AMKuska's 2023 Garden

ducks4you

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Thank you for sharing! I have never done a row cover before, but have some trouble with cabbage moths so was thinking about covering them at first until the moths buzz off to greener pastures.
Yes, buy a row cover before the cost goes up! I bought one last winter.
If you can't get one soon enough, if you can create a structure you COULD use white garbage bags held down by bricks/stones once they have been watered.
Often the birds will eat your sprouts! :eek:
WE can't have THAT!!!! :rant
I am tired of posting stuff that I haven't done yet. This ISN'T my thread...so I'll post it Here. :gig
I am finished a raised bed today where I am planting 2022 sugar snap peas. I have some in to go cups in a basement window well and they are sprouting. Germination rate shouldn't be a problem, BUT, birds are.
I have to get this finished and planted today before a soaking rain tomorrow and I will pull from my large stash of chicken wire and cage them in. (Pictures to follow on my thread.)
I bring this up bc we often wonder if the seeds didn't germinate, when critters came along to eat the bounty instead,
https://gardenerd.com/blog/whats-growin-on-blog/take-cover-its-cabbage-moth-season/
 

AMKuska

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Yes, buy a row cover before the cost goes up! I bought one last winter.
If you can't get one soon enough, if you can create a structure you COULD use white garbage bags held down by bricks/stones once they have been watered.
Often the birds will eat your sprouts! :eek:
WE can't have THAT!!!! :rant
I am tired of posting stuff that I haven't done yet. This ISN'T my thread...so I'll post it Here. :gig
I am finished a raised bed today where I am planting 2022 sugar snap peas. I have some in to go cups in a basement window well and they are sprouting. Germination rate shouldn't be a problem, BUT, birds are.
I have to get this finished and planted today before a soaking rain tomorrow and I will pull from my large stash of chicken wire and cage them in. (Pictures to follow on my thread.)
I bring this up bc we often wonder if the seeds didn't germinate, when critters came along to eat the bounty instead,
https://gardenerd.com/blog/whats-growin-on-blog/take-cover-its-cabbage-moth-season/
Ah, yes pleas share everything you're working on here! I usually find something useful in your thoughts, so it helps me too!

We do have a lot of wildlife in my area. I know we have coyotes, a mountain lion, eagles, hawks, raccoons, possums and of course rats. The mountain lion I've never seen, but it was caught on a neighbors security cam. We also have tons of birds. I did a lot of bird watching the past few years and I think there's about 30 species.

Now that you mention it, my lettuce seeds I put out never germinated. I do believe my good friends the Juncos might have confused the lettuce seed spread on my garden bed for the bird seed I sometimes leave out for them. They're such cheerful little birds though, I won't hold it against them.

You've definitely convinced me. I just ordered one and some hoops. I think it will help keep the bugs off while I'm planting. I really am not wild about cabbage maggots, cabbage moths, and all those other gross bugs.
 

AMKuska

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Ah, those are the little worms I find when ever I'm digging around in my garden!! I'm glad I feed them to the chickens now. >_>

I just found some ultra fine mesh that looks like it will keep bugs out while letting light/water in. Hopefully it will be light enough for the brassicas, which are going in the shade garden.
 

meadow

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Ikea has a mesh curtain (like mosquito netting) that can be gotten inexpensively. It's sometimes on sale or through Amazon on sale (or even heavily discounted for having been previously opened or used). The regular price isn't bad either, imo. Holds up to sunlight really well too. I think it's called Lill Lace.
 

Branching Out

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Ikea has a mesh curtain (like mosquito netting) that can be gotten inexpensively.
We have an Ikea nearby, and those fine mesh curtain panels pop up quite frequently at thrift stores for just a couple of dollars. I like to drape them over the blueberry bushes, to discourage birds from taking the fruit. It helps a lot.
 

AMKuska

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For heavens sake, I am not a complainer by nature but you can't make this stuff up...Here's my freshly opened seed packet. Notice anything missing?!
IMG_20230221_122905.jpg
 

AMKuska

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I'm trying to figure out what to do with my composting situation. I have two composters so I never have to put any valuable veggie scraps etc. into the trash. A month or so ago I emptied Composter #1 of finished compost and put it in the garden. Composter #2 is aging.

This normally works perfectly, but my well meaning husband looked in my empty composter and saw just a thin layer of veggies and decided it wouldn't compost that way. He's right, it won't, I hadn't gotten enough green to put in any browns, so I hadn't.

He then filled the composter almost the whole way with dirt to 'help' it.

I asked him not to do this in the future, but in the mean time I have a large load of dirt with veggie scraps finely mixed through it. If I take it out, rats will sort through the dirt to get the vegetable stuff. Sifting it would be a really icky process as some of it is rotted now.

Composter #2 is rotted enough to where I don't think anything will go after it, but isn't ready to be put on a garden. My only thought is maybe I can take it out and pile it somewhere---but if I do that, past experience tells me the earth eats it and I don't have compost anymore.

It's a pickle to be sure.
 

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