money and just spraying it with every synthetic imaginable instead of letting me do a lab sample is why.

 

[flowerbug]

i sure understand your frustration/mad - i'd spent years getting an area of the yard renovated and regenerated without using any herbicides on it and Mom decided to spray it without telling me what she was doing until afterwards. *sigh*

if you were more local we could give you plenty of cucumbers and beans.

 

[AMKuska]

If it was a single, targeted synthetic for a specific reason, I wouldn't be annoyed. He just decided that since my garden has been booming the past few years that means all the nutrients have been eaten up. Because I'm not spraying the heck out of it every day with fertilizer, he thinks that means its all used up.

I said fine, let me send out a sample and see if putting compost in the garden isn't working. He then goes and sprays it with nitrogen/lime/virtually-every-other-nutrient-you-can-think-of-that-comes-in-a-bottle, and waits for me to be surprised by the magnificent growth.

I'm sending out a sample this year and we'll see how ruined it is.

 

[flowerbug]

that's not too horrible then, i think it will be ok. the stuff i worry about is more than elemental amendments. some lime is likely ok for most gardens especially if there has been a lot of organic material added to it. the nitrogen would favor growth over flowering and fruiting.

 

[baymule]

I have had dismal garden failures. Last year was one of them. This year there has been a few flops, but overall it has been good. Don’t give up, we all have those garden flops. It is frustrating to work so hard for nothing. Next year put up a No Trespassing sign at the garden gate. My husband stays out unless I ask for his help. He is totally clueless about gardening. He is great at shelling peas and snapping green beans. He is also great at digging out the manure pack in the sheep barn and spreading it on the garden. Prep work he can do, then it’s my world and he stays out.